CENTRAL NEW YORK –
Three area high school boys basketball teams enter the Section III Class A playoffs this week each seeking a long post-season run and, in two cases, carrying reasonable championship expectations.
Jamesville-DeWitt always deals with high standards, and reclaimed them with a long win streak that followed the Red Rams’ uncharacteristic 1-5 start.
At the heart of last week’s work was Wednesday’s 49-34 victory over East Syracuse Minoa, the second time in as three that J-D had handled the Spartans.
Unlike the close 56-53 battle the two sides had on Jan. 24, this game was a matter of ESM never being able to consistently produce in the face of the Rams’ stifling defense.
Held to 11 or less point in every single quarter, ESM had its own solid defensive effort against most of J-D’s lineup, but could not contain forward Brendan Kohberger, who got all of his 24 points from 12 field goals.
Anthony Stickle, with 11 points, offered some support, and both of them topped anyone from the Spartans, who were led by Tristan Henderson’s nine points and Aiden Betts’ eight points.
The win streak hit 12 in a row last Monday when J-D defeated Oswego 65-50. Similar to their first meeting in January, the Buccaneers got off to a great start, leading 17-8 through one period, but here the Rams made up the ground and were in front, 26-24, by the time they reached the half.
Not until the fourth quarter did it get away from Oswego as J-D got another big effort from Kohberger, who poured in 27 points in the paint as, outside, Stickle and Ian Delpha combined to hit seven 3-pointers, Stickle earning 16 points and Delpha adding 14 points.
Just before it lost to J-D, ESM had an impressive performance last Tuesday at Central Square, defeating the Redhawks 59-46.
Four Spartans scored in double figures, Cole Thomas leading the way with 14 points as Aiden Betts put in 11 ponits. Tristan Henderson and Jusmin Kalkan had 10 points apiece as Dillon Abreu added nine points.
And after the ESM game, it was Auburn that had to deal with J-D’s menacing defense on Friday, finding little answers as the Red Rams rolled to a 46-29 victory.
It was close and low-scoring most of the way, J-D only getting away with a 17-5 fourth-quarter stretch. Kohberger again struck big, with 20 points, helped by Matt Keeler’s nine points and Ben Schellinger’s eight points.
Meanwhile, ESM dropped a tense 55-51 battle to Cortland, who outscored them 21-16 in the fourth quarter to erase a Spartans lead. Abreu had 15 points, just ahead of Thomas (12 points) and Betts (11 points) as Carter Baum and Max Gambitta each had 17 points for the victorious Purple Tigers.
Bishop Grimes has gone through one of the area’s toughest schedules and, despite some setbacks, have also won some big games, too.
Grimes did fall to Niskayuna (Section II) in a 50-48 thriller on Feb. 6, not quite able to rally from the 40-31 deficit it faced at the end of the third quarter.
Deng Garang led the rally and finished with 22 points, including three 3-pointers. Sylvester Seton earned 11 points, while Jon Corl gained nine points.
But on Senior Night in front of a packed crowd,, Grimes again got the best of Bishop Ludden, overcoming an early 10-0 deficit to lead 21-20 by the end of the first quarter and ultimately prevail 88-70 over the Gaelic Knights.
Garang amassed 32 points, not quite matching the 33 from Ludden’s Jaiden Holloman, but getting equal production from the duo of Seton, who had 18 points, and Corl, who got 15 points as Eric Wall (10 points) also hit double figures.
