BINGHAMTON - Like any good nail-biting championship game, Saturday's Section IV, Class C title tilt came down to free throws.
Glenn Gaston / Special to The Citizen
Union Springs guard Pat Chandler drives to the basket during the second half of Saturday's Section IV Class C championship game at Broome County Arena in Binghamton.
Union Springs guard Pat Chandler drives to the basket during the second half of Saturday's Section IV Class C championship game at Broome County Arena in Binghamton.
Four of them.
Pat Chandler and Nick Schooley went 4-for-4 from the line in the last minute to give Union Springs its first title in 24 years with a 49-48 victory over Oxford.
The Wolves will play the Section III champion, either West Canada Valley or Onondaga, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at SUNY Cortland.
The Wolves battled back from a poor first half to capture the crown.
“We got them back together at halftime, we regrouped and you could just tell our guys were refusing to lose,” said Wolves coach Tim Darnell. “We hit some shots, I think just gave us some momentum. We kept rebounding well and they were missing some and that gave us more confidence as we went along.”
Darnell had said earlier that the No. 1 seeded Wolves key to victory would be rebounding, and the glass was where Union Springs turned it around.
After being out-rebounded in the first half (8-1 in the first quarter alone) Julius McClary started hitting the glass in the third quarter. In total, the Wolves had a 15-11 advantage on the second-half boards.
Union Springs went from trailing by six at the break to a 37-36 lead going into the fourth quarter.
“He's got to rebound for us - we all have to rebound, but Julius is our rock in the middle,” Darnell said. “He's got to get shot attempts, he's got to get rebounds, he's got to bother them. I think he did that much better in the second half when he got more comfortable.”
“I started moving, started to get into their spots,” McClary said. “I knew I was quicker then they were.”
The change was significant. In the first half, the Blackhawks figured out the Wolves defense and were able to use the back door to bounce back from an early 8-2 deficit. Oxford rebounded well, taking missed shots and finding the open man on the opposite side for easy buckets.
In the second half, Union Springs eliminated the second chances.
“They pounded us on the glass in the first half,” Darnell said. “We did a better job of limiting them to one shot. They made a lot of shots in the first half and they didn't make as many in the second half. We made the shots in the first half that we didn't make in the first.”
The game stayed close until the Wolves went on a 7-0 run early in the fourth quarter. Chandler started it off, followed by baskets from Mike Howell and Mike Bean.
Bean's shot was particularly crowd-pleasing. After Chandler missed a shot, the sophomore pulled down the rebound and attempted to pass to McClary. The ball was deflected, but Bean smartly picked it up and slipped it in.
Oxford got as close as two, 45-43 in the final minute on a three-pointer from Cory Seiler. But with 46 seconds left, the Blackhawks elected to foul because the Wolves weren't in the double bonus yet.
Schooley, who returned to the game with four minutes left with four fouls, and Chandler, who had a game-high 16, came through.
Seiler hit another 3 at the buzzer to make the score closer, but it made no difference. The Wolves walked away with the banner.
“It was a competitive ball game that went down the wire,” Darnell said. “That's what expected coming into it. It was a finals game.”
Pat Chandler and Nick Schooley went 4-for-4 from the line in the last minute to give Union Springs its first title in 24 years with a 49-48 victory over Oxford.
The Wolves will play the Section III champion, either West Canada Valley or Onondaga, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at SUNY Cortland.
The Wolves battled back from a poor first half to capture the crown.
“We got them back together at halftime, we regrouped and you could just tell our guys were refusing to lose,” said Wolves coach Tim Darnell. “We hit some shots, I think just gave us some momentum. We kept rebounding well and they were missing some and that gave us more confidence as we went along.”
Darnell had said earlier that the No. 1 seeded Wolves key to victory would be rebounding, and the glass was where Union Springs turned it around.
After being out-rebounded in the first half (8-1 in the first quarter alone) Julius McClary started hitting the glass in the third quarter. In total, the Wolves had a 15-11 advantage on the second-half boards.
Union Springs went from trailing by six at the break to a 37-36 lead going into the fourth quarter.
“He's got to rebound for us - we all have to rebound, but Julius is our rock in the middle,” Darnell said. “He's got to get shot attempts, he's got to get rebounds, he's got to bother them. I think he did that much better in the second half when he got more comfortable.”
“I started moving, started to get into their spots,” McClary said. “I knew I was quicker then they were.”
The change was significant. In the first half, the Blackhawks figured out the Wolves defense and were able to use the back door to bounce back from an early 8-2 deficit. Oxford rebounded well, taking missed shots and finding the open man on the opposite side for easy buckets.
In the second half, Union Springs eliminated the second chances.
“They pounded us on the glass in the first half,” Darnell said. “We did a better job of limiting them to one shot. They made a lot of shots in the first half and they didn't make as many in the second half. We made the shots in the first half that we didn't make in the first.”
The game stayed close until the Wolves went on a 7-0 run early in the fourth quarter. Chandler started it off, followed by baskets from Mike Howell and Mike Bean.
Bean's shot was particularly crowd-pleasing. After Chandler missed a shot, the sophomore pulled down the rebound and attempted to pass to McClary. The ball was deflected, but Bean smartly picked it up and slipped it in.
Oxford got as close as two, 45-43 in the final minute on a three-pointer from Cory Seiler. But with 46 seconds left, the Blackhawks elected to foul because the Wolves weren't in the double bonus yet.
Schooley, who returned to the game with four minutes left with four fouls, and Chandler, who had a game-high 16, came through.
Seiler hit another 3 at the buzzer to make the score closer, but it made no difference. The Wolves walked away with the banner.
“It was a competitive ball game that went down the wire,” Darnell said. “That's what expected coming into it. It was a finals game.”
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