IAC BOYS BASKETBALL: CANDOR RALLY COMES UP SHORT IN SMALL SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME (February 20, 2026)
By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
DRYDEN — The Candor boys basketball team found itself in a 19-point hole midway through the second quarter, then battled back to within two before falling to Union Springs, 71-60, in the IAC Small School championship game at Tompkins Cortland Community College Friday night.
The Coyotes struggled to find the inside of the rim during the early minutes. Meanwhile, the ball seemed to bounce the Wolves’ way when they needed it to.
“They're a really good team with a lot of firepower, and if you miss any assignments against them, they make you pay,” coach Nate Thomas said. “Dan (Cerro) has done a fantastic job of getting those guys in positions where they can score.
“Cooper DeChick had an amazing game today. He got to the basket on our guys. I don't know how many layups he made, but it felt like 100, and you surround that with Andrew (Case) making four or five threes, and then you have Rocco, who's the best point guard in the league. You’ve got Nevin (Brown) and Orion (Rusinko).
“They came out ready to play and we came out like we had never been in this situation before. We battled back in the second half, but you can't win big games in a half of basketball.”
Case knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and Testa added two baskets to lead Union Springs to a 10-4 lead in the first 4 ½ minutes of action
When Testa converted a turnover under the Candor basket into points, it ignited an 11-0 run that saw DeChick score five points and Testa add four, making it a 21-6 game heading into the final minute of the opening stanza.
Teagan Kwiatkowski would end a three-minute scoring drought with a 3-pointer 26 seconds on the clock, but Testa would pick up a loose ball and heave it through the hoop at the buzzer for a 3-pointer and a 24-9 advantage.
The second-quarter scoring was even as the Wolves held on to their 15-point lead at the half. A conventional 3-point play by Brown and a trey from Testa helped Union Springs go up, 32-13, midway through the quarter.
Back-to-back baskets by Jakobe Foster cut the lead to 32-17, the Wolves stretched it to 35-17, but Ben Sheridan’s 3-pointer made it 35-20 at the break.
Foster connected on a conventional 3-point play, Ryan Huizinga found Dinald Makie with a long cross-court pass for a basket and Kwiatkowski nailed his second trey of the night to narrow the margin to 37-28 in the first two minutes of the second half.
Union Springs scored seven consecutive points in just over a minute to build the lead back up to 44-28.
Foster and DeChick traded buckets, then Makie got hot from beyond the arc, knocking down four treys to bring Candor within 50-42 before Testa drove the lane for a 52-42 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Foster and Makie wrapped 3-point plays around Foster and Sheridan baskets to cut the lead to 54-52 with 5:36 remaining.
The Wolves retaliated with a trey by Case, a DeChick 3-point play, a pair of Testa free throws and a DeChick basket to push their lead back to double digits at 64-54 with 3:03 left on the clock.
Foster countered with a basket and a free throw, but Case drained another trey at 1:13 for a 67-57 lead, followed by four straight free throws from DeChick in the final minute.
DeChick led all scorers with 27 points, including a 6-for-7 effort at the line. Testa added 22 points, including two 3-pointers, and Case tacked on four threes, all from beyond the arc.
Foster led Candor with 23 points, going 7-for-10 at the foul line, and also had four assists, four rebounds and three steals while Makie added 21 points with the help of his four threes, and also had four rebounds and two assists; and Sheridan chipped in with seven points, four rebounds and one steal.
Kwiatkowski contributed two treys, two boards, a steal and an assist; Huizinga had two points, six boards and an assist; Kyle Jantz added a free throw, two steals and two assists; and Kellen Williamson grabbed two boards.
Union Springs (18-3) and Candor (15-4) are seeded fourth and fifth, respectively, for the Section IV Class C Boys Basketball Championships. The Coyotes host Groton on Wednesday at 6 p.m. and a win would send them to Union Springs next Saturday.
“We have a chance to have another shot at them, but if we play like we did in the first half, we might as well just stay right on the bus and not even play the game,” Thomas said. “We'll just give them the win and then they can come back here and play because it's frustrating for our guys to go through the prep that we go through and then to come out on a basketball court and not play the game to their potential.
“It’s disheartening for us as coaches to see that. Every single day in practice they bust their butt, and then they come out here and it's like they never played. I don't know what the problem was, but we will be ready for sectionals, you know. Now it's a new season and the opportunities are available for everybody.”
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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
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