BALDWINSVILLE – Life for the Baldwinsville boys basketball team in the wake of its 2019-20 run to the Section III Class AA championship game was always going to be difficult.
Between its heavy graduation losses and the transfer of all-time leading scorer J.J. Starling, the Bees knew it would have to rebuild, only to see even that process delayed, and nearly wiped out, by COVID-19.
But a season did take place, and B’ville, other than two games against Nottingham, would struggle against more talented and experienced foes.
Another example of this was last Tuesday’s 53-36 defeat to Fayetteville-Manlius, a rematch of their Feb. 12 encounter also won by the Hornets.
Here, the Bees never recovered from an anemic first half where F-M held them to just 12 points.
Ultimately, Nick Huhtala did get eight points, with Tucker Macknick getting seven points and Dean Welch earning six points, but the Hornets were not caught as Trevor Roe paced F-M with 16 points.
Now B’ville closed its season facing Nottingham a second time, having gained its only win so far against them in a 60-47 decision on Feb. 16.
And even though the Bulldogs were coming off a 55-51 upset over Liverpool earlier in the week, the Bees would crank up its defense and, using that as a focal point, defeat Nottingham a second time by a 41-32 margin.
All that the Bulldogs could manage was six points in the first quarter. But then it was the Bees’ turn to go cold from the field, limited to seven points in the second period.
Entering the fourth quarter, B’ville trailed 30-27, but saving its best eight minutes of the season for the end, it clamped down and limited the Bulldogs to just two points in that last period.
Meanwhile, the attack did enough as Willie Strong, with nine points, led the way. Welch and Ben Bifulco had eight points apiece, with Huhtala gaining six points.
Though Nottingham’s Malachi McCurty led all individuals with 16 points, none of his teammates had more than two field goals, giving B’ville a satisfactory conclusion to a challenging winter.
