ONONDAGA COUNTY – Maybe Jayden Macknail wasn’t the first option, or the second option. But he proved to be the best one.
Open in the last second of Saturday’s Section III Class AA semifinal, Macknail converted his own rebound and, by doing so, gave the West Genesee boys basketball team a 50-49 victory over Fayetteville-Manlius.
It proved an unforgettable ending to a tough, hard-nosed battle where the top-seeded Wildcats managed to hold the no. 5 seed Hornets without a field goal for most of the second half, yet found itself trailing 49-46 as the clock wound down.
F-M chose to foul before WG could set up a possible tying 3-pointer. Sent to the line with five seconds left, Jordan Cain made both free throws, cutting the Wildcats’ deficit to one.
Out of time-outs, WG could only hope that it could either steal the inbounds pass or quickly foul to keep itself alive. Instead, under pressure, Hornets guard Luke Davidson lost control and the ball went out of bounds on the baseline with 3.7 seconds to play.
Head coach Fred Kent said that it was a stroke of good fortune that F-M, shaken by the turnover, chose to use a time-out, which gave the Wildcats a chance to set up a final play.
Jordan Cain would inbound the ball. He looked first for Christian Cain, then for Christian Amica, but both players were screened.
Then, under the basket, Macknail flashed open, Cain passed to him and, after his initial shot went off the rim, Macknail calmly grabbed it and made his second shot, sending the Wildcats to the sectional final.
WG trailed, 44-36, with less than three minutes left, even though it was in the midst of keeping F-M from hitting a shot from the field for a stretch of more than 13 minutes.
Kent credited Amica and Christian Cain with containing F-M’s top scorer, Trevor Roe, holding him to just two field goals all night.
Yet F-M still forged that late lead because it kept getting to the free-throw line and kept converting. Combined, Roe, Davidson and Max Danaher were a perfect 18-for-18.
It was Jordan Cain’s basket and free throw with 2:27 left that began the comeback. Amica nailed a 3-pointer and, when Kerrick Albright converted a leaning jumper with a minute to play, the Wildcats had tied it, 44-44.
Somehow, F-M worked down the shot cock and, with 17 seconds to play, Chris Hoalcraft drilled a 3-pointer, ending the long Hornets dry spell from the field.
Amica’s pair of free throws were answered with two from Davidson, setting up the last-second drama.
Only Christian Cain, with 12 points, ended up in double figures for the Wildcats. Amica had nine points, with James Tully picking up eight points as Macknail’s game-winner allowed him to match Jordan Cain with seven points.
A 19-1 regular season had placed WG atop the sectional bracket, a position it knew quite well.
After all, he Wildcats were there the last time the sectional tournament was held in 2020 – and were promptly knocked out in the quarerrfinals, at home, by Rome Free Academy.
That would not happen this time as, in this exact same around and against another group of Black Knights, WG would dominate no. 9 seed Henninger, prevailing by a score of 74-34.
Not only were the Wildcats sobered by what happened two years ago, Henninger had played the Wildcats close in both their regular-season meetings and were impressive on Feb. 18 in a 79-63 first-round win over Bishop Ludden.
In that game, the Black Knights built a 36-20 lead on the Gaelic Knights by halfitme and never got caught, led by Ra’sean Patterson (20 points). Ja’Quair Lewis (18 points) and Omari Anderson (15 points) as Ludden didn’t get much beyond Chad Cook’s 26 points and Jaiden Holloman’s 18 points.
When it got its turn against Henninger, WG cranked up its defense and, after building a modest early lead, shut down the Black Knights and limited it to just two points in the second quarter.
Up 28-10 at halftime, the Wildcats pulled further away in the second half and nicely spread out its attack as five players scored in double figures. Amica led with 16 points, while Christian Cain had 15 points. Jordan Cain put up 12 points as Macknail and James Tully earned 10 points apiece.
This led to the game with F-M – and a victory, attained at the wire, that set up a championship showdown next Sunday at 7 p.m. at SRC Arena against no. 2 seed Liverpool, who survived a triple-overtime epic with Christian Brothers Academy in the other semifinal.
