C-NS boys basketball unable to catch Liverpool

By PHiL BLAckWELL

When the Section III Class AA playoffs get underway late this week, the Cicero-North Syracuse will enter it with enough confidence that it can compete with top sides, even if wins against them remain elusive. This is especially true when it comes to the Northstars’ biggest rival, Liverpool, with whom C-NS has played a pair of exciting games this winter without being able to topple the reigning sectional champions. And it remained the case last Tuesday night at LHS, where the Northstars were always within range, yet unable to catch up in the course of a 66-56 loss to the Warriors. Liverpool had prevailed by a nearly identical score, 66-58, when they first met Jan. 10 at C-NS, using a 25-14 push through the second quarter in that game to build a margin that the Northstars could not overcome.

Here, the two sides again traded baskets early, and again the second period proved important, largely because C-NS went cold and managed just nine points, falling behind 3125 at intermission.’ Try as it could, the Northstars were unable to make up that ground, even as Andrew Benedict poured in 20 points. Of his teammates, only Reece Congel, with 12 points, hit double figures as Kyle

Williams got seven points. Mostly, the Warriors were a two-pronged attack, leaning on Andreo Ash, who had 27 points, and Bruce Wingate, who tacked on 18 points to keep Liverpool on track before its first-place showdown with West Genesee later in the week (see separate story).

Tough as this defeat was, C-NS answered with, arguably, its best allaround performance of the season, dominating the second half against visiting Fayetteville-Manlius on Thursday and earning a 69-48 victory. Against the same Hornets side it lost to both in last February’s sectional quarterfinals and in a Jan. 6 game at F-M, the Northstars traded baskets until adjusting its defense and, in the third quarter, taking over.

C-NS outscored F-M 29-12 in the second half, and Congel led the offense, his season-best five 3-pointers part of a 22-point effort as Benedict earned 15 points, Michael Pfautz had nine points and Michael Gallo added eight points. The Northstars limited F-M’s 1,000-point scorer, Trevor Roe, to 16 points.

Great as this was, the Northstars fell back 24 hours later in its regularseason finale against Henninger in a 65-53 loss where it led 45-50 going to the fourth quarter, only to see it all get away in the final minutes. Led by Ja’Quair Lewis (18 points) and haL heNty cicero-north syracuse guard Andrew Benedict (22) blocks Liverpool’s Fred Fowler (23) during last tuesday’s game. Benedict led the northstars with 20 points in its 6656 loss to the Warriors.

Will’zarrion Jones (15 points), the Black Knights, defying its 3-14 record, outscored C-NS 25-8 in the final period. Congel still had 17 points, with Benedict and Gallo getting 13 points apiece, but the Northstars would close its regular season at 13-7 and await its post-season assignment.

Liverpool girls hoops tops C-NS in rematch

By PHiL BLAckWELL

Whether the Liverpool girls basketball team noticed that its rivals from Cicero-North Syracuse were eight spots above them in the state Class AA rankings, despite twice as many defeats and a head-to-head loss to the Warriors, was not really important. What was quite important, though, was the statement the Warriors made on the court last Tuesday night at C-NS, shutting down a majority of the Northstars’ lineup and prevailing 55-37 to complete a regular-season sweep and return to first place in the SCAC Metro division.

Still, the Northstars, to get to the top of the standings, had to figure out Liverpool, something it didn’t do early in their Jan. 7 meeting, falling behind as much as 20 and seeing its frantic comeback fall just short. From that 70-63 result, though, the Warriors took a different lesson, one that would get applied here - from a defensive standpoint, don’t ever ease up on the pressure. This allowed Liverpool to weather a quiet first quarter that ended 5-5 as only Neveah Wingate and Kat McRobbie scored points for either team. And when Grace Sleeth hit on consecutive 3-pointers, the Warriors took charge.

Of course, the bigger story was on the other end. With a mix of formations and plenty of improvisation, Liverpool made it difficult for any Northstars player who had the ball or, when they didn’t have possession, try to get themselves open.

As a result, there was a six-minute scoring drought in the first half and haL heNty then, bridging the second and third quarters, a span of 11-plus minutes without a field goal. What’s more, no one other than McRobbie got a field goal until Olivia Cook converted late in the third period, C-NS only finding any kind of offensive rhythm when the game was settled in the closing minutes. Meanwhile, Wingate led the getaway, netting 11 of her 22 points in the third quarter, with help from A’briyah Cunningham, who had eight points, and Kaylyn Sweeney, who had seven points. McRobbie finished with 14 points and Cook added eight points.

