NEW BERLIN – Fresh off their Section IV Championship win, the Unadilla Valley Storm now enters the New York State Regional final game against Section III’s Tully Knights on Saturday at SRC Arena on the campus of Onondaga Community College.

Tully topped powerhouse Cooperstown, 49-48 in the Section III championship game on Sunday, March 4, at the Syracuse University Dome. Earlier this season, UV faced Cooperstown, losing 64-52.

The Knights currently carry a record of 20-4 and will be looking to make it 21-4 against the Storm.

Juniors Tyler and Jake Edinger, Tully’s two starting guards, like to shoot the three-pointer often but will get out and run following a defensive rebound. The two have combined to make a total of 51 three-point goals this season (an average of 2.1 made per game), leading the Knights in the column.

Jake Edinger averages 11.9 points per game, the second leading scorer for the team from Section III. Tully’s points usually come from inside the paint and from the hand of their 6-foot-6-inch senior center, Joe Crawford.

Crawford averages 17.9 points per game currently. and a good amount of his points come off the offensive glass. Unadilla Valley will need to keep Crawford off the boards at both ends of the floor as he pulls down 8.8 rebounds per game. The Tully team is a strong team on the boards as they have grabbed nearly 35 rebounds every game this season.

Another player the Storm will have to keep off the glass is Dante Cuttino, a 6-foot-2-inch forward for the Knights. Cuttino crashes the boards hard as he is averaging 7.4 rebounds a game. He can also score from the inside, as he is just shy of 10 points per game.

“We will try to play solid defense and limit them to one shot,” said UV’s head coach Matt Osborne. “Keeping [Tully’s] two big guys off the offensive boards will be huge for us.”

Defensively, The Knights will look to sit in a zone defense. Either a 2-3 or a 1-3-1 have been their defenses of choice this season.

The Storm will need to take care of the ball on the outside, moving it quickly from player to player. Doing this will create a defensive miscue by Tully, which can lead to a UV open look from the outside or lane to the rim.

Unadilla Valley will have to make a smart decision at the rim as Crawford has a total of 82 blocks on the season. If the right move is made, The Storm can hopefully get the Knights’ big man in foul trouble early.