SYRACUSE – Fans at Jamesville-DeWitt and Bishop Grimes had already seen their respective girls basketball teams earn berths in Section III championship games.
But when the boys basketball Red Rams and Cobras made their own attempts at taking that same penultimate step toward glory, they were stopped cold.
In consecutive semifinals Tuesday night at SRC Arena, J-D was ousted 53-43 by Syracuse Academy of Science and Grimes was stopped 73-50 by New Hartford.
Each game had a distinctive theme, with the Rams unable to piece together a consistent offense against a bigger Atoms lineup, and the Cobras never fully recovering from an early onslaught by Spartans junior sensation Zach Philipkoski.
J-D, the no. 3 seed, went first. Having won 15 of 16 games since a 1-5 start, the Rams had earned plenty of accolades, from Jeff Ike being named SCAC Empire Division Coach of the Year to Brendan Kohberger garnering first-team All-League status.
Now it faced SAS, whose no. 10 seed hid the fact that it had played a tough schedule, going 9-9, and did not reach full health until late in the regular season, then notched impressive road playoff wins over no. 7 seed Cortland 68-41 and no. 2 seed Fulton 57-51.
The Atoms jumped out to an 11-1 lead, only to have J-D counter with 12 straight points bridging the first and second quarters, giving the Rams what would prove to be its only lead of the night.
Falling into another slump, J-D went six-plus minutes without a point as SAS, hitting on all eight of its free throws in the half, went to the break ahead 23-16.
Though the Rams had the game at the pace it wanted, it never put together back-to-back baskets in the second half until Kohberger and Anthony Stickle did so midway through the fourth quarter.
This allowed the Atoms to stay patient and trade with J-D the rest of the way, never once letting the Rams get closer than eight for any of the game’s last 15-plus minutes.
Kohberger and Stickle finished with 15 points apiece, with Aidan Bates adding eight points. for SAS, Stevyon Jones put up a game-high 20 points, helped by Davon Perry’s 13 points and Zach Allen’s 12 points.
Now it was Bishop Grimes’ turn. The no. 5 seed Cobras had gone on the road to beat no. 4 seed Watertown in the quarterfinals Feb. 23 and knew that, against New Hartford, its main task was to try and contain Philipkoski, who entered the night averaging a Section III-best 26 points per game.
All of this made what Philipkoski did in the game’s opening stages that much more demoralizing for Grimes.
From drives to the basket to off-balance jumpers to rebounds to ball-handling to long-range 3-pointers, Philipkoski did it all, and at a high level.
By the time Philipkoski hit on another 3-pointer in the opening seconds of the second quarter, he already had 20 points, and the Cobras had just nine.
And though he didn’t score the rest of the half, Grimes’ increased attention on Philipkoski led to more baskets for his Spartans teammates and, despite the Cobras’ improvement, it still trailed 39-32 at halftime.
Jon Corl hit a basket early in the third quarter – and New Hartford responded with an 18-3 run, effective on defense while turning every Grimes mistake into a basket on the other end.
That all but sealed matters as Philipkoski finished with 30 points, Andrew Durr adding 11 points. On the Cobras’ side, only Deng Garang, with 19 points, hit double figures as Sylvester Seton, saddled with early foul trouble, had seven points, with Corl and Vinny Falgiatano adding six points apiece.
Grimes finished its season at 13-10, watching as New Hartford will take on SAS in Sunday’s sectional Class A final.
