Though it’s both of West Genesee’s basketball teams that are defending Section III Class AA titles when the playoffs hit full gear early next week, it’s the boys Wildcats in the best position to prevail again.
And the Wildcats were further buoyed by earning the outright Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division regular-season title, helped by its own play and events elsewhere.
WG took care of Cicero-North Syracuse last Tuesday, roaring to an 87-53 victory that was a stark contrast to the tense 64-61 win the Wildcats had over the Northstars less than a month earlier.
Up 41-21 by halftime, WG had a complete team effort, reflected by the fact that all 13 players on the roster finished with at least one field goal, a rare achievement.
Adam Dudzinski took the lead, earning 18 points, while Kam Jones had 14 points. Will Amica got 10 points as John Benson had eight points. Sam Gallager, Dan Bennetti and Max Dennington had seven points apiece.
As that went on, Baldwinsville fell to Corcoran 66-64 on a last-second basket from De’Jour Reaves. This meant that if the Wildcats beat Fayetteville-Manlius on Saturday, it would clinch the league championship.
With that on the line, plus F-M’s own playoff fate, WG jumped all over the Hornets and grabbed a 26-12 lead by the end of the first quarter and was up 46-27 by halftime.
Though the Hornets made up some ground late, the Wildcats still prevailed 76-68 as its win streak grew to 12 and, at 17-3 overall, it would await Wednesday’s release of the sectional playoff bracket.
By contrast, West Genesee’s girls team remains just a step below the top two sides of Baldwinsville and Cicero-North Syracuse, neither of whom it beat during the regular season.
But the Wildcats got quite close to the Northstars last Tuesday night in a tough battle that C-NS pulled out, 60-52, largely because it had Jessica Cook on the floor and WG could not contain her.
For three periods, it went back and forth, the Wildcats far more effective against the Northstars’ defense than it went it lost to them 46-32 in January.
Down by just a point, 51-50, going to the fourth quarter, WG ultimately fell back because Cook kept making baskets, not letting up until she had amassed 36 points.
That was nearly twice the total of the Wildcats’ Meredith James, whose 19 points included five 3-pointers. Catie Cunningham put in 17 points, with Molly Coyne adding nine points.
On Saturday, WG traveled to Fayetteville-Manlius, whom it beat 56-54 in a Jan. 10 thriller. This one was not as close, and again the Wildcats prevailed, 56-46, to end its regular season at 14-6 overall.
