It was a rivalry renewed in Tully on Wednesday night as the Black Knights hosted its rival from 7 miles north on Route 11 the LaFayette Lancers. Given the close proximity of the two schools, both teams had a solid contigent of fans in attendance. It was a hard fought battle, but in the end Tully pulled away for a 57-39 win.
Westhill meanwhile hosted its Class B rival in Mexico in Syracuse, and was able to pull away for a win as well. The Warriors captured the victory 55-41 thanks to some balanced scoring as Ryan Conroy scored 15 points, Joe Meluni scored 13 points and freshman Jordan Roland scored 12.
Thursday night's action though kicks off an exciting weekend of high school basketball. Not only is there four games at the Carrier Dome on Sunday (West Genesee vs. C-NS boys at 1pm, Liverpool vs. C-NS girls at 3pm, Liverpool vs. Baldwinsville boys at 5pm, and CBA vs. Bishop Ludden at 7pm) but there's also the 10th Peppino's Pizza Invitational at Henninger. That tournament is jam packed with 8 games over three days.
But it's the kick off to the tournament Thursday night that has Central New York's attention.
The host school Henninger, the defending Class AA Section III Champion will battle the defending Class A New York State Champion. It should be a great test for both teams, as they begin their quests for repeat championships. Henninger, as always features many high flying athletes, but as Erik Saroney told me Wednesday "We're playing against an ACC front line". What Saroney means is that J-D features forwards DaJuan Coleman who is all set to play for Syracuse and Tyler Cavanaugh who is Wake Forest-bound.
Tip off for that exciting game is set for 7:45 p.m. Thursday, the Junior Varsity game preceeds that.
Here's a look at some other scores from around Section III for Wednesday:
Boys:
Fayetteville-Manlius 77, Rome Free Academy 65
Syracuse ITC 67, Cato-Meridian 42
Onondaga 53, Manlius Pebble Hill 37
Fabius-Pompey 56, Faith Heritage 40
Pulaski 65, Port-Byron 56
New York Mills 58, Westmoreland 44
Girls:
Bishop Ludden 54, Nottingham 42
Carthage 51, Watertown 20
