With all sorts of eagerness to get started again, the Cicero-North Syracuse boys basketball team set out on the 2022-23 season in a successful manner, winning twice in a span of less than 48 hours.
The Northstars were tested quite well by Section IV’s Ithaca in Thursday night’s season opener, having to play a strong fourth quarter on both ends to put away the Little Red and prevail 65-55.
A year ago, C-NS went 15-5 in the regular season, only to get upended at home in the sectional quarterfinals by Fayetteville-Manlius.
With a solid returning cast led by Reece Congel and Andrew Benedict, the Northstars fully expect to contend again, and the Ithaca game revealed a potential strength in its ability to close and spread production around.
A back-and-forth first half saw Ithaca hit plenty of shots, but C-NS match them as it went to the break nursing a 38-36 advantage.
They stayed within sight of one another until a fourth quarter where, persistent on defense, the Northstars limited the Little Red to seven points and gradually pulled away.
Michael Gallo, with 14 points, led a well-balanced offense. Benedict put in 13 points, with Kyle Williams getting 10 points, Congel nine points and Andrew Hillman eight points.
Two days later, C-NS was at Elmira, and here the trio of Benedict, Gallo and Williams got red-hot from the perimeter, leading to a 79-62 victory over the Express.
A string of 3-pointers carried the Northstars from the outset as it bolted out 24-8 on Elmira by the end of the first quarter, maintaining that margin with plenty of more outside marksmanship.
All told, Benedict (six), Gallo (five) and Williams (four) accounted for 15 of C-NS’s 16 3-pointers, the other going to Jack Wolanski as Benedict gained 24 points and Gallo 20 points, with Williams posting 14 points.
C-NS hosts Rome Free Academy Tuesday night as Liverpool, the defending sectional Class AA champions, waits until Sunday to make its season debut against Albany’s Green Tech, the team it lost to in last March’s regional final.
