The same scoring struggles that have been nipping Fayetteville-Manlius all season came back to haunt it when it matched up with West Genesee on Senior Night and ended up losing, 61-46.
Hanging in there in the first half, F-M (5-14, 1-12) began the game doing what it has needed to do throughout the season and made it a defensive game. The halftime score was 26-19 in favor of West Genesee (10-8, 7-6), but the game eventually sped up and the problems F-M has offensively were highlighted in the second half.
F-M didn’t have a player reach double-figures, which is something that has happened a few times this season.
Even though that is a major reason why they list this game, there are other things that prevented the Hornets from getting the result that they wanted.
Motivation was something that heavily favored West Genesee and was the thing that the Hornets had trouble finding. The Hornets had their motto of “Hornet PRIDE” to motivate them and the Wildcats found themselves playing for a decent seed in the playoffs.
When it comes down to it, the idea that this was Senior Night gave the Hornets the sense of urgency that led to the effort that they put on the line in this one. The energy quickly transferred from the 11 seniors to their teammates.
Effort wasn’t the problem at all. It was just the little things that only a few can point out.
Getting timely stops was something that was problemsome for F-M. There were a few possessions that had the potential of giving F-M the momentum in the second half, but the Hornets, who have been a good defensive team throughout the season, just couldn’t follow through and get the game-changing stops.
And then gathering loose balls was a real real issue for the Hornets. Before the game, head coach Jason Dudzinski said that they were going to have to do that if they were going to win this game, but they really didn’t win the loose balls that could have changed the complexion of the game and maybe even led the Hornets to a win.
