Boys hoops Warriors return to sectional AA final

BY PHil BlACKWEll

Just as was the case a year ago, it was Christian Brothers Academy standing in the way of the Liverpool boys basketball team returning to the Section III Class AA championship game. And the result was similar – a victory by the Warriors over the Brothers last Saturday in the semifinals at SRC Arena that sets up a return trip to that same venue next Sunday night at 7 p.m. to meet the same opponent, West Genesee, it beat to win the title in 2022.

However, Liverpool found this venture with CBA, won by a score of 6348, far less stressful than the last time these two teams met.

Everyone, on both sides, was quite aware of what happened 12 months ago in this same round on this same floor, a triple-overtime epic that left the Warriors exultant in victory and the Brothers crushed in defeat.

These were different teams in 2023, though, with Liverpool bigger and stronger than its CBA counterparts and willing to press that advantage wherever it could.

From the moment the Warriors used a 9-0 run in the first quarter to erase an early 6-2 deficit, the defending sectional champions were in total control, and the root of it was a defense that had one of its best performances of the season.

Twice in the first half, Liverpool held CBA without a field goal for a stretch of at least five minutes, controlling the paint while also working outside to deny the Brothers outside shooting opportunities.

Among other things, it allowed the Warriors the ability to not rush things on offense, running where it could, but content to wait longer for open looks and spreading the production around.

Only when CBA, trailing 40-24 in the third quarter, went on an 11-2 run was any serious concern raised, but Liverpool quickly restored its double-digit margin by the final period and pulled clear.

Andreo Ash, strong everywhere on defense, and Jah’Deuir Reese finished with 18 points apiece. Bruce Wingate had 13 points, with Freddy Fowler earning six of his 11 points in the fourth quarter to help put the game away.

Getting here, for Liverpool, required getting past no. 8 seed Utica Proctor in last Wednesday’s quarterfinals and, back at full strength, the Warriors put up a season-high total for points and routed the Raiders 95-59.

Wingate was back in the lineup, having missed Liverpool’s last two regular-season games, and his presence galvanized the Warriors’ attack as it steadily gained a 45-28 lead on Proctor by halftime.

It got more lopsided in the second half, Liverpool ultimately putting five players in double figures led by Wingate, who had 16 points, and Ash, who got 23 points.

Reese remained steady, earning 18 points, while Luca Latocha, Jason Lawler and Derek Grimshaw hit eight 3-pointers between them, Latoch getting 11 points, Lawler 10 points and Grimshaw nine points.

Then it was the win over CBA and a final with a West Genesee side that, with a

C-NS, Liverpool girls to meet for sectional title

BY PHil BlACKWEll

Maybe, all along, it was meant for the growing girls basketball rivalry between Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool to have, perhaps, its most important chapter on the biggest stage in Section III sports.

This Saturday night at SRC Arena, the Northstars will attempt to keep the sectional Class AA championship away from a Warriors side that beat C-NS twice in the regular season.

Even getting this far was eventful enough, since both of these sides had to make it through memorable semifinals last Saturday at Onondaga Community College’s Allyn Hall.

For no. 4 seed C-NS, it required weathering the incredible 48-point performance put up by Leah Middleton of top-seeded Auburn and still defeating the Maroons 67-61 in overtime.

And Liverpool, the no. 3 seed, took out no. 2 seed Rome Free Academy 67-51 largely on the strength of a lengthy stretch of the first half where it played as well in every phase of the game as it has all season.

The Northstars’ experience against Auburn was a perfect example of how a collective effort can overcome the sheer dominance of an individual – though it still required a small amount of timely good fortune.

Middleton, a senior bound for Le Moyne College, had already secured 40 points by late in the fourth quarter, but C-NS till held a 55-51 advantage.

Then Middleton hit two free throws with 1:06 to play and, on consecutive possessions, the Northstars turned it over, giving the Maroons another chance.

Naturally, the ball went to Middleton, who drove from the right and missed – but grabbed her own rebound and, falling back, hit a shot and was fouled with 3.0 seconds left.

