One thing Christian Brothers Academy boys basketball head coach Buddy Wleklinski has noticed about the Brothers' dominant football program is their "winning attitude."
CBA borrowed from that philosophy in its matchup with Cicero-North Syracuse in the Peppino's Invitational on Friday.
Brothers guard Gino Bullock scored 20 points to spearhead a 45-42 victory over the Northstars.
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"You see it with the football team right now," Wleklinski said. "Our football team just thinks they're going to win when they go on the field. Whether it happens or not is immaterial. Their mindset is, 'We're going to win this game,' and that's hopefully what we can get with our guys."
CBA took a powerful step in that direction by closing out a tough win over C-NS. However, it wasn't easy for the Brothers. The Northstars played like the better team in the first half and led 28-20 at halftime.
To make matters worse for CBA, Bullock picked up his third foul of the game midway through the second quarter. Talented forward Max Hann also got into early foul trouble for the Brothers.
"That's the first time that Gino got in foul trouble," Wleklinski said. "Certainly, our offense took a hit where we scored 20 points in the first half, and most of them while he was out there. Max got two quick ones... hopefully, if you have a decent team, you've got enough guys that can score. They stepped up." The player who answered the call for CBA proved to be center Jesse Beach. The 6-foot-6 senior came off the bench and provided an instant spark on both sides of the ball. His 10 points well surpassed his prior career-best of two.
C-NS was led by junior Nadarren Carter Jr.'s 11 points. Fouls also impacted the Northstars. Standout point guard Miy'Jon McDowell Reid racked up multiple early and wound up fouling out in the closing seconds of the contest.
The outcome was a marked difference from the recent history between these programs. C-NS had won each of the last three matchups with the Brothers by 24 points or more.
C-NS (1-1) gets a sizable break before taking on Section VI's Wilson on Dec. 13. The Northstars have won all 10 of their out-of-section matchups under head coach Kyle Martin.
CBA (2-1) closes out the Peppino Invitational against Jamesville-DeWitt on Saturday. With the football team playing in the state championship game the same day, it will be the basketball squad's final game without the athletes who play both sports.
"I'm looking at what these guys are doing," Wleklinski said. "These guys are playing pretty good. We got two wins... The guys coming from the football team are going to have to work pretty hard to get spots because we're playing good, but it certainly will add to (the team). Our bench will have a little more than 10, hopefully."
