ONONDAGA COUNTY – When the Section III Class AA playoffs get underway late this week, the Cicero-North Syracuse boys basketball team will enter it with enough confidence that it can compete with top sides, even if wins against them remain elusive.
This is especially true when it comes to the Northstars’ biggest rival, Liverpool, with whom C-NS has played a pair of exciting games this winter without being able to topple the reigning sectional champions.
And it remained the case last Tuesday night at LHS, where the Northstars were always within range, yet unable to catch up in the course of a 66-56 loss to the Warriors.
Liverpool had prevailed by a nearly identical score, 66-58, when they first met Jan. 10 at C-NS, using a 25-14 push through the second quarter in that game to build a margin that the Northstars could not overcome.
Here, the two sides again traded baskets early, and again the second period proved important, largely because C-NS went cold and managed just nine points, falling behind 31-25 at intermission.’
Try as it could, the Northstars were unable to make up that ground, even as Andrew Benedict poured in 20 points. Of his teammates, only Reece Congel, with 12 points, hit double figures as Kyle Williams got seven points.
Mostly, the Warriors were a two-pronged attack, leaning on Andreo Ash, who had 27 points, and Bruce Wingate, who tacked on 18 points to keep Liverpool on track before its first-place showdown with West Genesee later in the week (see separate story).
Tough as this defeat was, C-NS answered with, arguably, its best all-around performance of the season, dominating the second half against visiting Fayetteville-Manlius on Thursday and earning a 69-48 victory.
Against the same Hornets side it lost to both in last February’s sectional quarterfinals and in a Jan. 6 game at F-M, the Northstars traded baskets until adjusting its defense and, in the third quarter, taking over.
C-NS outscored F-M 29-12 in the second half, and Congel led the offense, his season-best five 3-pointers part of a 22-point effort as Benedict earned 15 points, Michael Pfautz had nine points and Michael Gallo added eight points. The Northstars limited F-M’s 1,000-point scorer, Trevor Roe, to 16 points.
Great as this was, the Northstars fell back 24 hours later in its regular-season finale against Henninger in a 65-53 loss where it led 45-50 going to the fourth quarter, only to see it all get away in the final minutes.
Led by Ja’Quair Lewis (18 points) and Will’zarrion Jones (15 points), the Black Knights, defying its 3-14 record, outscored C-NS 25-8 in the final period.
Congel still had 17 points, with Benedict and Gallo getting 13 points apiece, but the Northstars would close its regular season at 13-7 and await its post-season assignment.
