ONONDAGA COUNTY – For a trio of area high school boys basketball teams, there was no hiding from the importance of games played early last week on back-to-back nights.
First, it was neighbors Jamesville-DeWitt and East Syracuse Minoa meeting in the opening half of a twin bill of league games that would take place just 11 days apart.
Then Fayetteville-Manlius, fresh off its dramatic overtime victory over CBA on Jan. 22, tackled 13-1 West Genesee, another instance of two sides meeting twice in a short span, in this instance two weeks apart.
It was J-D getting the best of its first encounter with ESM, the Spartans not quite able to keep the Red Rams from prevailing 56-53 and extending its win streak to eight.
Through a close first half, ESM did enough to battle its way to a 28-25 advantage, yet could not build on that slim margin as J-D nearly caught up in the third quarter.
During a tense final period, all the Spartans could manage was eight points, not enough to keep the Rams from moving in front and hanging on.
Outside, Anthony Stickle hit for 22 points, including four 3-pointers, while Brendan Kohberger had 15 points as Aidan Bates got eight points and Ben Schallinger had seven points.
On ESM’s side, only Tristan Henderson, with 17 points, reached double figures. Cole Thomas got close with nine points as Andrew Grahm, Jusmin Kalkan and Jacob Franklin had six points apiece.
J-D made it nine wins in a row on Friday, topping Cortland 50-39 in a game where it limited the Purple Tigers to 12 points in the first half.
More impressively, the Rams won while Kohberger was held to a season-low four points. Bates and Stickle, with 12 points apiece, made up for that as Ian Delpha added 10 points.
F-M took its turn in the spotlight against West Genesee a night later, but could not replicate the magic of the CBA win as it fell 66-55 to the Wildcats.
All game long, WG’s defense dictated the game’s terms, never really letting the Hornets produce on a consistent basiss while its own attack was steady and poised.
Trailing 34-27 at halftime, F-M saw the Wildcats all but put the game away with a 16-7 push through the third quarter, the Hornets only finding success in the waning minutes.
Trevor Roe, in defeat, got 16 points, with Pat Emery adding 15 points. But Luke Davidson was held to nine points, barely ahead of Max Danaher (eight points) and Sam Dunn (six points) as Christian Cain got 25 points to pace WG.
Later in the week, F-M would look for a regular-season sweep Friday against Cicero-North Syracuse as the two sides combined to raise money for Griffin’s Guardians and childhood cancer awareness.
As it turned out, though, the Northstars would get even, defeating the Hornets 71-60 in a game that started fast on both ends before C-NS, up 22-21, made its decisive move by outscoring F-M 21-10 in the second quarter.
Chasing the Northstars the rest of the night, the Hornets could not catch up despite Davidson’s 23 points and Danaher’s 13 points. Roe was well-contained, held to nine points, as C-NS forward Luke Paragon led his side with 26 points.
ESM got an impressive 49-42 win over Whitesboro two days after the J-D loss. A 14-4 second-quarter push helped to build a 40-23 advantage through three periods as Betts had 17 points, Kalkan had 13 points and Thomas had eight points.
In a tight game with Fulton on Friday, ESM took a 52-47 loss, unable to hold on to a 20-17 halftime lead as the Red Raiders outscored them 22-12 in the third quarter.
