IAC BOYS BASKETBALL: S-VE HOLDS OFF NEWFIELD, IMPROVES TO 2-0 (6 PHOTOS) (2018-12-03)

Tioga County Sports Report
SPENCER - Spencer-Van Etten built a big lead - and needed it - to hold off a highly-competitive Newfield team here Tuesday, 62-51, in an IAC Small School South clash.

"We got up 18 at one point and I was waiting for a run to come, and it came," said S-VE head coach Jeremy Kastenhuber. "They got a lot closer than I was hoping for. They've got a good team. They're well-coached. They've got a lot of athletes that can make a lot of shots."

The Trojans, last season's Class D state semifinalist (and state runner-up the year before), lost six players to graduation, but also returned six players - and that made them a team to be cautious about.  The visitors would come blazing  back into the game in the second half, cutting the lead to five points in the fourth quarter.

The Panthers would retaliate and stretch the lead back out a little behind four baskets from Noah Mack, a pair from Ben VanGalder and another by Nathan Mack. The Macks would help seal the victory, each going 3-for-4 at the charity stripe in the final period.

The stripe wasn't very charitable earlier in the contest, especially the third quarter when S-VE went 6-for-14 at the line while Newfield countered with four 3-pointers, three from Jake Humble.

"We missed a lot of free throws through the third quarter and the start of the fourth quarter," Kastenhuber said. "We missed nine in a row and that's something we have to make sure we take advantage of and be better at, but we were able to hang on in the end and that's the important thing."

S-VE came out firing to build an 18-10 lead in the first quarter. Noah Mack canned a pair of treys and pumped out 11 of his game-high 31 points, off-setting a pair of threes by the Trojans' Josh Wood.

Nathan Wood scored six points in the second quarter, and Noah Mack and Blaine Whitmarsh drained one trey each to give the Panthers a 32-18 cushion at the half.

S-VE tallied just two buckets and went 6-for-14 at the stripe in the third quarter. Meanwhile, Humble scored half of his team-high 26 points, knocking down three treys in the process, and Newfield cut the lead to 42-34 heading into the final eight minutes of play.

Despite the tense final minutes of the contest, Kastenhuber was happy with the overall performance of his team.

"The effort was outstanding," he said. "They're a hard-working group of kids and tonight it paid off against a very good team."

Still, there's work to be done, Kastenhuber said.

"We've got to take care of the ball better. We have to make sure we run our offense a little more crisp. We have to set better screens and we have to box out more. It seems like a lot and it is. It's things that they do well in spurts and we just have to make sure we're consistent."

Nathan Mack contributed 18 points to the win and VanGalder added six. Wilson Cooper and Whitmarsh chipped in with four and three, respectively.

Wood had 13 and Daejahd Liecky added seven for Newfield.

S-VE (2-0, 1-0) visits Odessa-Montour (1-2, 0-0) for a divisional game Friday night.

FRIDAY
S-VE 57, Trumansburg 40
The Panthers opened the season Friday with a non-league triumph over T-burg.

Nathan Mack scored six of his game-high 13 points in the first quarter as S-VE jumped out to a 16-10 lead.

Spencer held the Blue Raiders to three points in the second period while building a 25-13 advantage.

VanGalder contributed 11 points to the victory, James Sutherlin had nine, Cooper pitched in with eight, and Noah Mack added six.