ONONDAGA COUNTY – Perhaps the only thing similar to a post-season championship that would satisfy the Christian Brothers Academy boys basketball team was achieving perfection.
Not only did the Brothers do so, extending its win streak to 26 games overall, it retained superiority in all of its important rivalries, including its half-century-old “Holy War” with Bishop Ludden.
The second CBA-Ludden clash of the winter last Tuesday night was, more than anything else, a showcase for the Brothers’ defense as it smothered the Gaelic Knights for long stretches of a 58-40 victory.
CBA held Ludden to just seven points in the first quarter, which gave the Brothers time to unwind its own attack, ultimately finding that depth and balance mattered most.
Dan Anderson’s 15 points included a trio of 3-pointers. Amarri Pitts had 11 points, while Cario Williams gained 10 points, Sam Haas has eight points and Mike Schaefer got seven points.
That severely contrasted what the Gaelic Knights could produce. Other than Jarin Beauford’s game-high 22 points, the rest of the Ludden roster hit just seven shots from the field.
Now all that was left was Thursday’s game against Bishop Grimes, and this game mirrored the one against Ludden where a combination of patient offense and dominant defense put away the Cobras 58-40.
Neither side lit it up early, but CBA was particularly stingy, limiting Grimes to six points in the second quarter and continuing this trend by allowing just nine points in the third period.
By then, the Brothers were up 40-25, and it cruised home largely on the hot shooting of Schaefer, whose career-beset 20 points included six 3-pointers.
Pitts continued his late-season push, earning 10 points, while Williams had seven points. For the Cobras, only Sylevester Seton, with 14 points, reached double figures.
Fayetteville-Manlius also took some satisfaction out of its 2021 season, fighting all the way to the end for a winning record and, right at the end, picking up not one, but two signature victories.
The firs tof them came last Thursday, when the Hornets knocked off Cicero-North Syracuse 62-61 and gained sweet payback for a 65-47 defeat to the Northstars back on Feb. 17.
They went back and forth all night, F-M leading early and C-NS fighting back before the Hornets inched back in front, 42-39, by the end of the third quarter.
Ultimately, the trio of Luke Davidson, Trevor Roe and Josh Michel pulled the Hornets through, each of them netting six points in the fourth quarter to fend off C-NS.
For the night, Davidson led F-M with 22 points, with Roe earning 12 points and Michel getting 11 points. James Madill and Isaac Frechette got six points apiece.
The Hornets were 4-6 going into last Tuesday’s game against Baldwinsville, where it shut down the Bees for most of the first half on the way to a 53-36 victory.
All B’ville could manage was 12 points in those two periods, giving F-M ample time to build up a comfortable margin that it held the rest of the night.
Roe’s game-high 16 points included three 3-pointers. Jack Nucerino had 10 points, with Madill adding eight points as Nick Huhtala paced B’ville, also with eight points.
Even that couldn’t prepare F-M fans for what it did against C-NS – and the drama that would unfold at week’s end against West Genesee (see other story).
