A quarter-century-long quest to bring the Solvay boys basketball team a Section III championship will hinge on taking down the defending champion and state no. 1-ranked Lowville Red Raiders.
It was something Marcellus tried to accomplish in Saturday night’s semifinal round at SRC Arena, but the Mustangs were undone by a sustained Lowville run and was unable to recover in a 73-57 defeat.
This followed the other sectional semifinal where no. 2 seed Solvay welcomed back Justin Scott to its lineup, and the senior promptly led the Bearcats to a 65-45 win over no. 3 seed General Brown.
Scott had sat out nearly two months after a foot injury suffered Jan. 7 – ironically, in a game against Marcellus. And while Solvay had gone 11-2 without him, including playoff wins over Oneida and Skaneateles, its offense missed Scott’s combination of speed and skill.
General Brown, who lost to Lowville in last March’s sectional Class B final, quickly found out the impact Scott could make.
Early in the second quarter, the Bearcats clung to a 14-12 lead before Scott hit on seven consecutive points, sparking a 13-2 run and helping Solvay take a 29-18 advantage to halftime.
The Lions never got closer than nine points again. Solvay made another sustained push in the last half of the third quarter as it outscored GB 18-7, putting the game way.
Scott hit eight of his 15 shots and finished with 19 points. Close behind him, Brock Bagozzi earned 16 points and four steals, while Elijah Wright, who received an offer to walk on to Syracuse University’s football team earlier this week, got 10 points and nine rebounds.
Defensively, the Bearcats remained as tough as ever, holding the Lions to 35.4 percent from the field (17-for-48) and out-rebounding them 39-32, while also forcing 18 turnovers.
Right after this, no. 5 seed Marcellus, who had knocked out Holland Patent and Mount Markham to get this far, now took aim at Lowville, who had sat top the state Class B poll for most of the last two months.
And for a brief moment, the Mustangs fulfilled that mission, earning open shots in the opening minutes and converting enough of them to take an 11-8 lead on the Red Raiders.
Then it all went wrong – quickly.
In the span of less than 90 seconds, Lowville earned 10 consecutive points, including back-to-back 3-pointers by Aiden Macaulay that put him past the 1,000-point career mark.
It didn’t end there, either, as the Red Raiders’ defensive pressure forced 10 Mustangs turnovers and, after that early deficit, outscored Marcellus 29-6 the rest of the half to lead 37-17 at the break.
To its credit, the Mustangs didn’t let it get out of hand, cutting a 24-point deficit in half during the fourth quarter. Luke Ingianni finished with 14 points, while Jared Sammon had 12 points and Matt Kershaw got 10 points. Tristan Jarvi finished with nine points.
Lowville would not get caught, though, Aidan Macaualay getting 22 points and Aidan Zehr adding 21 points as Gavin Macaulay had 18 points and Chad Bach pulled down 12 rebounds.
Next Saturday at 4 p.m., Solvay will offer its challenge to Lowville at SRC Arena, and it will require something special from a Bearcats roster now at full strength to wrest the crown away from the Red Raiders.
