CENTRAL NEW YORK – Each of the Cazenovia basketball teams would head into the final full week of the regular season eager to improve their records with the Section III playoffs looming.
Back on Jan. 28, Cazenovia’s boys took a 70-58 defeat to Section IV’s Waverly, not quite able to recover after Waverly, helped by a big second quarter, established a 38-26 halftime advantage.
And this was despite another big game from Ben Bianco, whose 32 points (including seven 3-pointers) accounted for more than half the Lakers’ production.
Bianco also had five steals as Bobby Livingston got 14 points, with Jack Byrnes and Izaak Gilbert earning seven rebounds apiece as Byrnes also earned five assists.
Playing again last Tuesday at Phoenix, Cazenovia saw its offense struggle all game for consistency, leading to a 60-39 defeat to the Firebirds.
Bianco, in particular, never got going, held to six points, which Byrnes (eight points) and Alex Kuper (12 points) could not overcome as, for Phoenix, Lincoln Kersey earned 17 points and Zack Henderson had 12 points.
An 88-42 loss to Westhill followed on Saturday, the Lakers getting 19 points from Bianco and eight points from Lawson, but swarmed by a Warriors attack where five players scored in double figures, led by Omar Robinson’s 18 points and Shawn Mayes’ 16 points, which all came in the first half.
Moving to girls basketball, Cazenovia met state Class B no. 24-ranked Westhill last Thursday night and could not keep the Warriors from its 10th straight victory as it lost by a score of 53-36.
To its credit, the Lakers played most of the game on fairly even terms, but only after Westhill dashed out 19-4 in the first quarter, led by Tess Roesch (16 points), Janiah Robinson (11 points, 10 rebounds) and Jules Bleskoski, who got 10 points and six rebounds.
Ella Baker paced Cazenovia with 15 points and eight rebounds. Katie Rajkowski added nine points and three assists, but the Lakers fell to 7-10 ahead of games with Marcellus and Syracuse West this week at Buckley Gym.
