ONONDAGA COUNTY – Each with their eyes toward defending Section III titles, the Westhill and West Genesee boys basketball both made their way to their respective title games during Monday night’s semifinal round.
At Fayetteville-Manlius Westhill, the top seed in Class A, turned back no. 4 seed South Jefferson 68-44 as star junior forward Eli Prince earned his 1,000th career point.
Up at Cicero-North Syracuse, West Genesee, the no. 1 seed in Class AA, continued its recent tear, handling no. 5 seed Henninger 58-49 for its 10th consecutive victory.
Westhill, who has won 12 in a row, continued the dominance it had over the top half of the sectional Class A bracket, having pounded Oneida 91-53 and Central Valley Academy 85-39 in the first two rounds on its home court.
South Jefferson, 18-4 going into the game, found itself on the receiving end of another strong start from the Warriors, who hit plenty of shots on its way to grabbing a 22-9 lead by the end of the first quarter.
As the margin grew to 41-21 by halftime, Prince, who is already drawing interest from colleges like Siena, Le Moyne and St. Bonaventure, moved from his total of 985 career points entering the game past the 1,000 mark.
Westhill maintained the margin the rest of the way, Prince finishing with 28 points as he constantly drew defensive attention and contact, leading to a career-best 12 successful free throws.
Hitting a trio of 3-pointers, Jackson Goodness finished with 12 points, just ahead of Kamari Lewis earning nine points and Jack Hayes getting eight points as Eli Welch earned eight points.
Familiar and historic rivals will meet Friday night at SRC Arena in the sectional final, Westhill facing no. 2 seed Jamesville-DeWitt, who held off Bishop Grimes 66-63 in an emotion-charged semifinal which was the last game for Grimes before the school closes in June.
Over at C-NS, it was West Genesee against a Henninger side it handled 81-57 when they met Jan. 11 and 64-46 in a rematch a month later.’
Fresh off a last-second win over Fulton in the quarterfinals, the Black Knights made the third meeting tougher than the first two, but the Wildcats’ defense made sure it stayed out in front most of the way, limiting an opponent under 50 points for the sixth time in the course of the 10 wins in a row.
Now in the sectional final Saturday at SRC Arena it’s WG against Nottingham, who edged East Syracuse Minoa 54-51 in the other semifinal and topped the Wildcats 58-45 when they met back on Dec. 7 at J-D during the Peppino’s Invitational.
