ONONDAGA COUNTY – Students poured onto the court Tuesday night celebrating the East Syracuse Minoa boys basketball team’s survival in a tense Section III Class AA quarterfinal against Oswego.
Except that the Spartans had not won.
A long delay, two missed free throws and several ejected fans later, the no. 3 seed Spartans did prevail 83-81 over the no. 6 seed Buccaneers, earning a berth in Monday night’s semifinal at Cicero-North Syracuse High School against no. 3 seed Nottingham.
That it even reached this point was a tribute first to ESM’s ability to get out in front but also its inability to put the game away, nearly squandering a comfortable lead in the final minutes.
The Spartans steadily worked its way to a 39-33 halftime lead on an Oswego side with whom it split two regular-season meetings, only to have the Bucs dominate the third quarter as it outscored the hosts 22-11.
Another turnaround followed, Oswego going cold early in the final period and ESM going back in front led by Anthony Bryant, who had 24 points, and Tommy Clonan, whose 23 points included five 3-pointers.
Even this didn’t kill off the Bucs, though. Baskets by Dan Callen and Eddie Kuzawski whittled the Spartans’ margin to two and it got the ball back with 12 seconds to play, still with a chance to tie or even win it.
Twice Oswego took shots, which missed. Off the second miss Callen tracked down the rebound and was fouled with 0.5 seconds to play.
Thinking that time ran out, ESM students ran out on the court, only to have officials and even some players order them to return to the stands.
The delay did nothing to help Callen, who missed the first foul try and saw his intentional second miss lead to a turnover, after which Oswego fans standing near the court began an argument about ESM not getting a technical foul. It got heated enough that a few of them had to leave the gym.
Finally ESM ran out the remaining time, having seen Bryant and Clonan helped by teammates Tyler Quarry and Ezra Wilson-Hefti getting nine points apiece and Wuor Piok adding six points.
Unlike their neighbors, Fayetteville-Manlius and Christian Brothers Academy could not make it out of their respective sectioanl quarterfinals, both in the Class AAA bracket.
The no. 6 seed Hornets fell to no. 3 seed Bishop Ludden 60-32 Thursday night, only netting seven points in the entire first half against a voracious Gaelic Knights defense.
Recovering a bit in the second half, F-M got baskets from eight different players by game’s end but no one with more than Reilly Anderson’s seven points. By contrast, Ludden got 22 points from and seven rebounds from Jahzar Greene as Joe Dunham added 16 points and 12 rebounds.
This came after Wednesday’s AAA quarterfinal where CBA, the no. 5 seed, fell 63-44 to no. 4 seed and defending champion Liverpool, a game where the Brothers never held a lead.
Though closer than the 68-32 rout CBA suffered Nov. 29 in the Zebra Classic when it still had a short-handed roster due to football, the Brothers still found itself in catch-up mode all night.
A string of Liverpool 3-pointers late in the first half helped establish a 44-22 margin early in the third quarter. When CBA went on a 12-2 run to shave that deficit in half, Liverpool countered with an 11-2 spurt stretching deep into the fourth quarter to settle it.
Double-teamed most of the night, Tavin Penix finished with 19 points as freshman Gino Bullock had 13 points. Liverpool had three players hit double figures – Freddy Fowler with 19 points, Alex Trombley with 13 points and Danny Dunn with 11 points.
