CENTRAL NEW YORK – Now approaching February, the Marcellus boys basketball team knows that its record and no. 1 state Class B rankings will make it the prime target once the Secton III Class B playoffs arrive.
In the meantime, the Mustangs, having returned Will Kershaw from injury, are at full strength and handling every opponent in front of them, including last Friday’s 80-46 win over Cazenovia.
Though the visiting Lakers shot well at the start, Marcellus took over in the second quarter and, over the course of the next two periods, outscored Cazenovia 43-17.
Will Burnett, with 17 points, was one of four Mustangs to score in double figures. Mitch Donegan poured in 14 points, with Will Kershaw getting 12 points and Tucker Burnett earning 10 points.
Skaneateles still has a meeting with Marcellus set for Feb. 9. In the meantime, it played three times last week, all on the road, and started it with its own impressive effort at Cazenovia.
Winning this latest Lakers duel 57-39, Skaneateles struggled to score baskets in the first half, leaning heavily on its defense to keep it close and only trail 22-18 at the break.
Then everything clicked, from scoring on one end to limiting Cazenovia to five points in a decisive third quarter. Pulling away from there, the visiting Lakers got 14 points from Reid Danforth and 10 points from Carter Loi as Charlie Girzadas (nine points), Finlay Coyne (seven points) and Tyler Dell (six points) followed.
This would not carry over into Thursday’s game at Phoenix, though. The Lakers fell 62-55 to the Firebirds, who used a 21-11 push through the second quarter to seize control and never allowed
Skaneateles to catch up, though Girzadas finished with 18 points and 16 rebounds. Jack Peenstra added 12 points and six rebounds, with Danforth and Loi getting nine points apiece.
Then, in Saturday’s non-league game against Clinton, Skaneateles was able to pull out a 68-66 victory, going back and forth with the Comets all game long, neither side able to get any kind of margin.
It took 25 points from Danforth to help the Lakers pull through, with Girzadas and Peenstra each earning 10 points as Girzadas added nine rebounds and four assists and Peenstra six rebounds and three assists. Coyne contributed seven points.
Solvay, who were once 2-10, won for the second time in as many weeks last Monday against Red Creek, the offense doing much of the work in a 77-59 victory.
A 20-8 start put the Bearcats in control and it didn’t let up from there, especially Jeff Sharpe, who set a career mark pouring in 27 points with plenty of help from A.J. Trendell, who had 16 points, and Aiyden Geigel, who had 14 points.
Yet it couldn’t quite carry over for Solvay into Wednesday’s game with Cortland, where it lost 51-48 to a Purple Tigers side who held the Bearcats to five points in the second quarter to go in front.
Though it was close all the way to the end, Solvay could not catch Cortland, who was led by Caden Albright’s 22 points, nearly twice the best Bearcats total of 12 by Jairo DeJesus as Geigel added 11 points and Trendell had eight points.
Jordan-Elbridge had a 7-5 record going into last Tuesday’s game at Phoenix, but in its only action of the week the Eagles could not overcome slow starts to each half in a 66-44 loss to the Firebirds.
By the time the first quarter was done, J-E trailed 20-7, and though it made up some of that ground before halftime, Phoenix used a 23-12 push through the third quarter to get away for good.
Nolan Brunelle still finished with 18 points, while Preston Murray had 11 points. No other Eagles player had more than four points as Lincoln Kersey paced the Firebirds with 21 points, most of it from five 3-pointers.