The game was tied, 55-55, and if Middleton made the

C-NS ice hockey falls to B’ville in semifinal

BY PHil BlACKWEll

Once more, the Cicero-North Syracuse ice hockey team found itself in the semifinal round of the Section III Division I playoffs, determined to break through and get to the program’s first-ever championship game.

And just as before, a long-established power stood in the way – in this case Baldwinsville, who welcomed the Northstars to the Three Rivers Athletic Complex in Lysander last Thursday afternoon.

For C-NS fans, the result proved too familiar as, despite an all-out effort, it could not get anything against the Bees, who went in front early and went on to defeat the Northstars 4-0. Having lost 4-1 at home to B’ville in January, C-NS knew the key was getting the puck and putting some pressure on a normally stout B’ville defense.

And the Northstars did get a few early opportunities, only to get turned back. B’ville then increased the pressure by putting a pair of shots past Ethan Mackenzie to grab a 2-0 advantage by the end of the first period.

To its credit, C-NS was never overwhelmed, making the Bees earn its way and only allowing single tallies in each of the last two periods as Mackenzie finished with 21 saves.

At the same time, the frustrations on the other end up. Garrett Sutton, Trevor Sutton, Leonardo Vona and the rest of the Bees’ back line blocked shots and, when they did get to the net, Jon Schirmer grabbed them, 18 saves in all. Keegan Lynch, with a goal and two assists, was one of four different B’ville goal-scorers, with Harrison Bragg, Brayden Penafeather-Stevenson and Nolan Burlingame also finding the net.

As the Bees advanced to face West Genesee in Monday’s sectional final, C-NS saw a five-game win streak end as it produced a 12-9 overall record.

free throw, C-NS would trail – but she missed, the Northstars snagged the rebound and the game went to OT.

Again the Northstars went in front, but didn’t take full control until, with 42 seconds left in the OT, Brianna Weaver, from the right corner, drilled a 3-pointer to make it 64-59, a blow from which Auburn could not recover.

All game long, Weaver’s outside shooting hurt the Maroons, as she finished with five 3-pointers and a career-best 21 points.

Unlike the Maroons, C-NS was able to spread its production around. Kat McRobbie had 16 points, with Jilly Howell getting 13 points and Maddie Howell adding 12 points, all of it allowing the Northstars to stay with Middleton’s torrid pace - and ultimately surpass it.

The irony of this was that Liverpool had its own tremendous individual performance from senior Neveah Wingate against RFA, only it came in the context of a larger effort by the Warriors that sank the Black Knights’ hopes.

It all traced back to when the Black Knights’ leading scorer, Amya McLeod, picked up her second foul less than five minutes into the game. At that point, RFA led 15-14, the contest closely resembling the OT battle the two sides had in December when McLeod put up 37 points.

Sensing an opportunity, the Warriors cranked up its pressure, forced a steady stream of Black Knights turnovers and turned them into a flood of baskets, most of them by Wingate, whose 24 first-half points topped the entire RFA roster.

Wingate wasn’t alone, though, as everyone in a Liverpool uniform swarmed whoever had the ball for the Black Knights, creating easy scoring opportunities on the other end.

This continued through the entire second quarter until Liverpool had put together a 32-7 run, led 46-22 hal henty

Liverpool forward Jeff Manuel (44) grabs a rebound amid a sea of utica Proctor to overcome the recent hal henty at the half and breezed from there,

Cicero-North Syracuse guard Brianna Weaver (4) had 21 points, inlcuding five 3-pointers and a key shot late in overtime, to help the Northstars beat Auburn 67-61 in last Saturday’s Section III Class AA semifinal.

Gianna Washington had one of her best outings, pouring in 15 points as Kaylyn Sweeney and A’briyah Cunningham had nine points apiece. McLeod did get 29 points, but most of them came in the second half with the game well out of reach.

Now Liverpool hopes to repeat the 70-63 and 55-37 wins it earned over C-NS earlier this winter and, by doing so, claim its first sectional title since 2008.