ONONDAGA COUNTY – For the only time in the 2023-24 regular season, the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse boys basketball teams would gather in the gymnasium Friday night at North Syracuse Junior High School.
And it would evolve into a grinding, hard-nosed and tough battle that spilled into overtime before the Warriors, fueled by both grit and a bit of good fortune, pulled out a 63-60 decision.
Not until the Northstars’ Nate Francis saw his half-court attempt in the last second of OT fall short did Liverpool emerge victorious from a contest where both sides had all kinds of chances to seize control, but could not.
The fact that C-NS even had a chance on a night where leading scorer Andrew Benedict was held to six points was a tribute to how his teammates stepped up at different times.
Francis netted eight straight points early in the second quarter to erase an early Warriors lead. Then T.J. Coppock had a big stretch, mostly in the second half, on his way to a team-high 16 points.
Tied late in regulation, the two sides continued to trade blows. When Jeff Manuel hit two free throws with 1:28 to play, it was 52-52, but then Manuel, Freddy Fowler and Benedict all missed possible go-ahead shots in the final minute.
That it went to the wire in OT was only made possible by Liverpool missing six consecutive free throws. Still, Kaelem Haskins hit a critical basket with less than 30 seconds left that pushed the Warriors’ lead to 60-55.
Francis also missed a crucial free throw after getting fouled on a 3-point attempt with 10.8 seconds left, and it took Fowler hitting one foul shot and Kalen Haskins connecting on two more to fend off the Northstars, who got within one, 61-60, on a Coppock 3-pointer with a second to play.
All game long, Fowler’s aggressive moves to the basket paid off as he led both sides with 17 points. Jeff Trombley added nine points as Francis finished with 14 points.
Both sides won in the lead-up to the game. C-NS tuned up last Tuesday night by hosting Utica Academy of Science and battling to a 68-58 victory over the Atoms.
Nothing about UAS proved easy. Led by Donelius King’s team-high 20 points, the Atoms led for large portions of the first half and only trailed by two, 45-43, headed to the fourth quarter.
But the Northstars put the game away with a combination of hot shooting and plenty of clutch free throws.
Michael Gallo converted on four 3-pointers to account for most of his 15 points. Benedict finished with a game-high 21 points and Francis added 16 points as the pair combined to convert 12 free throws.
Following back-to-back weekend wins over CBA and Hilton, Liverpool hosted Binghamton (Section IV) last Wednesday night and defeated the Patriots 57-44 in large measure due to what it did in the first quarter.
Even though the Warriors were far from potent early, it nearly shut out Binghamton in the first eight minutes, grabbing a 13-2 edge that it would nurse the rest of the way.
Haskins led the attack with 17 points. Of his teammates, only Trombley, with 12 points, hit double figures, with Fowler getting eight points and Manuel adding seven points.
