CENTRAL NEW YORK – A lively and loud atmosphere was just what the Baldwinsville boys basketball team wanted when state Class AAA no. 11-ranked Cicero-North Syracuse paid a visit to Baker High School last Friday night.
And while the Bees got something close to the tempo it wanted, it could not keep the Northstars from making a recovery from just its second defeat of the season, prevailing by a score of 66-52.
Timing had a lot to do with this. Instead of a C-NS side in the midst of a long win streak, it caught the Northstars coming off a road defeat at Rome Free Academy three nights earlier where it surrendered 97 points to the Black Knights.
The Bees did all it could to contain C-NS early, yet still found itself trailing 20-11 after one period. But it hit enough shots the rest of the half to stay wihtin touch and then held the Northstars to eight points in the third quarter to make things tight.
Only trailing 47-41 with one period left, B’ville was unable to get the late sustained run it needed, despite M.J. Young stepping up to earn 19 points as Nick Hollingshead got 11 points, Tyler Nilsen 10 points and Greg Marinelli nine points.
C-NS’s 1,000-point junior standout, Andrew Benedict, solved the Bees’ defense for 28 points, helped mostly by Michael Gallo, who added 14 points.
B’ville entered the week feeling a bit better after its 52-42 non-league win over Lowville on Jan. 20 that followed, by less than 24 hours, a home defeat to Nottingham.
Again B’ville’s defense stepped up, consistently containing Lowville’s attack, so that modest production on the other end was enough. A majority of it came from Nilsen, who poured in 18 points, and Young, who had 12 points. Ben Leaton gained eight points.
From there, the Bees traveled east to face 9-3 Utica Proctor last Tuesday night, and it proved a close, tense battle, but B’ville fell 62-57 to the Raiders.
All through the night, the two sides exchanged runs. Trailing 32-30 after a tight first half, the Bees saw the deficit grow and, despite all of its attempts to come back, saw Proctor thwart them.
Falling to 9-7 after the defeat to C-NS, B’ville would host Henninger on Tuesday and then travel Friday night to East Syracuse Minoa, whom it beat 44-32 late in December in the final of the Spartans’ own holiday tournament.
