DEWITT – A busy week of holiday boys basketball tournaments was supposed to peak Wednesday when Christian Brothers Academy put its 32-game win streak on the line against Fayetteville-Manlius in the opening round of the Manny Leone Holiday Classic.
Except the Hornets never got there, sidelined like so many other teams amid COVID-19 concerns.
Another team in the tournament, LaSalle, did not make it, either, meaning that the Brothers would play just a single game against the other visiting squad, Buffalo St. Joseph’s.
If there was any disappointment, CBA hid it well, using a series of prolonged scoring runs to gain control against the Marauders on the way to an 83-67 decision that extended the Brothers’ win streak to 33 consecutive games.
Though St. Joseph’s was an explosive team, CBA kept it off the board for the first four minutes of the game and then did so again for four-plus minutes early in the second quarter.
The latter of these droughts was part of a decisive 20-2 run. Dan Anderson scored 11 points in the opening period and, when the Marauders got close late in the half, hit a contested 3-pointer at the horn to establish a 42-29 halftime lead.
Then a 10-0 third-quarter run made it 59-36, a deficit too much for St. Joseph’s to overcome as Anderson finished with 22 points, but had plenty of help.
Brayden Burns earned 10 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, punctuated by a slam dunk. Joe Nicholson’s 15 points included three 3-pointers as Luke Boule added 10 points and Amarri Pitts got six points.
Before it got halted, F-M had built up plenty of momentum, especially when it took apart a strong Cicero-North Syracuse side on Dec. 23 in the first half of a 58-40 victory.
All that the Northstars could manage was nine points in the first quarter, and the Hornets were even better in the second period, limiting C-NS to just three points.
Staked to a big advantage, F-M kept it with nice scoring balance. Trevor Roe led with 15 points. Luke Davidson, with 12 points, was close behind as Max Danaher and Patrick Emery both put up 10 points.
All the while, the Hornets’ defense did an especially good job containing C-NS standout Luke Paragon, holding him to nine points as only Andrew Benedict (12 points) hit double figures for the Northstars.
As CBA would challenge Bishop Grimes on Tuesday, F-M hoped to resume Tuesday at Corcoran before another big game Friday night at Liverpool.
