The Homer boys basketball team couldn’t handle Skaneateles’ pressure early on and never recovered in a 75-29 loss Tuesday night at Homer High School.
Skaneateles came out firing and forced the issue on Homer. A young Trojan squad couldn’t handle the fast pace and got down 22-5 after a quarter.
“If we were going to hang around we were going to have to defend, and I don’t think we did that very well either,” Homer head coach Ken Updike said. “We got blitzed early and we never recovered. Over the 32 minutes, I don’t think I ever saw a recovery.”
Homer struggled to find any consistency offensively and trailed 37-12 at halftime.
Updike felt his guys just got outplayed and outworked Tuesday.
“It partly was that Skaneateles played a little harder than we did,” Updike said. “They dictated the tempo and style and right from the beginning we never were able to collect ourselves. I think some of that has to do with new roles for new guys. We’ve got some inexperienced varsity players. We’ve got our experienced varsity players in different roles and having different expectations.”
Kaden Durham stepped up after the break, scoring 11 of his team-high 17 points in the second half by getting to the rim nearly every time he tried. Durham also used his length and bounce to block plenty of Skaneateles shots, including a streak of three possessions in a row with a block in the first half.
Ryan Beard and Brycen Poole combined for 10 points behind Durham, with Beard scoring six and Poole adding four. The two juniors were both playing their first varsity games and Updike was pleased with what he saw from them in spurts.
“I think those two youngsters there can add some more offensive skills to what we do,” Updike said. “Being able to get to their spots is something they’ll learn to do. Their first varsity experience was full court, man-to-man, trapping, pressing and physical. I’m proud of them that I didn’t see frustration to the point we couldn’t keep them on the floor.”
Max Franco, Homer’s other returning starter, only scored two points and didn’t make a field goal. Franco is capable of more offensively, but Skaneateles sat on his left hand and forced him into difficult shots near the rim.
“Max did a fantastic job getting to the paint, he just had a hard time finishing tonight,” Updike said. “Despite what his offensive night looks like in the stat book, he’s pretty stoic.”
Updike feels his group is capable of more and made sure to remind them this is just the first game of the season.
“We said this is Game 1 of a 19 game schedule,” Updike said. “There are 18 more games that we’re going to play. If we’re going to be successful, we’re going to have to be us and do the things we want to do offensively and not let teams take us out of rhythm.”
Homer will get a chance to even its record at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday at Phoenix.
