Frank Speziale Photo

SYRACUSE – Holding a two point lead with just over three minutes left in the third quarter, the Unadilla Valley Storm boys basketball team saw the win and a trip to the New York State final four within reach.

That quickly changed when Dante Cuttino finished a reverse layup to start a 10-0 by the Knights of Tully.

The Storm couldn’t fully recover as Tully finished the game with the lead and the final score of 56-40.

Starting out in their man-to-man defense, focusing their efforts on Joe Crawford and Jake Edinger of Tully.

UV’s Dante Dye struck first, like he had in both the semifinal and finals of the Section IV tournament.

However, unlike those two games, the Storm did not jump out to a big lead. In fact, the game went basket for basket throughout the first three quarters.

The first quarter ended in a 10-10 tie, six points coming from deep three-pointers by Dante Dye.

In the second quarter, Unadilla Valley stopped the Knights on a few defensive possessions, causing turnovers. This aided in the Storm’s four point lead at the half.

In the first two quarters of play, Levi Rifanburg paced UV with 12 points. Teammate Wyatt Grey pulled in seven rebounds to lead the team in the first half on the Glass.

For the Knights, Crawford scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds while Edinger lead their team with 11 points.

Tully had their eye on the Storm’s Andrew Jackson, not allowing him to create much space on offense in the first half.

Jackson did create for his teammates through, dishing out three assists in the first 16 minutes of play.

With Tully getting their first possession to start the second half, Unadilla Valley stopped the Knights. On the other end of the floor, Grey knocked down his second three-pointer of the game to help the Storm extend their lead to seven.

Back came Tully in the early minutes of the quarter, going on a small 7-0 run to tie the game again, this time at 30-30.

For the next three minutes, the lead changed hands between the two teams five times. Dye hit his third from beyond the arc, giving the Storm the lead at 36-34.