When Fayetteville-Manlius head coach Jason Dudzinski gave the bench guys an opportunity, they took it and refused to allow the scoreboard to dictate their effort, but the deficit was already too large to overcome.
The Hornets ended up losing the game, 68-30, to a Corcoran team that beat them at home earlier in the season. In that previous meeting, F-M (5-7, 1-6) demonstrated that scoring was going to be a issue this year and that it can be a good team as long as it controls the pace.
This time around, F-M had little control of the game. The team couldn’t get anything going on the offensive end, which gave Corcoran (5-5, 2-5) even more momentum than it just naturally had as the home team.
In the first half, the Hornet offense was dormant and the team didn’t reach double-digits, as it scored eight points. Meanwhile, on the defensive end, the Hornets were playing fairly well, considering they were small compared to who they were going against.
At the half, the Hornets were facing a 31-8 deficit and couldn’t solve the puzzle. They looked winded and the game was beginning to resemble the loss to Liverpool, when they became flustered after realizing that the game was speeding up.
As they saw with the Liverpool game, they were facing an extended version of zone defense, which allowed Corcoran to force turnovers and highlight the troubles that F-M has when facing a full court press.
Despite all the negatives that can be taken from this game, the upside of their two sophomores, Ethan Page and Charlie Gadsden, can help the Hornets heal the pain associated with this loss.
Page has been fulfilling the backup point guard role and improving throughout the season, but Gadsden has sacrificed playing time because of a senior-heavy frontcourt.
Gadsden got his opportunity on Tuesday and he took advantage of it. He wasn’t intimidated by the fact that he was matched up with a guy who was bigger, stronger, and more experienced than him. He also had nine points and three of F-M’s 10 field goals.
For the Hornets, next up is Friday’s home game against Cicero-North Syracuse and Corcoran visits Baldwinsville Friday as well.
