For the first of two meetings this season, the Jamesville-DeWitt and East Syracuse-Minoa basketball teams had varying patterns – but the same outcome. The boys Red Rams remained unbeaten Tuesday night, using more grit than glamour to beat the Spartans 68-43, while the J-D girls earned its second straight close win by holding off ESM 43-40. In no way did the ESM boys resemble the unit that dropped 83 points in a win at Fayetteville-Manlius on Dec. 18, instead acting more like the struggling Spartans that lost the opener to Fowler a night before beating the Hornets. That was because J-D, still getting used to life without star guard Demetrius Mitchell, put its emphasis on defense and slowed ESM down as it worked its way to a 39-20 halftime lead. Eventually, the margin grew to 58-32, as the Rams often depended on DaJuan Coleman to get easy baskets inside. Sure enough, the 6-10 junior supplied 28 points as fellow forward Tyler Cavanaugh contributed 14 points and Pete Drescher added nine points. On ESM’s side, Casey Sullivan had 14 points and Sharif Nero added 12 points, but the Spartans had just four field goals beyond that tandem. It will take a 1-2 mark into the annual Vince Celi Memorial Tournament on Monday and Tuesday. The girls Spartans were eager to improve to 3-1 before its version of the Celi Tournament, and engaged in a back-and-forth battle with J-D where neither side would get too large of a lead. ESM was up 9-7 through one period, but J-D gradually took over in the middle stages, eventually building a 29-24 lead before hanging on in the homestretch. Kayleigh Cavanaugh led the Rams with 13 points, while Cydney Goodman picked up eight points. Lauren Beville added six points as Caitlin Cariseo and Stephanie Mannion each had five points. On ESM’s side, Julie Maselli had nine points, with Olivia Luciani picking up seven points. Becky Nelson, Gabby Eure and Brooke Gilkey had six points apiece.