UTICA – All winter long it had appeared a change at the top of the Section III Class AAA boys basketball ranks was at hand, with Liverpool still good but inevitably having to cede its crown to a challenger of some kind, either from next door or from the eastern part of the section.
At least for now, the champions remain – and two challengers who combined to beat the Warriors three times this winter are out of the running.
Undefeated top seed Rome Free Academy could not get past Liverpool in Tuesday night’s sectional semifinals at Mohawk Valley Community College, with the no. 4 seed Warriors upending the Black Knights 70-65.
As if one semifinal surprise was not enough, another followed as Cicero-North Syracuse, the no. 2 seed now suddenly thrust into the favorite’s role, picked the worst time possible to have its lowest-scoring game of the season, falling 55-43 to no. 3 seed Bishop Ludden.
The roots of Liverpool’s victory were planted early in December in the Peppino’s Invitational when it first met RFA. The Black Knights won that meeting 75-70 but needed a fourth-quarter comeback to prevail, so the Warriors left feeling better about its chances in a playoff rematch.
By the time it happened the Black Knights were 17-0 and had scored at least 70 points in each of those victories. It was Liverpool who would both stop both the scoring streak and the win streak, too.
Danny Dunn proved the early spark, taking full advantage of all the shooting space RFA gave him to drain four 3-pointers in the first quarter and help the Warriors bolt out to a 22-10 advantage by period’s end.
And the lead got as big as 19 in the second quarter before the Black Knights battled back. Led by Uzziah Grimes, who would produce a game-high 26 points, RFA dominated late in the half, moved within four (39-35) at the break and continued the surge in the third quarter to go in front.
Dunn cooled off a bit but his teammates, especially Alex Trombley, kept Liverpool in it, Trombley getting most of his 15 points in the game’s middle stages, though by the time they reached the middle of the final period the Warriors still trailed 61-56.
Here Freddy Fowler, a senior who had gone through so many big games before, took over. No matter what RFA tried, it could not keep Fowler from reeling off 13 consecutive points in those last four minutes which put Liverpool back in front to stay.
Fowler finished with 23 points, just ahead of Dunn’s total of 22 points as Giancarlo Galimi added eight points. Together, the trio of Fowler, Dunn and Trombley hit on all 11 of Liverpool’s successful 3-point attempts.
As the Warriors celebrated yet another big post-season victory, C-NS now realized that getting its first sectional title since 2010 would require eventually beating Liverpool for a third time this season in the title game this Saturday at SRC Arena.
Except that Bishop Ludden had far different plans. Having gone 18-2 this winter, the Gaelic Knights brought its own fair amount of confidence into the sectional semifinal and proceeded to shut the Northstars down.
Both sides struggled out of the gate, yet C-NS did not take advantage of this situation, unable to make many shots and turning the ball over against a relentless Ludden defense.
A modest 9-6 advantage through one quarter quickly vanished, the Gaelic Knights moving in front to stay in the second period and then, up 19-15 at halftime, more than doubling its output in the third quarter while putting the game away.
In particular, Jahzar Greene got on track. Ludden’s star junior guard tore through a C-NS defense which had mostly contained him in the first half for a series of baskets that keyed his team’s 23-10 spurt.
By game’s end, Greene had 27 points, nearly half his team’s output, while adding six rebounds. Inside, the duo of Liam Sheard and Trey Dennis matched each other with double-doubles of 11 points and 10 rebounds, Dennis adding three assists.
Not until the fourth quarter did C-NS finally break out of its slump, but it proved too late. Nate Francis had 18 points and Andrew Benedict 17 points, with only two other players (Miy’Jon McDowell Reid and Sam Werts) picking up baskets.
