ONONDAGA COUNTY – Though a decade has passed since Bob McKenney went from Jamesville-DeWitt to Bishop Grimes boys basketball, no amount of time could dim the glory McKenney helped bring to the Red Rams in the form of five state championships.
Thus, any meeting between J-D and Grimes has meaning, and it only ratchets up when the occasion is something like next Monday night’s Section III Class A semifinal at Fayetteville-Manlius.
And that game only grew in stature, intensity and emotion with the announcement late this week that Bishop Grimes would close at the end of the school year, the Catholic Diocese merging this school with Bishop Ludden in 2025-26.
Getting to this place required these two teams to win quarterfinal games last week – and both did.
The no. 3 seed Cobras went first, taking on no. 6 seed Utica Academy of Science not yet knowing that it was playing its last-ever game on Tony Smarelli Court.
Fueled mostly by quick starts to each half, the Cobras made this last game a succesful one as it put away the Atoms by a score of 69-54.
Rarely this season had Grimes did anything like it did here in the first quarter, cranking up defensive pressure on one end while producing plenty of baskets on the other end to establish a 24-7 lead.
UAS did close the gap when the Cobras went cold the rest of the half while leaning its offense on Akol Machteng, who produced 36 points and 10 rebounds by game’s end.
Far more balanced, Grimes went on a 21-12 push through the third quarter to establish a 51-29 margin, impossible for the Atoms to overcome.
Bol Garang, with 21 points, and Nate Abernethy with 17 points combined to surpass Machteng, and more help came from A.J. Wade earning 11 points and Garang Garang adding eight points.
Now J-D, the no. 2 seed, had to do its part Wednesday night, hosting no. 7 seed New Hartford in a game where the Red Rams benefited from one big quarter and a career-best effort from Alan Zanders to prevail 68-58 over the Spartans.
New Hartford played an effective first half, leaning on the duo of Jameson Stockwell and Geovanni Frattasio to convert baskets and keeping J-D quiet whenever it tried to erase an early deficit.
Trailing 26-24 at the break, the Rams then hit a higher gear in the third quarter, picking up pressure and seeing Zanders continually burn the Spartans with his aggressive moves to the net.
Doubling its point total, J-D led 48-36 going to the final period, where Zanders made sure a New Hartford rally didn’t take place, eventually working his total to 34 points, exactly half of J-D’s output.
It took this, along with Steve Bazile earning 17 points, to overcome the fact that the Rams’ trio of Jackson Saroney, Terrell Willis and Eamon Giblin had just four total field goals. Stockwell gained 21 points and Frattasio got 19 points for the Spartans.
Whoever wins between J-D and Grimes may need to take down top seed and defending champion Westhill in the March 8 sectional final at SRC Arena should Westhill top South Jefferson in the other semifinal.
