CENTRAL NEW YORK – Going into 2024, the only blemish for the Cicero-North Syracuse boys basketball team was a big one – that hard-fought overtime defeat to archrival Liverpool on Dec. 15.
With no chance to get back at the Warriors until the post-season, all the Northstars could do was rack up wins elsewhere against top-level competition, which it did for the rest of 2023 and through the first week of the new year.
This contrasted what happened with Liverpool, who in yet another showdown with West Genesee last Friday finally found itself caught by the Wildcats in a 65-58 overtime defeat.
The Warriors had won six straight against WG, including the last two Section III Class AA title games and a win over the Wildcats in the Dec. 1 season opener at Jamesville-DeWitt.
Here, though, a tight, tense struggle would see neither side able to get away throughout all of regulation. Despite another strong defensive effort, Liverpool would see WG push the game to OT tied at 50-50.
Then the Wildcats got the baskets it needed in the four-minute extra period, plus key free throws as Jordan Cain got 21 points, Gary McLane had 18 points and Sincere Smith added 14 points.
On the Warriors’ side, Freddie Fowler, with 23 points, topped all scorers, but of his teammates only Kadem Haskins, with 10 points, got to double figures. Alex Trombley (nine points) and Jeff Manuel (eight points) were close behind.
Two nights earlier, Liverpool, with its 7-1 record and no. 17 state Class AAA ranking (one spot ahead of C-NS), resumed action following the holiday break against Auburn, where it again had to lean on its defense to turn back the Maroons 46-40.
Auburn did have a scoring surge in the second quarter and took a 25-22 lead to halftime. From there, though, the Warriors increased its pressure, peaking with a fourth quarter where it limited the Maroons to four points after it went back in front.
Haskins led with 15 points, while Manuel had 10 points. Fowler (seven points), Trombley (six points) and Daniel Dunn (eight accounted for the rest of the offense.
C-NS, meanwhile, kept piling up wins, including a Dec. 28 trip to the Nexus Center in Utica for the Downtown Classic, where it faced Utica Proctor and battled its way to a 64-55 victory over the Raiders.
They went back and forth the entire first half. Only in the third quarter, when the Northstars outscored Proctor 20-14, did it move in front for good, and its defense held the Raiders to six points in the final period to protect that advantage.
Despite frequent double teams, Andrew Benedict still led both sides with 24 points. Michael Pfautz stepped up to get 12 points, while Terrance Coppack had nine points, Nate Francis eight points and Mike Sellin six points. Though well-balanced, no Raiders player had more than the 12 points put up by Marc Simmons.
Back in league action last Wednesday night, C-NS faced Fayetteville-Manlius in what proved to be an historic night for Benedict as he led the Northstars past the Hornets 71-55.
A 20-10 second quarter broke a close game open, and Benedict hit four 3-pointers which helped him break 2005 graduate Dan Benz’s school record of 116 career 3-pointers.
Producing in other ways, Benedict finished with 30 points, with help from Michael Gallo’s 11 points and Francis getting 10 points. Chris Cleary paced F-M with 18 points.
A Friday-night trip to 1-9 Central Square yielded, for a comfortable 94-40 win over the Redhawks, with C-NS jumping out 30-7 in the first quarter and ultimately seeing 11 different players get at least one field goal.
Benedict put up 21 points, with Francis getting 14 points. Roscoe Polos returned to early-season form with 14 points as Gallo got 10 points, Sellin eight points and Pfautz six points.
