CENTRAL NEW YORK – No single play, or single shot, brought an unceremonious end to the Skaneateles boys basketball team’s 11-game win streak that had built up since early December.
Instead, it was a whole lot of missed shots and mistakes that doomed the Lakers last Tuesday as it lost, 58-47, at Bishop Grimes for just its second defeat of the season.
Fresh off a week where it had swept the likes of Westhill and Marcellus, Skaneateles looked, for a long while, like it would add Grimes to that list of conquests as it was in front through most of the game’s middle stages.
But after Jude Pas’cal converted to give his side a 34-27 lead late in the third quarter, the Lakers would not get another field goal for nearly 10 minutes, until Marcus McClanahan hit a long 3-pointer with just one minute to play.
In that time, Grimes, mixing up defenses, frustrated Skaneateles, and every shot the visitors tried, from close or long range, missed the target.
Deng Garang led the Cobras’ decisive 23-4 run, scoring 11 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter. Jon Corl and Sylvester Seton each had 13 points as Colin Gaglione led the Lakers with 16 points and Pas’cal finished with 15 points.
Back on the court Friday, Skaneateles dismantled Hannibal 62-26, opening the game on a 24-2 run. All 11 Lakers that saw action got on the scoreboard as Pas’cal led with 15 points and Gaglione added 10 points. Nico Decker had eight points.
Elsewhere, Westhill went to Cazenovia last Tuesday and bashed those other Lakers 84-43, quite a difference from the 51-46 battle the two teams had earlier in the month.
Already in front, the Warriors used a 26-7 dash through the third quarter to put it away, Luke Gilmartin leading the way thanks to his 28 points, more than half of it from five 3-pointers. Shawn Mayes added 12 points.
Then the Warriors faced a 12-2 Phoenix squad Thursday and blasted the Firebirds 68-22, using stifling defense to estbalish an early 20-6 margin and then outscoring the opposition 38-9 in the second half. Mayes, with 16 points, led the Westhill attack. Robinson got 11 points, with Langdon adding six points.
Marcellus also played on Tuesday and beat Altmar-Parish-Williamstown 67-49, faring better than when it needed overtime to beat the Rebels back in December.
A 17-4 second-quarter run put the Mustangs in control to stay as Pat Louer and Will Burnett both finished with 13 points. Will Kershaw had 10 points and Adam Sullivan added nine points.
Up against Jordan-Elbridge two nights laer, the Mustangs rolled past the Eagles 69-35, bolting to a 40-12 halftime lead.
Louer (11 points), Kershaw and Adam Sullivan (10 points) each hit double figures. Sam Barney added eight points as Caleb Rouse (21 points) and Nolan Brunelle (12 points) accounted for all but one of J-E’s field goals.
Solvay took a tough 58-56 defeat to Homer last Tuesday to fall below the .500 mark (5-6), while J-E endured its own two-point defeat, 48-46, to Phoenix.
In the latter of these two games, the 2-8 Eagles led the 11-2 Firebirds 42-34 through three quarters, only to surrender that advantage as Johnathan Dion, who had 25 points, led the Phoenix comeback. Rouse paced J-E with 18 points, with Brunelle and Jack Barrigar earning nine points apiece.
On Saturday, Solvay bounced back by topping Onondaga 80-40. Gerold Bean, with 18 points mostly from four 3-pointers, led a Bearcats attack where Tom Venturini had 15 points, Nick Commisso 14 points and Jeff Sharpe 10 points.
