In what’s turned into one of the most traditional of holiday events in area high school boys basketball, Christian Brothers Academy again hosted the Manny Leone Holiday Classic, with Fayetteville-Manlius serving as the opening-round opposition.
When those two met Thursday night, it proved a low-scoring affair full of strong defense, but the Brothers battled through it to defeat the Hornets 51-43.
CBA jumped out in front early, only to have F-M make up most of the ground by halftime and go the break only trailing by one, 25-24.
However, the Brothers outscored the Hornets 14-4 in the third quarter, which proved decisive as Braeden Burns, with 25 points, accounted for nearly half CBA’s production and Luke Boule added 14 points.
Even with all of the defense focused on him, Trevor Roe still managed 18 points to lead F-M. Chris Cleary got 12 points, but the rest of the Hornets had just five combined field goals.
Earlier in the week, East Syracuse Minoa had to slightly modify its own tournament because Watertown, who was scheduled to face Whitesboro in the opening round, could not travel due to a massive snowstorm.
ESM did have its game against Baldwinsville, and had a great chance in the late going before a timely scoring surge helped the Bees beat the Spartans 56-46.
They went back and forth during a low-scoring first half, but as the pace picked up in the third ESM, led by Tristan Henderson (12 points) and A.J. Graham), grabbed a 32-30 advantage.
However, B’ville closed the period on a 10-0 run and went ahead for good, overcoming the Spartans’ balanced attack where Anthony Bryant (nine points) and Tyler Quarry (eight points) nearly joined Henderson and Graham in double figures.
Eli Taft led the Bees with 23 points, with Jason Bifulco (10 points) Ethan Hilliar (eight points) getting all of their production in the second half and Matt Young adding nine points.
A day later, ESM lost again, this time 55-47 in overtime to Watertown, who didn’t flinch when the Spartans outscored them 16-6 in the second quarter to take a 27-17 advantage to halftime.
Instead, the Cyclones gradually caught up in the second half and, after regulation ended 42-42, outscored ESM 13-6 in the four-minute extra frame led by Jack Adams’ 18 points and Seth Charlton’s 17 points.
No one on the Spartans could match that output, though Cole Thomas stepped up to lead his side with 14 points. Bryant had 11 points and Graham contributed nine points.
Bishop Grimes joined Liverpool at the Troy Tournament and, after the Warriors surrendered a fourth-quarter lead to Schenectady in the opening round, the Cobras lost, 70-67, to the Flying Horses.
Deng Garang led Grimes, pouring in 21 points, while Jon Corl earned 14 points. Erik Wall put up 13 points and Jon Farstler had nine points as Nate Abernethy got six points.
A day later, Grimes met Schenectady and won a 64-63 thriller over the Patriots, needing 19 points apiece from Garang and Abernethy as Corl and Wall each got 12 points.
