AUBURN - Over the past several years, the Cayuga County Holiday Tournament has come to mean something for the Union Springs boys basketball team.

The Wolves have won six straight titles, and in that time have also had great postseason success.

But this season, Union Springs came in with a 2-4 record that includes a three-game losing streak. However, playing back at Spartan Hall sparked the Wolves, as Union Springs edged a hard-nosed Port Byron squad 54-46.

“Our guys take a lot of pride in this tournament, it#'s a good event,” said Wolves' coach Tim Darnell, whose team will face Weedsport in the championship game tonight. “We usually play well. We played much better tonight than we have been playing, but we really needed to win this game regardless of whether this is a tournament or not.”

Union Springs broke open a close game in the second quarter, going on a 15-9 run to go into halftime with a 28-18 lead. But the Panthers used the press to disrupt Darnell's game plan and only trailed by five (39-34) at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Midway through the fourth, Port Byron had made it a four-point game (41-37) before an offensive foul and other unforced turnovers set the team back. Union Springs took advantage and went on a 9-0 run that ended when Tom Giannettino hit a 3-pointer with 1:20 left.

“We couldn't play defense and we missed a lot of chippies,” said Panther coach Chris Ford. “We had it down to six, then we were under five and then we couldn't finish layups, just didn't allow ourselves to get over the hump - and then we give up easy layups down at the other end.”

Though the Wolves had a double-digit lead, it wasn't over quite yet. The game reverted to the sloppiness of the first quarter, when the teams combined to throw seven passes out of bounds.

Union Springs also kept making key mistakes, committing several fouls and missing the front ends of all its one-and-one chances. The Wolves shot 4-of-9 in the fourth quarter.

“We were 7-for-17 from the foul line and I don't know how many turnovers we had but we threw the ball away a lot,” Darnell said. “I think we got a little tired, we weren't rebounding as well at the end, but Port Byron kept fighting.

“It wasn't as much as what we didn't do it was what they kept doing to their credit.”

Still, Union Springs is improving and the Holiday Tournament may just be the catalyst to put the Wolves back on track.

“We were struggling coming into this tournament,” Darnell said. “We haven't been 2-4 in a while. We took the approach that whether we're playing in the tournament or not, we've got to start playing better to get us going throughout the year.”

The Panthers also have a chance to add a mark to the win column in the consolation game. Port Byron (2-4) faces a much-improved Southern Cayuga team that lost to Weedsport in overtime.

“They're very athletic, quick and much improved from last year,” Ford said. “They're a dangerous team to play.”

The Panthers' D.J. Helmer led all scorers with 19 points, while Robert Yeomans had 10. Jake Ross added five rebounds and Helmer had four.

For the Wolves, Jason Schenck pitched in with 11 points and Nate Markham and Michael Bean put in 10 apiece, while Bean pulled down 10 boards. Josh Coleman added six rebounds.

Wolves 54

Panthers 46