Boys’ Basketball
Unatego 62, Oxford 52
OTEGO – Coming off a second straight MAC championship victory last weekend, Oxford’s bid at also repeating as Section IV Class C champions was stopped short in the opening round of the sectional playoffs Tuesday night.
Unatego, the last team to defeat the Blackhawks, ended Oxford’s 10-game winning streak – and season – outgunning Oxford in the second half.
Cody Komenda had 18 points, while Cody Chambers and Carter Carey netted 13 apiece for the Spartans. “These guys were a big hurdle, and I think we could have gone places if we had gotten past tonight,” said Oxford coach Tim Davis. “They are quick and athletic, and have a bunch of shooters. We knew they would be trouble.”
Oxford was in contention late in the third quarter when sophomore Justin Schray hit a three-pointer from the left wing after a Cory Seiler pass that tied the game at 40 with 1:47 to play.
Komenda took over the last minute-plus of play for Unatego pulling up for a go-head jumper at 1:21, then scoring after an Oxford turnover hitting a shot on the move after receiving a nice screen.
Unatego scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to complete a 12-0 run, the back-breaker of that spurt was Dan Shelton’s layup after teammate Will May air-balled a three-pointer from the left corner raising the lead to 10 points.
“Last Saturday we had nearly perfect execution of our game plan, and tonight we had just about no execution of our game plan,” Davis said. “I think they hustled after loose balls a little better than us, and they had us rattled. They definitely took us out of our game.”
In the opening quarter, Oxford appeared to pick up where it left off three days earlier. Booker Davis had six points in the first including his team’s last five, and Andrew Golden scored five as the Blackhawks led 19-15. Points were much tougher to come by the rest of the way as Oxford committed 20 turnovers. “Our defense wasn’t that bad tonight, we just couldn’t find the basket and we didn’t take good shots,” Davis said.
Davis led Oxford (13-6) with 18 points, while Seiler and Golden split 16 points down the middle.
Oxf: Justin Schray, 2 0-0-6; Jeremy Nelson, 1 0-0-2; Cory Seiler, 3 1-4-8; John Wonka, 0 2-2-2; Ralph Renaud, 1 2-3-4; Zach Barry, 0 2-2-2; Booker Davis, 7 4-5-18; Paul Wonka, 0; Andrew Golden, 3 0-0-8; Quincy Davis, 1 0-0-2; Caden Izard, 0. Totals: 18 11-16-52.
Unatego: Cody Komenda, 7 1-1-18, Cody Chambers, 3 7-9-13, Will May, 2 3-4-8, Carter Carey, 5 2-3-13, 0; Brian Maruszewski, 0, Dale Rifenbark, 3 2-2-8, Dan Shelton, 1 0-0-2; Aaron Foster, 0. Totals: 21 15-19-62.
