CENTRAL NEW YORK – Back in early December, the Chittenango boys basketball team found itself surprised on its home court by Marcellus, a normally potent attack held completely in check.
Yet when these two sides got together against last Tuesday night on the Mustangs’ home court, it proved far different, the Bears all but deciding matters by halfitme and prevailing by a score of 70-54.
All that was remarkable about that 46-40 meeting nearly two months ago was, in a way, accentuated by what happened here, for by halftime the Bears already had surpassed its total from that first encounter.
Even with the vaunted Marcellus defense focusing in on them, Ryan and Alex Moesch’s string of 3-pointers made up most of the production as the Mustangs fell behind 42-20 by halftime.
Though it improved from there, Marcellus still could only watch as Alex Moesch (26 points) and Ryan Moesch (25 points) converted nine times beyond the arc and Ty Kelly added three more to account for all of his nine points.
In defeat, the Mustangs got 18 points from Will Kershaw and 14 points from Will Burnett, with Mitch Donegan earning eight points and Pat Louer adding six points.
Fun as this was, Chittenango had an even better time on Thursday night at Skaneateles, unloading on the Lakers during a 90-69 victory that was only made close by the fact that reserves played the fourth quarter.
Not just content with leading 23-16 through one period, the Bears, over the course of the next two quarters, went on a tear of outside shooting that didn’t let up until it had put together a sustained 58-12 push.
Alex Moesch had 28 points, with Kelly and Ryan Moesch each earning 25 points. Together, this trio connected on 11 of Chittenango’s 13 3-pointers, with one each going to Jack Lamphere and Drew Thomas as Jacob Cheek got six points.
Over on the girls side, Chittenango took a 4-11 record into last Thursday’s game against Oneida, where it was unable to top the Indians in a 50-41 defeat.
Trailing 31-17 at halftime, the Bears made a third-quarter comeback, only to see Oneida answer late, led by Claire Vaccaro (12 points) and Myah Rainbow (10 points).
Alazyah Smith led Chittenango, earning 12 points. Hailee Foran gained 11 points, with Mia McReynolds gaining eight points and Abby Scheidelman getting six points.
