At least in the original plan, Christian Brothers Academy, Fayetteville-Manlius and Bishop Grimes were set to have full holiday-tournament slates. But when various visiting teams were unable to show up for various reasons, the Brothers, Hornets and Cobras had to settle for one game apiece before the calendar switched from 2010 to 2011. Of the three, CBA was the most adversely affected, because it was the host of the annual Bottar-Leone Holiday Classic. Three teams were set to visit – defending champion Westhill, St. Joseph’s (Buffalo), and Monsignor McClancy, from Queens. However, McClancy was unable to make it, stuck at home by the East Coast blizzard that paralyzed New York City for most of the week. As an alternative, CBA and Westhill would both take turns playing St. Joseph’s. The Warriors went first on Wednesday, nearly erasing a big fourth-quarter deficit (just as it had done last year in the tournament against St. Peter’s) before losing to the Marauders 51-46. Then it was CBA’s turn against St. Joe’s on Thursday night. And it used a devastating barrage of 3-point shots (13 in all) to produce a 73-66 victory over the Marauders. Shakir Evans set the tone, connecting three times beyond the arc in the first quarter as Rob Cuomo and Brian Anderson also connected. So CBA (4-1), despite ceding a physical advantage to the Marauders, led 23-13, after one period. That lead kept growing, to 36-21 by halftime, but St. Joe’s roared out in the third quarter with a 17-5 run that, in barely three minutes of time, cut the Brothers’ edge to 41-38. Naturally it was 3-point shooting that saved CBA – especially that of freshman Charlie Russo. Four times in the second half, Russo connected beyond the arc, adding to a 3 he already made in the second quarter to give him a career-best 15 points. Evans, quiet much of the second half, returned late to ice the game, sinking six consecutive free throws as he finished with 21 points overall. Cuomo finished with 12 points as Anderson got nine points and Greg Thomson earned eight points. Meanwhile, F-M and Bishop Grimes were both set to play in the Cicero-North Syracuse Tournament when the fourth tournament entrant, Ithaca, dropped out. Instead, the Cobras and Hornets would play the defending Class AA champion Northstars on back-to-back nights. And Grimes nearly sprung an upset on Wednesday night before CNS rallied past them in a 59-58 thriller.
All game long, the two sides traded runs, Grimes (3-2) unable to hold a 14-10 lead in the first half and falling behind, 46-42, by the time the third quarter ended. Fighting back, the Cobras took a late lead, only to see CNS’s Zach Coleman drain a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left to put his side back ahead. Grimes had a chance to tie or win it in the closing seconds, but a free-throw miss derailed those plans. Mike Stone finished with 25 points, including all four of his team’s 3-pointers, while Mike Sugamosto worked inside for 18 points. Casey Evans added seven points. Coleman led CNS with 23 points. Then it was F-M’s turn against the Northstars – and it wasn’t as close, as CNS flattened the Hornets by a score of 94-44. With more experience on its roster, the Northstars started toying with the young Hornets in a 27-11 second-quarter blitz, then pulled further away as it sank 11 3-pointers, four of them from Zach Coleman, who led with 27 points. No one on F-M could approach those numbers, as John Schuman led with 11 points and Kevin Putnam earned 10 points.Matt Reilley contributed seven points as the Hornets fell to 1-4 on the season.