Liverpool girls basketball head coach Mike Wheeler earned his 500th career victory last Friday when the Warriors defeated West Genesee. Wheeler earned most of those wins as the women’s basketball coach at onondaga community college before coming to Liverpool.

As if this wasn’t impressive enough, Liverpool went out and, 24 hours later, ripped Baldwinsville 7336, putting up lots of offense early and then clamping down, outscoring the Bees 31-7 in the second half. Wingate had one of her best games of the season, her 32 points nearly equaling the entire B’ville roster. Cunningham got 13 points and Gianna Washing- ton had 10 points. Jakeira Stackhouse and Angeliena Kohler had six points apiece.

And when the Warriors defeated West Genesee 68-23 Friday on Senior Night, it gave head coach Mike Wheeler 500 combined victories, counting his long and successful tenure at Onondaga Community College. All 11 players got on the scoreboard for Liverpool as Kohler led with 12 points and Joelle Wike had her best game of the season, pouring in 10 points. Janea Hamilton-Brown got nine points and Wingate had seven points.

C-NS, meanwhile, turned back Henninger 53-40 in a game that was tight throughout the first half but turned in the third quarter, the Northstars outscoring the Black Knights 18-7 to seize control. McRobbie and Maddie Howell both finished with 13 points, while Brianna Weaver stepped up and got 10 points. Jilly Howell added seven points.

Thomas, Atchie are sectional wrestling champs

By PHiL BLAckWELL

For all of the team glory it attained this winter, an individual Section III Division I title nearly eluded the best wrestlers from Cicero-North Syracuse last Saturday at SRC Arena.

It took Kennedy Thomas rising from a no. 3 seed to knock off the top two seeds in the 132-pound division to bring the Northstars to the top of the podium last Saturday at SRC Arena.

And in doing so, Thomas garnered Most Outstanding Wrestler honors and helped C-NS, for the first time, win the team crown at this sectional meet, C-NS’s 168 points enough to p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 18; goldenbeebookshop.com; 315-299-5558. Bilow will discuss her work with fellow novelist Elizabeth Everett, author of historical romances such as “A Love by Design” and “A Perfect Equation.” Both writers will autograph books which will be available for purchase. A ticket – costing $18 – is required to attend but that includes a copy of “Ruby Spencer’s Whisky Year.”

A friend of ophelia’s Bilow’s career as a food writer blossomed after she recovered from a serious eating disorder hold off Carthage (155.5 points) for the title. earlier in life. That struggle introduced her to Ophelia’s Place, based in Liverpool.

Thomas had little trouble pinning Dylan Radcliffe (West Genesee) in the quarterfinals. But his semifinal against no. 2 seed Nathan Finn (Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA) was a classic, plenty of takedowns and other moves that didn’t let up until Thomas had prevailed 13-11.

Now, in the final, Thomas faced the top seed, Carthage’s Logan Munn, who carried a 34-5 record. Here, the points were tougher to get, but Thomas did just enough to hang on late and prevail 5-4, clinching a trip to Albany for the Feb. 24-25 state championships.

In 2018 Bilow teamed up with a downtown restaurant, Original Grain, to create a special menu item to raise money for eating disorder recovery support. True to Bilow’s carefree creativity, it was called Nutty by Nature. A portion of the proceeds were donated to Ophelia’s Place and Circles of Change.

“Food has been a huge part of my recovery journey,” Bilow reflected. “After I recovered from my eating disorder, I went to culinary school and I worked in restaurants and I became a food writer. So, I realized that food was always going to be a part of my life. I had to make peace with it, so instead of just accepting it and just eating, I decided to make every meal a joyful experience.”

All told, C-NS had four finalists. One of them, Jack Sherbourne, ran into Liverpool’s Owen Atchie, who would go to the top at 172 pounds.

As the top seed, Atchie pinned Cosmo Kessler (Syracuse) and Dante Coppola (Central Square) to reach the title bout, while Sherbourne, the no. 2 seed, pinned Matt Cooney (J-D/ CBA) and Aaron Fredenburg (Baldwinsville) in his first two bouts.

The final would go the full six minutes, each wrestler able to score points, but Atchie doing a bit more to prevail 7-4, a week after he beat Sherbourne 7-6 in the sectional Class AA meet.

That goal of finding joy in fine food and wine plays out vividly in “Ruby Spencer’s Whisky Year” when Ruby and her landlord, Grace, combine talents to serve a weekly “Family Table” supper every Sunday. Sláinte!