SYRACUSE – A long win streak for the Christian Brothers Academy boys basketball team continued at the expense of a neighbor, with Fayetteville-Manlius finding the win column by rolling past another.
Both games were part of the annual Peppino’s Invitational at Onondadga Community College held last weekend where every local team got to play at least once.
This included CBA against Jamesville-DeWitt on the same floor where the Brothers won a classic duel with the Red Rams in the 2020 Section III Class A final.
Here, it wasn’t as close, CBA prevailing 62-42 as it started to pull away early in the second quarter thanks to Dan Anderson’s seven consecutive points.
CBA had gained a 19-12 lead on J-D through one period without a field goal from Anderson, but he still found his way to 17 points as teammate Braeden Burns got 16 points, 10 of them from successful free throws.
Forced into bad shots and few easy possessions, the Rams would not close the gap much in the second half, though Dan Annan did finish with 16 points and Brendan Kohberger added 14 points.
Moving to Saturday’s action, it began with F-M against East Syracuse Minoa, and it was all Hornets as it nearly doubled up on the Spartans in a 77-42 victory.
A 21-7 dash through the second quarter gave F-M all the cushion it required, but it kept adding to that lead, ultimately having 11 different players get on the board.
Trevor Roe, with 20 points, paced F-M as Max Danaher finished with 13 points. Sam Dunn, Tyler Hutcheson and Patrick Emery had seven points apiece as no one scored in double figures for ESM, though Aiden Betts (nine points) and Jusmin Kalkan (eight points) were close.
Later that day, CBA, making it 29 wins in a row, toppled Section II’s Troy 69-64, the game only close because the Flying Horses made a furious late comeback, outscoring the Brothers 29-14 in the fourth quarter.
Before that, though, CBA had established a 55-36 margin largely on a career-best 29 points from Burns, who again paired up well with the steady Anderson (16 points) as Amari Pitts chimed in with 13 points.
The win streak reached 30 last Tuesday as CBA routed Phoenix 81-30, the highlight a 24-3 dash through the third quarter as Burns led with 15 points, Pitts and Luke Boule adding 10 points apiece.
J-D lost that same night to West Genesee 67-50, with the Wildcats building most of the margin in the first half led by Christian Cain’s 25 points. No one on the Rams got close to that production as Kohberger had 12 points and Aidan Bates added 10 points.
ESM lost last Tuesday to Auburn, 59-49, having nearly erased a 25-15 halftime deficit with a third-quarter surge before the Maroons pulled away late. Jusmin Kalkan finished with 18 points, with Betts adding 13 points.
‘Bishop Grimes moved to 2-0 on the season at OCC when it held off Whitesboro 60-54, the key a third quarter where the Cobras held the Warriors to seven points and established a 46-32 margin.
Jon Corl and Karmelo McKelvin both finished with 15 points to lead the Cobras. London McDonald had 10 points, just ahead of Deng Garang’s nine points and Sylvester Seton’s eight points.
What followed, against Jordan-Elbridge last Wednesday night, was a 73-26 romp where Grimes, improving to 3-0, trailed 12-10 after one period before swamping the Eagles the rest of the way.
Garang stepped up, his 22 points almost matching J-E by himself as Seton poured in 16 points. Corl and McKelvin had nine points apiece and Jon Farstler added eight points.
Manlius-Pebble Hill ran right into undefeated Tully at Allyn Hall last Friday and lost, 75-30, to the Black Knights before a 51-42 loss to LaFayette last Wednesday where Qon Ewing had 17 points and James Wildhack added 11 points.
