ONONDAGA COUNTY – More than 10 months since they battled for the Section III Class AAA championship the boys basketball rivalry between Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool had only grown in importance and intensity.
For now, the Northstars have the upper hand – but not by much, if the 57-55 victory C-NS attained at Liverpool Friday night was any indication.
In a game full of prolonged scoring runs and droughts on both ends, the Northstars had to wait until an empty final Liverpool possession in the closing seconds to gain a bit of payback for dropping the 2024 sectional final at SRC Arena.
All through the first half it was at a pace Liverpool desired, with long possessions and an ability to contain C-NS’s top-scoring duo of Andrew Benedict and Nate Francis through most of the first half.
Trailing 15-7 early, Liverpool caught up late in the second quarter as Alex Trombley scored 10 points in that frame. And a 10-0 run bridging the second and third quarters had C-NS trailing 34-27 early in the second half.
Then it all turned.
Picking up full-court pressure which translated to more possessions and baskets, the Northstars held Liverpool without a field goal for nearly six minutes and ultimately stretched a 21-3 run into the fourth quarter.
Again Liverpool was behind and, again, it fought back as the physical play picked up in the final minutes and two C-NS starters, Sam Werts (who had 11 points) and Marcus Reed, fouled out.
And even when Trombley fouled out in the final minute, Liverpool nearly made it all the way back. It got within one, 56-55, on Danny Dunn’s 3-pointer with nine seconds left.
Out of time-outs, Liverpool had to foul. Francis, with 4.3 seconds to play, missed the first free throw but made the second, and the Northstars forced Freddy Fowler into a desperation shot that fell short as time ran out.
Trombley led all scorers with 19 points, just ahead of Benedict’s 18 points. Francis earned 13 of his 16 points in the second half as Fowler also earned 16 points. These two teams meet again Feb. 14 at C-NS.
Neither side tripped up in their final games before the showdown, though the way they got those victories proved quite different from each other.
C-NS hosted Baldwinsville Tuesday night and unleashed a shooting barrage unprecedented in the program’s history while bashing the Bees 89-52 as Liverpool, leaning far more on its defense, defeated Corcoran 54-34.
It helped the Northstars that it was playing a B’ville side which had not played in 17 days, but even if the Bees were more game-ready it could do nothing to contain what C-NS put on them.
In the course of building a 66-33 lead through three quarters the Northstars kept getting open 3-point looks and kept making them, not letting up until 19 of them were in the books, a single-game school record.
Benedict’s 17 points put him past 1,500 for his career, just the second player in program history (after Michael Brown) to reach this plateau.
Yet it was Francis who led the attack with 25 points, hitting on five 3-pointers. Werts and Larry Nesci each connected three times beyond the arc to match Benedict, Werts earning 11 points and Nesci nine points.
Liverpool could not come close to matching C-NS’s production when it took on Corcoran- but did not need to, either.
Concentrating on the defensive side, Liverpool held the Cougars under 10 points in every quarter except the second, allowing it to work around modest production until a 17-8 push through the third quarter put the game away.
Fowler led with 13 points, with Trombley adding 11 points. Dunn finished with 10 points and Giancarlo Gallimi earned six points.
Both C-NS and Liverpool have games next week against Fayetteville-Manlius, with Liverpool also taking on Binghamton and Henninger.