Syracuse — Two regular-season losses to your in-city rival vanish quickly from the mind when you’re able to beat that team in the post-season, when it matters most.
No. 5 seed Syracuse Academy of Science, after dropping a pair of games to no. 4 seed Institute of Technology Central earlier this winter, advanced to the Section III Class C boys basketball semifinals with a 76-64 win over the Eagles Friday at Lincoln Middle School.
Sectional champs and state finalists last winter, the Atoms (16-4) will look to take another step toward defending its title Thursday when it meets no. 1 seed Cooperstown in the Class C semifinals at Rome Free Academy. The winner gets Mohawk or Beaver River in the March 4 title game in the Carrier Dome.
“When you lose, you learn, and we did that coming out of our two losses to ITC,” SAS senior forward Kaleel Johnson said. Johnson, the first 1,000-point scorer in school history, finished with 21 points.
“We didn’t want to lose to them three times in one year, especially with the third being in the playoffs," he said. "Our goal is to go back and win the Class C championship, and we took another step toward that goal by getting off to a quick start.”
Rough play marred the game early on, as sophomore forward Rensey Chandler, ITC’s second-leading scorer, was ejected for committing a flagrant foul on senior center Dogukan Zulal.
Chandler elbowed Zulal less than 10 seconds into the game, but ITC (16-4) head coach Joe Boronczyk was convinced Chandler was provoked.
“The kid pinched my kid in the back and left a welt,” said Boronczyk. “Rensey pushed him back, but it should have been a double technical and both kids should have been able to stay in the game.
"It’s tough to win without your second-best player," Boroncyzk added. "It’s a completely different game when something like that happens.”
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