LIVERPOOL – No championship was on the line, and no trophies or banners would get handed out, when West Genesee met up with Liverpool Tuesday night in a clash of undefeated boys basketball powers who won the last two state Class AA championships.
At the end, though, the Wildcats were on top, surviving an all-out challenge from a short-handed Warriors squad to prevail by a score of 70-63
With two weeks to go in the season, both sides entered the game without a blemish. WG was 6-0, having allowed less than 50 points to five of those opponents.
Liverpool carried a 7-0 record built on an aggressive, multifaceted attack, but it would play against the Wildcats without 6-foot-6 freshman forward Andreo Ash, who was averaging nearly 16 points per game.
Sparked by Maxwell Dennington, who netted eight of his 11 points in the first quarter, WG went on an 11-3 run to close the first quarter and take control.
But while the Wildcats’ margin grew to 31-15 early in the second period, Liverpool did not go away, increasing its effort and adjusting its offense to chip away at that deficit.
Having closed the gap to 36-26 by halftime, the Warriors inched closer in the third quarter, its offense led by the duo of Jacob Works, who finished with 20 points, and Jah’Deuir Reese, who had 18 points.
When Works hit two free throws with 4:08 left, Liverpool pulled within three, 57-54, but it would get no closer, largely because WG senior Adam Dudzinski wouldn’t let it happen.
Dudzinski hit on the Wildcats’ first eight points of the fourth quarter to stem the Warriors’ comeback and, after Works cut it to 64-60, hit on another clutch 3-point shot with 2:13 to play to stretch the margin to seven.
All told, 11 of Dudzinski’s game-high 28 points came in the final period, building upon what his teammates had done. Jack Dalgety finished with 12 points, just ahead of Dennington’s 11. Christian Cain got 10 points and Christian Amica had seven points.
Not having any sort of letdown after this win, WG returned to action Friday night at Nottingham and kept up its quality of play in a 67-43 victory over the Bulldogs.
Nottingham hung close for a while, only to have the Wildcats close on a 21-8 run while nicely spreading out its attack.
Dalgety led with 14 points, but Amica was close behind as he got 13 points. Dudzinski finished with 10 points as James Tully matched Cain’s total of eight points.
In order to achieve that perfect 11-0 mark, WG will need to withstand a challenge from 6-2 Cicero-North Syracuse next Tuesday and then get past Corcoran and Fayetteville-Manlius later in the week.
