IAC BOYS BASKETBALL: O-M FREE THROWS COSTLY IN S-VE LOSS (February 12, 2026)
By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
SPENCER — The Spencer-Van Etten boys basketball sent Odessa-Montour to the free throw line too many times in a 42-36 IAC South Small School loss here Thursday night.
The Grizzlies sank a dozen freebies during a second half comeback, including three in the final 35 seconds of the fourth quarter to secure the win.
Noah Ingram canned his third 3-pointer of the game with 2:25 to go and Luukas Carling added a basket at 1:30, making it a one possession game with O-M ahead, 39-36.
Moe Zinger hit the first of two free throws with 34.3 seconds on the clock and Hunter Mowry made both attempts with 18.2 seconds remaining to give the Grizzlies a 42-36 advantage.
“For the first time all year, we played 32 really hard minutes of basketball,” said coach Kyle Pierce. “We came out swinging and had a really good first half. We had single-digit turnovers, I think, for the first time this year.”
O-M was 18-for-27 on the night while the Panthers were 3-for-6 at the stripe.
“They made 18 at the line today, and that really made a huge difference in the game score-wise,” said Pierce. “We played good defense. Some fouls got us a little bit, but really at the end of the year, that performance, we’ll take that 100 times out of 100.”
Nevin Mack wrapped a pair of field goals around 3-pointers by Nick Oakes and Ingram to give S-VE a 10-8 edge heading into the second quarter. Mowry and Connor Foggie connected for one field goal apiece and each was 2-for-2 at the line to keep O-M close.
The Panthers got a layup from Tyler Tufford, a trey from Ingram and a bucket by Mack to surge to a 17-10 lead near the midway point of the second period.
Following a pair of free throws from Foggie, Carling and Mack to extend the S-VE lead to 21-12 heading into the final minute of the half, but Caleb Malnoske knocked down his only points, from behind the arc to make it 21-15 at the break.
Odessa scored the first seven points of the second half on a conventional 3-point play and two baskets to take its first lead of the game at 22-21 near the 5-minute mark.
S-VE went back ahead, 23-22, with a bucket from Carling, but the Grizzlies responded with a basket to take the lead for good midway through the period.
Garrabrant sank four free throws and Zinger added one in the final 3:49 of the quarter while the Panthers got single free throws from Carling and Zane Showerman, and a basket by Ingram to keep it close, trailing, 29-27, heading into the final frame.
“Came out third quarter, struggled a little bit kind of, getting back going,” Pierce said. “Once we really started right toward the end of the third, we had to make up a little ground in the fourth, but we played really hard for a whole game. I can honestly say that every single person gave their 100-percent effort all game today.”
Odessa put three points on the board to start the fourth quarter, then Oakes nailed his second trey, making it a 32-30 contest.
The Grizzlies added three more points then Mack hit a free throw, but Zinger countered with a foul shot and Sutton followed with a 3-pointer to stretch the O-M advantage to 39-31 with a little more than three minutes left.
Ingram led S-VE with 11 points, Mack scored nine, Carling had seven, Oakes chipped in with six, Tufford added two and Showerman tacked on one.
The Panthers played just six players.
O-M received 11 points from Mowry, who was 5-for-6 at the line, eight from Foggie, who went 4-for-4 at the stripe, and seven from Sutton.
Pierce said the Panthers will take a week or two off, then begin preparing for next season. He plans to get the team involved in summer league play as well.
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IN PHOTO 1: Tyler Tufford. IN TOP PHOTO: Luukas Carling … PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
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