Eleven months ago, the Christian Brothers Academy boys basketball team, newly crowned Section III Class A champions, defeated Section X’s Franklin Academy in the opening round of the state tournament.
And that was the last high school basketball in Central New York until last week’s long-awaited return to game action.
CBA, for its part, continued to build upon its 2019-20 form, topping Syracuse Academy of Science 65-46 in last Thursday night’s opener for its 14th consecutive win overall.
Though six seniors graduated from last winter’s squad, the Brothers brought back leading scorer Dan Anderson along with a defense that maintained its high level of play.
Already up 28-17 on the Atoms by halftime, CBA outscored SAS 24-7 in the third quarter as Anderson, with 14 points, led a balanced attack.
Sam Haas, with 11 points, and Cody Miller, with 10 points, also reached double figures, with Mike Schaefer getting eight points and Braeden Burns adding seven points.
As a follow-up, on Saturday CBA took care of Nottingham 64-50 to make it 15 wins in a row, balancing between Anderson getting 18 points and Haas hitting on five 3-pointers to account for most of his 17 points. Amarri Pitts and Cario Williams contributed six points apiece.
But CBA wasn’t the only local team to get off to a quick start. Fayetteville-Manlius did so, too, traveling to Henninger last Thursday and pulling off a 56-50 victory over the Black Knights.
A key to the Hornets’ victory was the way its defense smothered Henninger in the first quarter, holding it to six points as it moved out in front.
For the rest of the game, F-M answered every Black Knights charge, with Josh Michel working his way to 17 points and Luke Davidson adding 14 points. Trevor Roe finished with 12 points.
And the Hornets kept it up in Friday’s game at Baldwinsville, where it shut down the Bees 74-52.
Taking the lead by halftime, F-M used an 18-9 push through the third quarter to take charge as Davidson hit a trio of 3-pointers on his way to 22 points and Roe got 18 points.
James Madill earned 10 points, with Michel (eight points) and Sam Dunn (seven points) close behind as Willie Strong, with 13 points, paced B’ville.
Only East Syracuse Minoa did not win in last Thursday’s slate, but even its game at Liverpool was a close one as the Spartans fell 68-65 to the Warriors.
In fact, it was ESM who controlled the first half, building a 31-23 edge before Liverpool stormed back in the third quarter, outscoring the Spartans 25-16 to go in front.
Battling to the final seconds, ESM saw Jimmy Ferns set a career mark with 29 points, including three 3-pointers, while Devin Mascato-Buffaloe earned 18 points.. Gavin Houghtaling added seven points.
Liverpool countered with four players scoring in double figures, led by Jacob Works, who had 19 points.
ESM did break into the win column on Saturday, against Cortland, holding the Purple Tigers to five points in the first quarter to go out in front and staying there the rest of the way to prevail 47-41.
It took Nick Brown getting 18 points and Daquan Sullivan earning 10 points to overcome the work of Cortland’s Max Gambitta, who with 20 points had nearly half the Purple Tigers’ output.
Bishop Grimes had a frustrating result when it opened Friday against Bishop Ludden, squandering a fourth-quarter lead in a 59-56 loss to the Gaelic Knights.
The Cobras had steadily built a 49-40 advantage before Ludden took over late, all but carried by Jarin Beauford, who poured in 32 points. This overcame a steady Grimes effort as Sylvester Seton led with 19 points, Jack Gutchess had 15 points and Deng Garang earned 12 points.
