ONONDAGA COUNTY – Area high school boys basketball has, for the last couple of years, centered around the exploits of Christian Brothers Academy, who has won 27 consecutive games.
Undefeated last winter after winning the Section III Class A title in 2020, the Brothers were moved up to Class AA, only to have its season opener at Cicero-North Syracuse canceled since so many were on the football team playing for the state Class A championship.
Instead, the first teams to take the floor had rough opening assignments, with Manlius Pebble Hill handled last Monday in a 74-33 defeat to Tully.
More surprising, perhaps, was the way traditional power Jamesville-DeWitt faltered against visiting Baldwinsville last Tuesday, with the Bees topping the Red Rams 57-46.
The game did bring a familiar face to J-D fans – DaJuan Coleman, member of J-D’s last state championship team, now a volunteer assistant coach at B’ville.
Held to just eight points in the first quarter, J-D spent the rest of the game in catch-up mode. Dan Annan and Brendan Kohberger each got 12 points, with Matt Keeler adding nine points and Anthony Stickle getting six points.
The Bees stayed out in front, though, thanks to having three players – Trey Ordway (18 points), Dean Welch (14 points) and Jason Bifulco (11 points) – reach double figures.
After all this, MPH was able to rebound and, on Friday night, break into the win column against Fabius-Pompey, the Trojans topping the Falcons 56-46.
James Wildhack and Miguel Gonzalez each picked up 18 points for MPH, Gonzalez earning nine of those points at the free-throw line, while Tommy Wildhack had 11 points.
Then, at week’s end, Bishop Grimes and East Syracuse Minoa battled for neighborhood bragging rights, and it was the Cobras edging past the Spartans 49-46.
It was close most of the way, with Grimes limiting ESM to just nine points in the fourth quarter and overcoming Aiden Betts’ game-high 17 points. Sylvester Seton paced the Cobras with 14 points as Deng Garang got 12 points, with Jon Corl and Jon Farstler each getting seven points.
As that went on, J-D evened its record at 1-1 by defeating Saratoga Springs 54-41, the Rams outscoring the Blue Streaks 24-15 in a decisive fourth quarter as Kohberger, stepping up in a big way, got 26 points, nearly half his team’s output.
Fayetteville-Manlius opened, too, the Hornets going west to face Victor (Section V) and taking a 65-51 defeat to the Blue Devils. Max Danaher led the Hornets with 17 points, while Luke Davidson had 14 points and Trevor Roe had eight points.
