ROME – All was going just as the Baldwinsville boys basketball team wanted it.
A wild, high-scoring start in Friday night’s Section III Class AAA quarterfinal between the no. 6 seed Bees and no. 3 seed Rome Free Academy had settled into a hard-fought contest where the defenses were taking hold.
And as the third quarter concluded, B’ville was in front of the Black Knights, poised for its biggest win since the J.J. Startling-led run to the 2020 sectional Class AA final – but it could not quite stay there.
RFA made the push it needed and prevailed, 62-56, putting an end to a promising season where the Bees offered robust challenges to all of the top large schools in the area and never made it easy for any of them.
Going in, B’ville knew it could not get into a shootout of any type with the Black Knights, who had largely built its 16-4 record on an offense that produced 80 or more points 15 times, including the 100-point mark on three occasions and peaking with 118 against Utica Notre Dame in January.
But the Bees could take heart in the fact that it held RFA to a season-low in their first encounter, a 59-42 loss in mid-December, and it didn’t forget how to defend in the two months since.
Strong at the outset of the playoff rematch, B’ville grabbed a quick 7-0 edge, only to have the Black Knights counter with a trademark 16-2 push of its own before the Bees dominated the latter part of the first quarter and went back in front, 24-20.
Even as RFA rallied again and went up 38-36 by halftime led by Surafia Norries’ 19 first-half points, the game settled into a different rhythm that the hosts didn’t want and the visitors certainly did.
A series of defensive stops helped the Bees limit the Black Knights to just seven points in that frame. And when Greg Marinelli sank a pair of free throws, it pushed B’ville in front, 48-46, heading to the final period.
With every possession now important, it was RFA that took its turn stepping up on the defensive end, never more so that in the final minutes as it thwarted most of the Bees’ chances.
Deandre Neal’s basket with 3:40 left broke a 52-52 tie and gave the Black Knights the lead for good, and it was able to close it out as Uzziah Grimes (14 points) and Luke Hammon (11 points) joined Norries (25 points) and Neal (10 points) in double figures.
Battling to the end, the Bees got 18 points from Tyler Nilsen and 17 points from M.J. Young, with Marinelli adding 10 points, Nick Hollingshead six points and Ben Leaton five points.
Finishing its season at 11-10, B’ville will see Nilsen, Marinelli and Hollingshead graduate, tough players to replace, but will hope to build the 2024-25 season around Young, Leaton, TeiShawn Wade and current eighth-grader Matt Pope, applying all the lessons learned in this tough but rewarding campaign.
