Tioga County Sports Report
NEWARK VALLEY - With a few adjustments and some key free throws, Newark Valley surge past Harpursville, 58-45, in non-league action here Saturday.
Struggles on the boards prevented the Cardinals from pulling away early as the game went into halftime deadlocked at 30 apiece.
"We changed up the defenses a bit in the second half and did a much better job rebounding the basketball," said NV head coach Scott Stratton. "In the first half we gave up a ton of offensive rebounds that turned into Harpursville putbacks.
"Credit Donavin Beebe, Jason Graham, Riley Malone and Ethan Bigelow for stepping up and rebounding the basketball."
Down the stretch, the Cardinals turned to Kyle Coffin to seal the deal at the free throw line. He went 9-for-10 in the period.
"Our free throw shooting was not very good overall, but Kyle helped put this game away by getting to the hoop, getting fouled and knocking down free throws all fourth quarter long," Stratton said.
Coffin would pump out a game-high 28 points, canning a trio of 3-pointers and going 13-for-16 at the stripe in the process.
The Hornets led 16-15 after one quarter, but NV knotted the score at the break. The defensive changes allowed the Cardinals to hold Harpursville to single digits in each of the final two period. NV led 41-37 going into the final eight minutes of play.
Beebe added 16 points to the win and Andrew Obregon chipped in with eight.
Eric Wilkinson, Brandon Gaudreau and Zach Fynboe scored 13, 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the Hornets (3-7).
Newark Valley (3-8) hosts Dryden (3-4) in an IAC crossover game Tuesday.
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IN PHOTO: Newark Valley's Kyle Coffin.
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