CENTRAL NEW YORK –
With two more victories late last week, the Jamesville-DeWitt boys basketball team continued its revival after a 1-5 start.
First, the Red Rams earned a 50-44 decision over Auburn last Thursday for its sixth win in a row.
All game long it stayed tight, with the Red Rams’ defense consistently tough and preventing the Maroons from letting anyone other than DeSean Strachan (who had 23 points) get comfortable.
On the other end, Brendan Kohberger, with 16 points, and Aidan Bates, with 14 points, paced J-D’s attack, with Ben Schellinger getting nine points and Anthony Stickle earning six points.
Defense again was the story on Saturday in J-D’s game against Central Square, the Red Rams producing long droughts from the Redhawks in the course of a 49-33 victory.
Limiting Central Square to four points in the first quarter, J-D assumed a lead that continued to build over the course of the afternoon.
The Rams only allowed seven points in the fourth quarter to seal it, while Sticklehit four 3-pointers on his way to a season-best 18 points as Kohberger gained 16 points and Bates finished with 10 points.
East Syracuse Minoa took a tough 52-50 defeat to Cortland last Wednesday night. From the time the Purple Tigers opened on an 18-7 run, ESM was in catch-up mode, and would make up most of the ground, only to see its rally fall just short in the closing seconds.
Tristan Henderson, with 13 points, led a well-balanced attack as Aiden Betts and Cole Thomas had 12 points apiece and Jusmin Kalkan got eight points.
Rebounding on Friday, ESM topped PSLA-Fowler 51-40, Kalkan putting up 13 points as Henderson finished with 12 points and Andrew Graham had seven points.
Manlius-Pebble Hill picked up another win last Wednesday night at Onondaga, prevailing 40-34 as, limiting the Tigers to four points in the second quarter, it led 21-12 at halftime.
OCS tied it up, 27-27, by the start of the fourth quarter, but the Trojans closed strong on both ends as Ryan Kinane and James Wildhack both finished with 10 points and Qon Ewing added nine points.
