ONONDAGA COUNTY – Heading into February the Liverpool boys basketball team understands that the challenge of defending its Section III Class AAA championship will be immense – and Cicero-North Syracuse was part of the reason for it.
All the Northstars did last week was win three times in four days and, to close out this stretch, avenge its lone defeat of the regular season when it beat Utica Proctor 73-60 last Saturday afternoon to improve to 13-1 overall.
Remembering the 62-49 loss it took at the Nexus Center late in December, C-NS cranked up its defense in the first half to take charge, rarely allowing the Raiders room to pass or shoot and eventually build a 34-16 halftime lead.
Though Proctor did improve in the second half, it could not catch up nor cool down Nate Francis, who completed a memorable week of performances by sinking eight 3-pointers to account for most of his 28 points.
Andrew Potter set his own season mark with 18 points, so Andrew Benedict could take more of a supporting role and still manage 15 points. Marcello Moorehand led the Raiders with 21 points.
Having climbed to no. 14 in the state Class AAA rankings earlier in the week, C-NS after a 24-hour weather postponement the returned to action last Wednesday against West Genesee.
Just as it did Dec. 17 in Camillus, the Northstars handled the Wildcats, this time in a 78-56 decision where Francis made his way to center stage where he would stay all week.
During a decisive 22-9 second-quarter push, Francis started finding open looks and converting them, and he kept going until seven 3-pointers had fallen and he had 29 points overall.
Benedict was close behind, pouring in 24 points as Brennan Tyler converted nine points. C-NS’s defense was solid start to finish, not letting any WG player net more than 11 points from Kolton Castrello and Clyde Allen.
Liverpool would have its own game with WG Friday night in Camillus, and though it beat the Wildcats back in December it could not do so here, dropping a tight 57-55 decision.
C-NS was home that same night and rolled past Auburn 72-57, outscoring the Maroons 43-28 over the course of the second and third quarters to account for its entire margin.
Francis remained at the forefront of the Northstars’ attack, netting 26 points to nearly equal his West Genesee effort. Benedict finished with 17 points, Andrew Potter adding 10 points as Brennan Tyler and Miy’Jon McDowell both finished with six points.
Liverpool’s busy late-season slate got underway last Tuesday night at Baker High School where it battled to a 45-34 victory over Baldwinsville.
Having defeated the Bees 60-48 at home on Dec. 17, Liverpool found the rematch more challenging thanks to a B’ville defense which never let the visitors relax even as it built a 21-14 halftime advantage.
The Bees made up some ground and only trailed by four, 28-24, with one period left, but Liverpool was finally able to get some consistent production in the late going to thwart B’ville’s upset bid.
Freddy Fowler led all scorers gaining 15 points, with Alex Trombley adding 10 points. Danny Dunn had even points as the Bees got 12 points apiece from M.J. Young and TeiShawn Wade plus eight points from Ben Leaton, but Liverpool heled the rest of the B’ville roster to a single field goal.
After the loss to West Genesee Liverpool would try to bounce back Monday against Auburn and take on Fayetteville-Manlius two days later as C-NS has games this week with Corcoran and Henninger.
