SYRACUSE – A third consecutive Section III championship for the Liverpool boys basketball team was a big enough accomplishment. Doing it at the expense of its rivals from Cicero-North Syracuse only made it sweeter.
When the Warriors fought its way past the Northstars 55-52 in Saturday’s sectional Class AAA title game at SRC Arena, it was as much about grit and determination was it was about sheer talent, a benchmark of recent Liverpool title teams going all the way back to its state championship run in 2018.
As it had done so many other times this winter, Liverpool took the difficult path in this title game, trailing for long stretches and still finding itself behind, 52-51, as the game entered the final 90 seconds.
With C-NS worried most about keeping the ball away from the duo of Jeff Manuel inside and Alex Trombley outside, it swung to Danny Dunn in the corner – and with 1:10 left, Dunn hit the 3-pointer that proved the game-winner.’
Then the Warriors’ defense, a strong point all season, made its biggest stop so far, forcing Andrew Benedict into a short shot that Liverpool rebounded.
Working down the clock and forcing C-NS to use its fouls, it wasn’t until 4.3 seconds were left that Trombley went to the line, where he missed his first free throw but made the second. Benedict’s 3-point attempt to tie it flew off target as the horn sounded.
For much of the game, Benedict was the primary source of the Northstars’ production. His surges had kept C-NS in front and, after the Warriors tied it going to the fourth quarter, he hit on nine of his game-high 26 points to go with 14 rebounds, the last of them with 3:11 to go that produced a 52-49 Northstars lead. Ben
But C-NS was shut out the rest of the way. Much as it had done in an overtime win over the Northstars in December, Liverpool leaned on total team defense to go with balanced production on the other end.
Jeff Manuel, named the tournament MVP, equaled Benedict’s 14 rebounds and tacked on 15 points, with Trombley getting 17 points and Freddie Fowler gaining nine points. Other than Benedict, no other C-NS player scored in double figures, Michael Pfautz getting eight points as Michael Gallo and T.J. Coppock had six points apiece.
Liverpool heads to Troy’s Hudson Valley Community College next Saturday for a Class AAA regional final with Albany’s Green Tech, from Section II, whom it beat last year in Class AA to reach the state final four.
