ONONDAGA COUNTY – Much of the closing stretch of the regular season for each of the Baldwinsville basketball teams involves crossing paths with its closest neighbors from Liverpool.
The girls Bees, who were off last week, will play Liverpool twice in consecutive games, starting this Friday at LHS and then continuing Feb. 10 at Baker High School, two critical tests against the reigning sectional Class AAA champions.
As for the B’ville boys, it had already seen Liverpool once, taking a 60-48 road defeat back on Dec. 17, but had improved plenty since that point and came into last Tuesday’s rematch at home off back-to-back wins over Auburn and Corcoran.
Start to finish, this game centered around defense, which the Bees played quite well, only to run into an even stingier opponent and, again, fall to Liverpool, this time 45-34.
Intense defensive pressure bottled up B’ville throughout the first half as it managed just 14 points in those first two quarters. Still, it did enough to only trail 34-28 going to the fourth quarter.
Liverpool got away, though, led by Freddy Fowler’s 15 points and Alex Trombley’s 10 points. The Bees saw TeiShawn Wade and M.J. Young earn 12 points apiece and Ben Leaton eight points, but the rest of the roster combined for just one field goal.
Going to Henninger two nights later, B’ville attempted to repeat the 65-49 victory it achieved over the Black Knights in the Dec. 9 season opener but could not do so, taking a 50-47 loss.
Here too much of the offense fell on Young, who put up 21 points. Only Wade, with eight points, got close to double figures and no other Bees player had more than two field goals. Henninger got 21 points from Juelz Lewis, but he had help from Nymeer Dozier earning 14 points.
Playing at Fayetteville-Manlius on Saturday afternoon B’ville faced an opponent with a 10-4 record – and shut it down, start to finish, on the way to a 43-29 victory over the Hornets.
Quick out of the gate, the Bees rode that momentum the rest of the way even as its hot early shooting cooled off, largely because it kept F-M quiet for long stretches and only allowed Luke Elsbey, with 10 points, reach double figures.
Meanwhile, Young hit a trio of 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 13 points helped by Ben Leaton, whose 12 points marked only the second time he reached double figures all season. Chris Patruno stepped up, too, his nine points the first time this winter he had contributed more than a single field goal in a game.
This week’s games for the B’ville boys includes a direct rematch with F-M Friday night after hosting West Genesee, who knocked off Liverpool 57-55 right after the Bees faced them.