CENTRAL NEW YORK – After a string of impressive victories over top-notch opposition, the Marcellus boys basketball team found itself in a place it had never reached before.
When the first New York State Sportswriter Association state rankings of the season were released early last week, the Mustangs were in the top spot in Class B – no. 1.
This happned right after Marcellus met another local rival and nearly hit the century mark.
The Mustangs’ 97-34 romp over Solvay on Monday did not have the same cache as beating Westhill, Bishop Ludden or Chittenango, but featured a 32-2 first-quarter rampage and a margin that grew to 81-14 by the end of the third quarter.
Each of the 12 Marcellus players on the roster earned at least one field goal, Mitch Donegan hitting four 3-pointers on his way to 21 points as Will Kershaw got 16 points, Tucker Burnett had 13 points and Will Burnett had 10 points.
Austin Raicht (nine points), Connor Ciota and Damyn LeClair (six points each) were close behind, while most of Solvay’s production came from Jairo DeJesus, who had a career-best 20 points.
A far different game took place on Wednesday night at Cazenovia, with Marcellus drawn into a more defense-oriented contest, but still able to work past the Lakers 55-36.
Even when Cazenovia was able to slow things down in a low-scoring first half, the Mustangs got out in front 20-13, and got away in the third quarter with a 15-7 push.
Again, each of the Marcellus players that saw action (10 this time) got on the scoresheet, none with more than Tucker Burnett’s 15 points as Will Burnett got nine points, Kershaw eight points and Dom Sandy seven points.
As that went on, another group of Lakers from Skaneateles got a special performance from Reid Danforth gainst Phoenix, which was needed to beat the visiting Firebirds 73-67.
A strong second quarter fueled by Danforth’s hot shooting helped Skaneateles lead 37-25 at halftime. Phoenix made up some ground, but Danforth kept answering until he set a new career mark with 34 points that included 12 field goals, five of them 3-pointers.
Carter Loi had 10 points, with Brody Loi getting seven points. Jack Peenstra and Charlie Girzadas had six points apiece, which helped overcome Phoenix getting 21 points from Tallen Prior and 15 points from Lincoln Kersey.
Back on Tuesday night, West Genesee saw a 12-game win streak against Cicero-North Syracuse come to a halt in a tense 73-70 defeat to the Northstars.
Much of this game was played at a frenetic pace. This was especially the case in the third quarter, when WG, trailing 44-36 at the break, netted 29 points – but saw C-NS net 24 to stay out in front.
Taking over late, the defenses kept things where they were – which benefited C-NS, since it held WG to five points in the fourth quarter.
To lead the Wildcats, Jordan Cain finished with 25 points, helped by 15 points from Joe Cavallo and 11 points from Gary McLane. For the Northstars, Andrew Benedict had 22 points, Nate Francis earned 17 points and Terrance Coppock got 13 points.
Westhill put on a dominant all-around performance against unbeaten Institute of Technology Central last Tuesday night, prevailing 69-31 to halt the Eagles’ five-game win streak.
Though both teams were state-ranked in Class A, the no. 11-ranked Warriors steadily shut down no. 17-ranked ITC for long stretches of the game and ultimately built a 63-29 lead by the end of the third quarter.
Charlie DeMore led the charge and set a career mark, his 26 points nearly equaling the entire Eagles roster. Kam Langdon added 20 points, with Eli Prince earning 12 points.
