Boys’ Basketball
Marcellus 63, Sherburne-Earlville 60 (OT)
SHERBURNE – Sherburne-Earlville’s late-game heroics did not carry over into overtime.
For the second time in as many years, Marcellus ended the Marauders season in the first round of sectional play, breaking the home team’s collective hearts on Valentine’s Day no less.
Nick Sinay made four free throws in overtime for the Mustangs, and leading scorer Kyle Hastings put in the last two of his game-high 21 with just over a minute left to keep Marcellus firmly in control of overtime session. “When the game went into overtime, I thought everything was going our way at that point,” said S-E coach Kevin Vibbard. “I thought our kids showed a lot of character coming back in the last few seconds.”
Marcellus took a 55-50 lead after Sinay made a pair of free throws with 25 seconds left in the fourth.
The Marauders missed two free throws on their next possession, and the hopes of a comeback looked bleak when Hastings went to the foul line for Marcellus with 15 seconds left in regulation.
Hastings missed the front end of a one-and-one, and S-E closed the gap to two points when Jesse Yerton found Randy Briggs at the top of the key, who knocked down his second three-pointer of the game with 8.6 seconds left.
Coming out of timeout, S-E pressured Marcellus full court, and reserve Carter Cole picked up a steal near the halfcourt line. Cole drove toward the basket and found Cole Hodges, who laid in the tying basket with 3.4 seconds left.
Marcellus picked up three straight defensive stops on S-E to start the overtime period, and led the entire overtime period.
Sinay’s last free throw with 14.9 seconds left in overtime created the final margin of victory. S-E didn’t go quietly, and had three three-point attempts to tie the game that were off the mark. “Early in the overtime period, we struggled to get quality shots,” Vibbard said. “We settled down and made some good plays and had good opportunities toward the end. We got the shots we wanted, they were just a little long or a little short. That’s part of the game.”
Sam Caton had a team-high 18 points for the Marauders (13-6), and Briggs added 12 in the loss.
Marc: Nick Sinay, 2 8-14-14; Ben Powers, 0; Garrett Thompson, 6 0-0-15; Duncan Merritt, 4 0-0-9; Wyatt Stehle, 0; Pat Kinney, 2 0-0-4; Kyle Hastings, 10 1-3-21. Totals: 24 9-17-63.
S-E: Randy Briggs, 5 0-0-12; Carter Cole, 0; Jesse Yerton, 1 0-0-3; Sam Caton, 5 8-10-18; Paul Romanenko, 2 0-0-6; Cole Hodges, 1 2-4-4; Mick Khoury, 0; Austin Jasper, 3 2-5-9; Matt Smith, 3 1-2-8. Totals: 20 13-21-60.
Marc. 14 16 11 14 8–63
S-E 18 11 7 19 5–60
Fouled out: (M) Stehle. Three-point goals: (M) Sinay 2, Thompson 3, Merritt. (SE) Briggs 2, Romanenko 2, Jasper, Smith, Yerton. Officials: Reynolds, Carson.
Union-Endicott 67, Norwich 60
ENDICOTT – For the second time this month, Norwich found itself in too deep a hole to climb out.
The Tornado, playing their first game in 11 days, shot just 20 percent from the field in the first half, and trailed the Tigers by as many as 26 points in falling behind 38-18 at the break.
“We were just flat in the beginning,” said Norwich coach Tom Collier whose club trailed Johnson City by more than 20 points early on in a STAC loss. “They shot it well, and we didn’t defend it well. We made a couple of mistakes out on top (when we had the ball), and that led to some breakaway layups for them.”
C.J. Krowiak scored 31 points for U-E splitting those points almost evenly between the two halves. Corey Roma added a trio of three-pointers for the victors.
Seth Thomsen and Dennis Oralls scored 14 points apiece for Norwich, and Eric Walling hit four three-pointers in the second half finishing with 12. “The second half we outplayed them and we did a lot of good things,” Collier said. “We were using this game to shake off the rust and to play a high quality team. We had a good effort in the second half, and I hope that carries over to Maine-Endwell on Thursday.”
The Tornado host the Spartans at 6 p.m .
Norwich: Kyle Edwards, 1 7-11-9; Danny Carson, 0; Dennis Oralls, 3 8-9-14; Michael Sutton, 3 2-3-8; Seth Thomsen, 6 2-3-14; Eric Walling, 4 0-0-12; Storm Cook, 0; Grant Brightman, 0 1-2-1; Michael D’Abbraccio, 1 0-0-2. Totals: 18 20-28-60.
U-E: Corey Roma, 3 0-0-9; Stewart, 1 1-5-3; Malvasio, 1 0-0-2; Dave Eddings, 3 3-4-9; Orlando, 2 0-0-5; C.J. Krowiak, 10 9-11-31; Barwari, 0 2-4-2; Eastman, 0 0-2-0; Jones, 3 0-1-6. Totals: 23 15-27-67.
NHS 9 9 17 25 –60
U-E 17 21 8 21–67
Fouled out (UE) Roma, Jones. Three-point goals: (N) Walling 4. (UE) Roma 3, Krowiak, Orlando. No JV game.
Unatego 62, Bainbridge-Guilford 27
