ONONDAGA COUNTY – Even as it was taking some early defeats, the Baldwinsville boys basketball team was demonstrating vast improvement under first-year head coach Patrick Beilein, especially on the defensive side.

That good work has now translated into some victories, including last Tuesday’s game against Corcoran at Baker High School where again the defense was sound, but it was supported on the other end in a 61-58 win over the Cougars.

B’ville fans still remembered how the J.J. Starling-led Bees were denied by Corcoran in the 2020 Section III Class AA final less than a week before the COVID-19 pandemic halted most social activities.

The stakes weren’t the same here, but B’ville limited the Cougars to 10 points in the first quarter and then steadily spent the next two periods building a double-digit margin.

Hanging on late, the Bees were again led by Jason Bifulco, who poured in a game-high 22 points, beating out the 16 put up by Corcoran’s Amir Reaves.

Matt Young finished with 14 points, while Nick Hollingshead matched Bifulco’s trio of 3-pointers and got 11 points overall. Ben Leaton and Ethan Hilliar had five points apiece.

Having climbed to the .500 mark (5-5) as it hit the midway point of the regular season, B’ville went to Nottingham Friday and looked for more success, only to fall 68-49 to the Bulldogs.

They were close in the first half, but Nottingham gradually began to get clear, eventually leading 29-22 by halftime and getting further away behind 22 points from Steyvon Jones and 19 points from Malachi McCurty.

Try as it could, no one on the Bees got close to those totals, Bifulco held to seven points as Young and Eli Taft got 10 points apiece, Hilliar had seven points and Hollingshead got six points.

Tough games await B’ville this week as it hosts Fayetteville-Manlius Tuesday and then goes to Camillus Friday to face West Genesee, whom it lost to back on Dec. 20.