JORDAN – Even with some strong teams and tremendous athletes among its rosters in seasons past, Cazenovia boys basketball has never experienced what it has with Ben Bianco on the court.
Further proof of this was illustrated Thursday night when Bianco became the first player in the Lakers’ program history to reach the 1,000 career point mark – and did it during a thrilling 84-80 overtime victory over Jordan-Elbridge.
Entering the game close to that mark, Bianco reached it by sinking a 3-pointer in the first quarter, after which the game was stopped to acknowledge Bianco’s accomplishment with a commemorative ball and poster.
It happened as Cazenovia was trading baskets with J-E, a team it beat 62-38 just two weeks earlier at Buckley Gym, and a similar type of game appeared at hand when the Lakers went on a second-quarter tear and took a 41-28 lead to the break.
J-E didn’t go away, though, chipping away at the margin and then, led by the duo of Nolan Brunelle and Preston Murray, outscoring Cazenovia 22-11 in the fourth quarter to catch up.
They went to overtime 68-68, and four extra minutes did not solve anything. Only in the second OT did the Lakers go back in front for good, its defense limiting the Eagles to just four points.
Effective at the free-throw line (it hit 19 of 25 foul shots), Cazenovia saw Bianco and Edmond Richardson combine for 14 of those successful attempts at the line.
Bianco finished with 35 points, the fifth time this season he’s gone past the 30-point mark. Richardson earned 16 points, with Bobby Livingston earning 13 points and Alex Kuper adding nine points.
In defeat, Brunelle, who has also surpassed 1,000 career points and is just a sophomore, poured in 37 points, including seven 3-pointers, while Murray got 24 points, but no other J-E player had more than six points.
Cazenovia ended up with the no. 10 seed for the Section III Class B playoffs and, in its round-of-16 game Wednesday night, will face no. 7 seed Phoenix, a team with which it split two close regular-season games.
This happens a night after Chittenango, as the no. 4 seed in Class A, meets no. 13 seed Vernon-Verona-Sherrill in its opening-round game, the winner to get Camden or Indian River in the quarterfinals later in the week. The Bears’ scheduled regular-season finale against East Syracuse Minoa on Friday was canceled due to winter weather.
