SYRACUSE – No one who plays on the Christian Brothers Academy or Fayetteville-Manlius boys basketball teams will soon forget how their respective seasons ended in equally painful manners on a single Saturday at SRC Arena.
In one Section III Class AA semifinal, the no. 3 seed Brothers endured three overtimes of drama before no. 2 seed Liverpool defeated them 86-81.
A couple of hours later, in the other semifinal, the no. 5 seed Hornets were on the brink of upending top seed West Genesee when it all fell apart in the final seconds of a 50-49 defeat.
Each of these games featured all-out efforts from every player on the court, making the results all the more difficult for CBA and F-M to accept.
Somehow, the anticipation built up for the showdown between CBA and Liverpool did not even come close to matching the actual drama of what these two teams provided over 44 minutes of court time.
Though the Brothers led the Warriors through most of the first three quarters, the two sides were tied, 46-46, going to the final period – of regulation, as it turned out.
That it even got beyond that point seemed unlikely when CBA, trailing 54-53, rattled off seven straight points from Dan Anderson, Braeden Burns and Joe Nicholson in the closing stretch while its defense shut out Liverpool for more than three minutes.
Less than 30 seconds remained and the Brothers were up 60-54, ready to celebrate – but then the Warriors’ Jaiden Reynolds hit a 3-pointer and, pressing on defense, Liverpool forced a turnover and Jacob Works hit a layup.
Instantly, it was 60-59, and even when Anderson made two free throws with 23.0 seconds left, the Brothers, with fouls to give, somehow left room for Reynolds to drain another long 3-pointer with five seconds to play.
Now it went into OT, and in the first four-minute period they traded baskets until, at 68-68, CBA forced a last-second Liverpool turnover and Anderson, from half-court, attempted to win it – and it hit off the backboard and rim.
In the second OT the Brothers led 76-72 but, again, Liverpool battled back, tying it 76-76 on Works’ pair of free throws and then defending well as CBA had a more conventional last-second shot to win and Anderson’s rebound basket did not beat the horn.
Free throws from Works and Reynolds in the third OT put the Warriors ahead for good, along with a driving layup from Andreo Ash that made it 84-79, finally too much for the Brothers to overcome.
Anderson finished with 27 points, Burns had 20 points and Nicholson got 17 points. Works led Liverpool with 26 points, Ash adding 20 points, Reynolds 18 points and Bruce Wingate 15 points.
After all this, F-M took the floor against West Genesee and found itself in a tense defensive struggle with a Wildcats team it lost to twice in the regular season.
Somehow, the Hornets survived not hitting a field goal for a stretch of more than 13 minutes of the second half, largely because the trio of Trevor Roe, Luke Davidson and Max Danaher went a combined 18-for-18 from the free-throw line.
All those foul shots gave F-M a 44-36 lead with less than three minutes left, but WG fought back with an 8-0 run to tie it, 44-44, heading into the final minute.
With 17 seconds to play, Chris Hoalcraft hit a 3-pointer near the end of the shot clock, finally ending the Hornets’ field-goal drought and producing a 47-44 lead.
Twice, F-M fouled rather than risk giving up a tying 3-pointer, but the Wildcats’ Christian Amica and Jordan Cain sank all the free throws in between a pair of successful Davidson foul shots.
So F-M led, 49-48, with five seconds left. It tried to inbound the ball, but Davidson could not hold on to it, causing a turnover and giving WG one more chance.
Focusing its defense on Amica and Christian Cain, the Hornets left forward Jayden Macknail open under the basket. Macknail took the pass from Jordan Cain and, when his initial shot missed, he grabbed the rebound and scored just before time ran out, sending the Wildcats to the sectional final against Liverpool.
