ONONDAGA COUNTY – Far more than just wins or losses was what the Fayetteville-Manlius boys basketball team had in mind when it put together its holiday tournament.

As its theme the Hornets chose “No Empty Seats”, raising awareness of mental health throughout the two days of the tournament which welcomed Fulton, Central Valley Academy and Auburn.

F-M met the Maroons in the first round and prevailed 52-32, echoing a 66-38 win it got at Auburn two weeks earlier but playing even better defense here.

In a decisive second quarter Auburn was held without a field goal and got a single point off a free throw. This helped to build a 31-12 advantage the Hornets nursed through the rest of the game.

Even though no F-M player scored in double figures Reilly Anderson, Alex Kulikowsky and Ryder Burns got eight points apiece, helped by seven points from Boomer Kuss and six points from Charlie Schroder.

Fulton routed CVA 87-51 to set up a final between the Hornets and undefeated Red Dragons, one where Fulton, even pushed into a game against its usual tempo, pulled it out 55-47 to earn its sixth win in a row.

F-M was within range all game, but Fulton’s lone scoring surge in the third period created a 42-37 advantage and the Hornets never could quite catch up.

Kuss led with 11 points, closely followed by Schroder’s 10 points as Anderson got nine points and Jack Hearn eight points. Fulton was led by Xavier Doty’s 15 points and Koby Drake’s 14 points.

Nearly a week later, F-M got back in the win column, getting the best of its neighbors from East Syracuse Minoa in a 54-48 battle which was close start to finish.

Ultimately, the fact that the Hornets held the Spartans to nine points in the first quarter to get in front would hold up, ESM unable to put together a sustained scoring run against the F-M defense.

Schroder led with 17 points, helped by 13 points from Burns and 11 points from Nate Conley, Anderson adding nine points. Anthony Bryant paced the Spartans with 13 points, Tyler Quarry earning 10 points and Tommy Clonan contributing eight points.

This happened after Christian Brothers Academy hosted its own Manny Leone Holiday Classic, where it was unable to win either of its games.

Against Holy Cross Academy in the Dec. 29 opening round the Brothers lost 72-51, the game played on even terms until Holy Cross outscored CBA 24-12 in the third quarter to take charge. Tavin Penix was again sensational scoring 26 points, but none of his teammates reached double figures.

Then, in the consolation game against West Genesee (who fell 64-59 to Marcellus), CBA fell again, this time by a score of 65-60.

Again one bad stretch doomed the Brothers. Leading 23-20 after one period, CBA was outscored 16-6 the rest of the half and would spend the rest of the game chasing WG, but not catching up.

As he did against Holy Cross Penix got 26 points, but Drew Britton helped this time with 21 points. The rest of CBA’s roster had just five field goals, though, as Aidan Phelan (20 points), Kolton Castrello (17
points) and Jake McMahon (12 points) gave the Wildcats three players in double figures.

Holy Cross beat Marcellus, a state Class B finalist last winter, 58-52 in the championship game.