Marissia Potamianos, Jamie Boeheim, Nick Mannion, and Steven Baker
Editor of Promotion and Staff Writers
On Sunday, March 5, the Jamesville-DeWitt High School Varsity Boys Basketball Team defeated Syracuse Academy of Science in a hard fought ballgame to win the Section III Class A title. Led by junior captain Buddy Boeheim and senior captains Terrence Echols, Matt Carlin, and Darvin Lovett, the team pulled through with a 87-71 win. The Red Rams are now moving on to the regional championship this Saturday against Lansingburgh High School at 3 p.m. at the Onondaga Community College Sports and Recreation Arena.
Having lost to SAS 80-68 when they previously faced them at SAS’s court, Boeheim said the boys knew they had to step up their defense, play together as a team, and shoot well from the field. “We shot amazing in the first few quarters. Even though the first quarter was rough we started to play our game and couldn’t be stopped,” said Echols. The team shot 12 of 23 from the three-point line, and 65 percent from the field and everything was going the way they needed it to.
Carlin and Boeheim were the leading scorers, Boeheim had a triple-double with 28 points and Carlin had 22 points. From the three-point line, junior Takuya LaClair had three field goals and Carlin had six field goals. “Our open shots were found by passing the ball well and executing plays,” said Head Coach Jeff Ike. “Defensively we took them out of their rhythm and made them take shots they weren’t comfortable with,” he said. Carlin contributed the team’s success to their ability to be able to play as a team and to break the SAS press.
The team hopes to capture the title as regional champions this Saturday. Come out to the OCC SRC Arena at 3 p.m. to support the team!
On Saturday, March 4 the Jamesville-DeWitt Varsity Girls Basketball team defeated Whitesboro High School 55-37, winning the Section III Class A Championship, and moving their record to 18-5. The girls next game is the regional final at the SRC Arena, at Onondaga Community College this upcoming Saturday against either Section II champion Averill Park or Section X’s Massena.
This type of success is something the girls have become known for over the past few years; this is their sixth consecutive sectional championship, and their fifth straight time defeating Whitesboro in the finals. The team is now looking to capitalize at the end of their season by making the New York State Championship for a fourth straight year and winning it for a second consecutive year. “I think we have a really good shot (at winning states), we are a really hard working team and very ambitious,” said senior captain Angela Bussone.
Along with winning sectionals, senior captain Julia Kelner and junior Meg Hair were named to the Section III All Tournament Team and Hair was named the MVP of the Section III tournament. In the tournament, Hair averaged 16 ppg and Kelner averaged 12 ppg. Along with that, the Rams have scored at least 55 points in every game during their tournament run, while their opponents haven’t scored over 37.
This latest success rounds up another successful regular season for the girls. The team ended the regular season with a record of 15-5 and went 9-0 in league play. They started off the season winning the annual Best of New York tournament, on Dec. 10. The team then played in the Say Yes To Scholastic Success Showcase in New York City, where they had a lot of tough competition, playing one nationally ranked team, they left the tournament with a 1-1 record. They played another nationally ranked team in a tournament in Washington, D.C. and went 1-2 in that tournament. Kelner says that their difficult schedule helped them to become a better team this year, and improve all around. The girls have also had many quality wins this season, beating Cardinal O’Hara (14-2 record) and Bishop Kearney (10-4 record) and now Whitesboro (ranked No. 13 in New York). “I’m really proud of us, those are three of the best teams in the state,” said Bussone.
One thing the girls feel that they have used to their advantage this year is their team chemistry. This year the team added six new faces to the roster: five freshman and one eighth grader. “We had some great team chemistry this year, we all blended together really well,” said Bussone. Kelner agreed saying that they have improved their team chemistry since the beginning of the season and it has made a “huge” difference.
Currently the team is ranked No. 3 in the state of New York, by the New York State Sportswriters Association, and has been ranked in the top three the whole year. The girls also started and ended the season being ranked the “best large school team” in New York State by the Post-Standard. Many local news reporters, including News Channel 9’s Steve Infanti and Syracuse.com’s CJ Masterpole also have the girls as their favorite to win the state championship. “There is definitely a lot of pressure for us to win,” said Kelner. “There is always a target on our back,” added Bussone. However, so far that pressure has not affected the girls, they have won their first three elimination games with ease.
