CENTRAL NEW YORK – On the last Friday night of the regular season the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse boys basketball teams renew their rivalry a month after the Northstars won a close one at LHS.
Liverpool began last week’s activity stinging from a narrow 57-55 loss at West Genesee on Jan. 31 where it took a 47-37 lead to the fourth quarter, only to surrender all of it.
Outscored 20-8 in the final period, Liverpool wasted a season-best 27 points from Trombley, who didn’t get much help beyond the 11 points from Fowler as Giancarlo Galimi got seven points and seven rebounds. WG was led by Aidan Phelan’s 21 points and Kolton Castrello’s 18 points.
Angry at this, Liverpool took it out last Monday at Auburn in a 76-34 blowout where it built a 67-26 lead on the Maroons through the first three quarters, including a 29-8 third-quarter blitz.
Trombley (19 points) and Danny Dunn (16 points) combined on six 3-pointers. Fowler added 10 points as 11 different players earned points by game’s end.
Far more impressive was that Liverpool did close to the same thing against Fayetteville-Manlius two nights later in terms of containment in the course of a 56-37 victory over the Hornets.
Echoing its 66-40 romp of F-M late in January, Liverpool this time started to get away late in the first half after a quiet start and, while its offense was inconsistent, the defense held the Hornets under 10 points in three of the four periods.
Dunn, for the first time all season, led his team in scoring with 20 points as he and Trombley (12 points) both hit on three 3-pointers. This, along with Brady Michaud’s seven points, made up for F-M limiting Fowler to four points.
Another blowout happened a night later, only here it was C-NS, who had moved up to no. 14 in the latest state Class AAA rankings, going to Corcoran and putting away the Cougars 85-50.
In a first-quarter scoring blitz the Northstars amassed 32 points, establishing a big lead that it would augment the rest of the night with Andrew Benedict back at the forefront.
Having seen Nate Francis lead his team in scoring all three games the previous week, Benedict got 29 points here as Francis earned 21 points and Sam Werts stepped up with 15 points. They each hit on three 3-pointers as Andrew Potter and Brennan Tyler got six points apiece,
Weather again affected the schedule, C-NS seeing its game at Henninger last Thursday pushed back 24 hours – but the delay did little to stop the Northstars, who on Friday put away the Black Knights 65-41.
C-NS took charge in the second quarter, holding Henninger to six points, and then went on a 23-6 third-quarter blitz led by Francis and Werts, who combined to hit seven 3-pointers.
Francis finished with 19 points and Werts got 15 poins, with Benedict getting 13 points. MiyJon McDowell earned seven points, with Potter again earning six points.
Aside from facing Liverpool, the Northstars also have games early this week against New Hartford and Baldwinsville as Liverpool goes to Corcoran in preparation for the trip to C-NS.
