CENTRAL NEW YORK – A long period of adjustment to a new coach and a new style of play held back the Baldwinsville boys basketball team early in the 2024-25 season, but it didn’t prove permanent.
By the time the Bees faced 16-1, state Class AAA no. 11-ranked Cicero-North Syracuse Tuesday night it found itself in prime position to deliver one of the winter’s biggest upsets.
Only at the very end did this bid fall short, B’ville taking a 55-54 defeat that, while disappointing, represented a substantial leap from the 89-52 loss it suffered at the hands of these same Northstars in mid-January.
Led by M.J. Young, the Bees made plenty of shots early to fire up the home crowd and led 18-12 through one quarter. Then it remained steady through the game’s middle stages, not allowing C-NS any kind of sustained run.
Still in front 46-41 going to the fourth quarter, B’ville tried hard to stay in front, but could not prevent C-NS from catching up and snatching it on the final possession.
Young’s 26 points led all scorers, with Matt Pope adding 12 points. Ben Leaton had eight points and Mike Virginia six points as the Northstars got 15 points from Nate Francis, 13 points from Andrew Benedict and 12 points from Andrew Potter.
Two more games were scheduled for the rest of the week against Auburn and West Genesee, even with the weather altering the schedule.
It held up Thursday night for B’ville to prevail 51-39 over Auburn, jumping out 15-5 on the Maroons in the opening period and remaining solid on defense the rest of the way to protect this margin.
Though cooling off a bit from the C-NS game Young still managed 17 points, Pope adding 13 points as the pair combined to hit five 3-pointers. Leaton remained consistent, earning nine points.
Saturday’s game with West Genesee followed, and it was the Wildcats’ defense which contained the Bees in the second half of a 53-35 defeat.
Even after getting held to five points in the first quarter, B’ville only trailed 22-20 at halftime. Then WG doubled up on the Bees 20-10 in the third, all the while holding Young to six points as Pope put up 11 points and Chris Patruno got six points.
As for the B’ville girls basketball team, it found itself for the second time in four nights smothered by reigning sectional Class AAA champion Liverpool in a 58-35 loss on Monday.
Back home after losing 53-32 at Liverpool on Feb. 7, the Bees this time were in catch-up mode from the outset, its offense limited to single-digit point totals in the first three quarters.
Liverpool, not looking ahead to Friday’s showdown with Cicero-North Syracuse, built a margin of 48-23 by the fourth quarter, ultimately keeping every B’ville player other than Olivia Davis (10 points) from netting more than four points.
And though the Bees did contain A’briyah Cunningham well and limited her to 10 points, Gianna Washington made up for it landing 20 points and Angie Kohler earned 11 points.
B’ville did a lot better Saturday against West Genesee, outdoing its Liverpool point total by the second quarter, leading 38-23 by halftime and pulling further away late to top the Wildcats 77-55.
Davis and Maddy Polky both set new season marks. Having scored more than 20 points once all season, Davis got 27 points here, while Polky was close behind earning 25 points as they both hit on four 3-pointers.
Natalie Hollingshead tacked on 14 points as her pair of 3-pointers gave B’ville 10 for the game and an overall record of 13-7 to take into the Section III Class AAA playoffs following the school break.
