CENTRAL NEW YORK – Given their recent shared history and their recent success, any boys basketball game between Chittenango and Westhill is bound to be a special one full of outstanding performances.
So it was again when these two collided Tuesday night, a game the Bears led for long stretches before the Warriors rallied late and prevailed by a score of 84-76.
The entire first half was a close-run affair where neither side led by more than four points and the lead changed hands 11 times. Ryan Moesch amassed 23 points, but Westhill sophomore Eli Prince nearly equaled that total and his last-second putback gave the Warriors a 38-37 advantage going to the break.
Sparked by three 3-pointers from Brendon Barnard, Chittenango went on a 13-4 run to lead 50-42, but saw Westhill chip away, helped in no small part by Moesch getting held without a 3-pointer for most of the second half.
Then, at the start of the fourth quarter, the Warriors put together a 15-3 run to go ahead for good. Kam Langdon had eight of those points, with Eli Welch adding a baseline dunk.
Try as it could, the Bears could not catch up. Moesch ultimately had 46 points, but it was overcome by Prince’s career-high 35 points and 11 rebounds, plus Langdon getting 21 of his 28 points in the second half and adding 11 assists. Barnard got 12 points, with Jack Lamphere and Bernardo Bartovski adding six points apiece.
As it awaits a rematch with Westhill Feb. 6, the Bears rebounded Thursday by beating Homer 54-38 Homer to improve to 10-5 overall.
Despite all of the Trojans’ attempts to slow the game down, Moesch led Chittenango on a decisive 20-6 second-quarter tear and did not let up until he had again put up 40 points, with some help from Jack Lamphere, who got eight points.
Cazenovia found that the confidence it gained rallying for a road win at Phoenix on Jan. 12 had not dissipated by the time it returned to the court last Wednesday to face Mount Markham.
Instead, the Lakers subdued the Mustangs 77-59, steadily producing throughout the first half on the way to a 37-23 lead and offering an emphatic answer when Mount Markham tried to rally in the second half.
Ben Bianco found some of his early-season form, hitting on six 3-pointers to account for most of his 24 points. Tanner Lawson put in 19 points, with Edmond Richardson earning 15 points. Alex Kuper and James London had six points apiece.
Two nights later, at Solvay, Cazenovia kept it going with an impressive 69-52 win where it outscored the Bearcats in every single quarter and, leading 39-33 at halftime, improved on defense during the last two quarters to pull further away.
Remaining steady, Bianco finished with 23 points, helped a great deal by Richardson and his four 3-pointers that accounted for most of his 18 points. Lawson gained nine points, with Kuper and Izaak Gilbert each earning seven points.
All this brought Cazenovia back to the .500 mark (6-6) as it takes a four-game win streak to Tuesday’s game with Skaneateles before visiting state Class B no. 1-ranked Marcellus next Friday. Chittenango hosts East Syracuse Minoa on Tuesday and travels to Mexico Friday night.
