CENTRAL NEW YORK – Three boys basketball teams, three top seeds in the Section III playoffs – and three emphatic victories Tuesday night that sent them all to this weekend’s championship games at SRC Arena.
Whether it was West Genesee topping Fulton 83-53 in Class AA, Westhill ripping Chittenango 75-44 in Class A or Marcellus pulling away from Holland Patent 75-56 in Class B, the theme was the same – a confident favorite playing exactly the way it wanted and humbling a hungry challenger.
Of the three, Westhill’s game with Chittenango at East Syracuse Minoa had the most background. The Warriors carried the confidence from beating the Bears in last year’s sectional Class B semifinal on the way to a state title, plus two regular-season wins over Chittenango along with the lessons learned from those meetings.
In both of this season’s games – an 84-76 decision on Jan. 17, then a 69-58 decision on Feb. 6 – Westhill won despite big games from Chittenango junior sensation Ryan Moesch, especially the 46 points he notched in the first defeat.
Given Moesch’s prodigious scoring gift, Westhill was determined to keep him from getting his trademark big point totals, even if it meant abandoning its traditional man-to-man defensive approach.
Here, from the moment Moesch crossed midcourt, he faced double teams from Dom Zawadzki and Eli Welch, who shadowed him on drives to the basket and also stayed close whenever he decided to pull up and shoot.
Initially, this didn’t work. A combined four 3-pointers had the Bears leading 17-11 late in the first quarter, yet when those outside shots stopped falling, Westhill took over, moving in front early in the second period and using a 21-2 run to gain control, with eight of those points coming from Eli Prince.
Meanwhile, Moesch was shut out in that second period. Even with that, Chittenango only trailed 33-23 at halftime, but back-to-back 3-pointers by Zawadzki, a player not known for his offensive gifts, helped the Warriors pull further away early in the third quarter.
Ultimately, Moesch would finish with 22 points, passing Brandon Corp and, with 1,682 career points, becoming the program’s all-time leading scorer. But Moesch had to work until the end to get that total, which Prince equaled as Welch (14 points), Kam Langdon (17 points) and Charlie DeMore (10 points) also reached double figures.
Westhill advanced to face Central Valley Academy (who ousted Jamesville-DeWitt) 63-55 in the Class A sectional final this Friday at 7 p.m. A day later, West Genesee and Marcellus will get their turns, the Wildcats meeting Syracuse Academy of Science for Class AA honors at 11:30 a.m. and, at 6 p.m., the Mustangs taking on Clinton.
WG’s challenge in the sectional semifinal at Liverpool High School seemed formidable. Fulton, the no. 4 seed, nearly prevailed they met earlier in the month, leading by double digits in the fourth quarter before the Wildcats stormed back and pulled it out 75-71.
That the rematch turned out far different had a lot to do with the confidence WG had built up within its lineup, not having to depend as much on the likes of Jordan Cain and Gary McLane.
Cain scored the Wildcats’ first seven points, sparking his side to a 24-12 lead by the end of the first quarter, only to sit late in the period with two fouls. But the rest of the team maintained that margin the rest of the half, with Sincere Smith taking a starring role.
Already tasked with defending Fulton’s standout junior, Gavin Doty, Smith found himself more aggressive on offense, too, driving to the basket and converting on a regular basis. More than anyone, he sparked WG’s 13-0 spurt that opened the third quarter and essentially put the game out of Fulton’s reach.
For the night, Smith had 23 points, a new career mark nearly equaling Doty’s 25 points. Cain, despite his long time on the bench, still got 20 points, with McLane earning 16 points.
Even with the great work WG and Westhill have done, it’s Marcellus who has ruled atop the state Class B rankings all season, and it earned a return trip to the sectional final (where Westhill beat them in 2023) with another fine effort against Holland Patent at J-D’s home floor.
Steady production throughout the first half left the Mustangs in control, but only up 40-30 on the Golden Knights going to halftime. Then the defense kicked in, limiting HP to nine points in a decisive third quarter as the margin more than doubled.
Having his way inside, Will Kershaw finished with 24 points, while Will Burnett had 16 points and Tucker Burnett got 15 points. Codey Kociela managed eight points and Mitch Donegan six points as, on Saturday night at 6 p.m., Marcellus will meet no. 6 seed Clinton in the sectional final, the Comets upending no. 2 seed Little Falls 62-55 in its semifinal game.
