Outscoring Cicero-North Syracuse by three points in the third quarter wasn’t enough to carry Fayetteville-Manlius to a home victory.
The 67-59 loss saw F-M struggle on the defensive end of the floor, allowing C-NS to create seperation little by little and take control of the game quietly and prevent the Hornets from making any sort of run.
F-M couldn’t get any energy from the atmosphere. Unlike the other home games for F-M, the student section was bare and wasn’t adding to the intensity of the contest.
And that started early in the game, when the green and white lost the momentum and had trouble getting C-NS away from their offensive gameplan and then found themselves in foul trouble, which really hurt them.
Senior Timmy Zapisek was among the players who was in foul trouble early and that really hurt the Hornets throughout the game. Even when the coaching staff tried to keep him in, he wasn’t able to have the impact on the defensive end for the Hornets.
Zapisek spent the majority of the second quarter sitting on the sideline as head coach Jason Dudzinski and assistant coach Zaire Coore debated about the right time to put him back in.
The senior got back on track in the second half and supported the Hornets by being a part of the run they made in the third quarter. Zapisek ended up with a game-high 21 points, two more points than his teammate, Jawaan Crouch, finished with.
Zapisek and Crouch were the only Hornet players who entered double figures, which put them at a disadvantage against the much deeper C-NS squad.
The visitors were balanced when it came to every aspect of their offense. Every player who entered the game for C-NS scored at least one point and they had three players reach double figures.
C-NS also had a few players who found a way to make a difference on the boards and had three guys who collected at least five rebounds. Omar Mere led them in that category with six and then Alexander Gray and Kyle Cody were just behind him with five boards apiece.
The away team created separation quietly without the Hornets making any runs that grew to be big enough to change the outcome of the game.
