Boys’ Basketball
Unadilla Valley 61, Walton 56
NEW BERLIN – UV junior Justin Hofer’s fantastic three-point shooting performance in the first half almost went for naught.
Walton was a rimmed-out shot away from erasing a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit. Following a UV missed free throw, Walton had one more chance at the lead, but Hofer stole the inbounds pass, and converted the layup. Walton turned it over again, and Brett Smith fed Hofer for another layup to ice the five-point win.
“We don’t have a lot of guys with experience in pressure situations, and we made some bad decisions with the basketball in the fourth quarter,” said UV coach Matt Osborne.
Through three quarters, though, it was all Unadilla Valley. Hofer scored a career-high 36 points, 23 of those coming in the first half when he drained seven of nine three-point attempts. Jesse Ranger also hit a three to push the halftime lead to 33-22.
In the third, Ranger hit a pair of short runners in the lane and Brandon Miles buried a stop-and-pop three ball. Late in the third, Hofer put back an offensive rebound, and then tipped in a miss by Kurt Haycook lifting the UV lead to 15.
Early in the fourth, Smith’s driving basket raised the Storm’s advantage to 50-33.
Ben Conklin spearheaded Walton’s comeback with eight points in the fourth quarter. Dan Jacquays added a three ball, and a Jacquay steal at midcourt led to a layup putting the Warriors within one, 57-56 with less than 30 seconds to play.
After one of UV’s eight fourth-quarter miscues, Jacquay’s short jumper in the paint was halfway down the cylinder before caroming out to UV rebounder Brett Smith.
“Every win is a big win in the MAC, and it’s been a while since we beat Walton,” Osborne said. “We shot the ball really well from the outside in the first half, and Hofer dominated the last 10 seconds of the game.”
Hofer added a team-high eight rebounds to give with five blocked shots.
Walton: Nick Shiels, 3 2-3-8; Dan Jacquays, 2 0-1-5; Ben Conklin, 7 6-8-20; Brandon Scofield, 1 2-2-4; Collin Schick, 0 0-2-0; Rony LaRouge, 0 0-1-0; Dalton Kaminsky, dnp; Justin DiJulio, 7 5-7-19. Totals: 20 15-26-56
UV: Kurt Haycook, 2 3-5-7; Jack Wilcox, 0; Jesse Ranger, 3 0-0-7; Brandon Miles, 2 0-0-5; Justin Hofer, 14 1-2-36; David Anderson, 2 0-0-4; Brett Smith, 1 0-1-2; Nate Shackelton, 0 0-0-0. Totals: 24 4-8-61 .
Wal. 14 8 11 23–56
U.V. 19 14 15 13–61
Fouled out: (UV) Anderson. Three-point goals: (W) Jacquays, (UV) Hofer 7, Ranger, Miles. JV: UV won. Officials: Brady, Ploutz.
B-G 63, Harpursville 43
BAINBRIDGE – B-G finally had a breather.
The Bobcats picked up their second win of the season, and did so in comfortable fashion Tuesday night against the Hornets.
Brooks Harmon made six three-pointers, and finished with a career-high 28 points. Austin Bauerle had 13 points and 15 rebounds, while Ryan Porter also finished with a double-double scoring 10 and snagging 10 boards.
“We made some changes with our press, and it’s the best job we have done with it all season,” said B-G coach Greg Warren. “We did a better job moving the ball on offense, and we got better looks at the basket.”
Three of the Bobcats’ first four games were decided by five points or less, two of those going the opponent’s way. The victory for B-G also snaps a three-game losing streak.
Harmon made a trio of three-pointers and scored 11 points in all staking the Bobcats to an 18-4 lead after one quarter.
B-G (2-3) plays at Unatego Thursday.
Harpursville: Graham, 3 0-3-6; Decker, 1 0-0-2; Niles, 1 0-0-2; Dean, 2 0-0-4; Foley, 2 0-0-4; Johnson, 0; Andrews, 4 0-0-9; Korenka, 6 4-8-16; Cutting, 0; Arnold, 0; Storrs, 0. Totals: 19 4-11-43
B-G: Ben Miritsch, 0, Lucas Butcher, 1 0-2-3, Corbin Palmer, 1 1-2-4; Nick Gronowski, 1 1-1-3, Ryan Porter, 4 2-8-10, Austin Bauerle, 6 0-0-13, Brooks Harmon, 8 6-7-28, Ray Frederick, 1 0-0-2, Dalton Johnson, 0 0-3-0. Totals: 22 10-23-63.
B-G 18 13 18 14–63
Harp. 4 14 11 14–43
Three-point goals: (BG) Harmon 6, Palmer, Butcher, Bauerle, (H) Andrews.
