ONONDAGA COUNTY – Having gone through a tense, one-point win over rival Jamesville-DeWitt on Feb. 20, the Christian Brothers Academy boys basketball team was determined not to let any other opponent get so close.
Yet Bishop Grimes also put together its own spirited bid last Thursday night, pushing the Brothers to overtime before CBA, led again by Dan Anderson, pulled out a 61-57 victory.
The Cobras started strong and gained a 38-32 advantage by halftime, only to have CBA outscore them 17-9 in the third quarter to pull in front.
Both sides played strong defense in the final period and Grimes did enough to tie it, 55-55, and force the OT, only to get limited to two points in that four-minute extra period.
Through it all, Anderson was tough to stop, pouring in 29 points. He got help from Cario Williams (10 points) and Cody Miller (eight points) as Jack Gutchess led the Cobras with 20 points, Jon Cori had 12 points and Sylvester Seton finished with 10 points.
Back in last Tuesday’s game against Marcellus, the Brothers won 68-45. Wasting little time, CBA raced out to a 21-8 advantage by the end of the first quarter and, to leave no questions, outscored Marcellus 20-8 in the third period to further increase the margin.
It did so without anyone scoring more than Miller’s 11 points. All told, 12 Brothers got on the board, Anderson getting 10 points as Mike Schaefer (nine points), Sam Haas (eight points) and Braeden Burns (seven points) closely followed.
After the scare with Grimes, CBA turned to Saturday’s game against Fayetteville-Manlius and, once more, found itself in some stress before again closing strong to beat the Hornets 62-54.
An active first half saw both sides fill up the scoreboard. F-M kept up, only trailing 40-36 at the break and overcoming its own third-quarter struggles by limiting the Brothers to five points in that frame.
Yet CBA recovered in time to regain control during the fourth quarter, this time with scoring balance. Anderson had 17 points, with Miller picking up 15 points and Sam Haas getting 13 points.
Trevor Roe had his best game of the season for F-M, leading the Hornets with 17 points. Jack Nucerino had 13 points, followed by Luke Davidson getting 10 poitns and James Madill having eight points.
As for J-D, it got into the win column last Thursday by topping PSLA-Fowler 62-51, using a 23-11 push through the second quarter to get away from the Falcons.
Overcoming 34 points by PSLA-Fowler’s Jaylen Brantley, the Red Rams saw Preston Shumpert earn 21 points and John Withers add 12 points, with Gunther Schnorr getting seven points.
Up and down throughout the early portion of the season, East Syracuse Minoa tried to hand 2-0 Fulton its first defeat last Tuesday and nearly pulled it off, only to fall 58-55 to the Red Raiders.
The Spartans led most of the way, taking a 44-39 edge to the fourth quarter, only to see Fulton catch up and take the lead in the late stages.
Devin Mascato-Buffaloe had 16 points, with Nick Brown earning 13 points and Jimmy Ferns getting 10 points. Marcus Shepard led the Red Raiders’ rally, pouring in a game-high 24 points as Jack Broderick had 14 points.
Rebounding on Friday, ESM topped Oswego 58-45, not getting away until the fourth quarter and leaning heavily on Mascato-Buffaloe, whose season-best 28 points includd six 3-pointers as Brown added nine points.
Then, on Saturday, Grimes returned to the court and defeated Cortland 51-40, trailing for long stretches of the game before it dominated the fourth quarter, outscoring the Purple Tigers 19-3 down the stretch.
The Cobras were led again by Gutchess, who earned 19 points. Seton gained 14 points, with Cori, Seth Murphy and Deng Garang earning six points apiece.
