Boys’ Basketball
GROTON – Oxford’s grind-it-out defense kept Groton’s buzzsaw, run-and-gun offense at bay most of the night, and the Blackhawks advanced to the Section IV Class C championship game for the second straight year, 63-54, Wednesday on the Indians’ home floor.
Oxford plays Odessa-Montour in the Class C championship game, Saturday at 6:45 p.m. at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. “It’s been a long season, and people look at our record and take for granted that we would get back to the Section IV championship game,” said Oxford coach Tim Davis. “We’ve been going at it for four solid months now. It’s tough to keep guys working hard, especially on defense, but this team has bought into our defensive concept, and we focus on shutting the other team down.”
Groton wasn’t shut down, but it took over 5 1/2 dozen shots to reach 54 points against Oxford finishing 20-for-68 from the field (29 percent) and 9-for-33 (27 percent) on three-point field goal attempts. Oxford entered the contest allowing just 41 points a contest, lowest among all Section IV teams.
“We played our normal tough man-to-man defense, we just couldn’t give any help-side defense and had to play their shooters honest,” Davis said. “We did a nice job keeping a hand in their shooters’ face all night.”
Pete Jackson, Groton’s leading scorer at 13 points a game, finished with just four points including 0-for-10 on three balls. Nick Conway picked up the slack for Groton finishing with a team-high 18 points, 12 coming from trifectas.
Oxford weathered six Groton three-pointers in the fourth quarter on the strength of Alex Champlin and Tom Gould’s inside play. The duo combined for 18 points in the last quarter, and Oxford as a team went 10-for-15 from the foul line in the last eight minutes. Gould led Oxford (20-3) – winners of 17 straight games – with 23 points, and Champlin added 22. Each player added eight rebounds apiece. Cory Seiler chipped in with 10 points, and his defense was largely responsible for limiting Jackson’s output.
“Cory made Jackson force some tough shots and guarded him tight all night,” Davis said.
