IAC BOYS BASKETBALL: CANDOR STRUGGLES AGAINST TIOGA DEFENSE IN 48-42 SETBACK (2023-12-08)
By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
CANDOR — The Tioga defense held Candor well below its average en route to a 48-42 IAC South Small School victory in the Tigers’ season opener Friday night.
The Coyotes came in at 2-0 and averaging 62 points per game while the start of Tioga’s season had been delayed by another state football championship.
It marked a successful debut for Tioga head coach Dave Sickler, who was very much aware his team would be in for an intense clash.
“Anytime you play Candor at Candor, it's going to be a battle,” he said. “They play hard for coach (Nate) Thomas. They get fired up.
“They always have a good fan base over here, so we knew the environment was going to be a tough one, but that's kind of where I use football. They've been in situations where it's a hostile environment and big game situations, so I think that kind of helped them settle in and get focused from the get-go.”
The intensity in this game was no surprise to Candor coach Nate Thomas either.
“We knew it was going to be,” he said. “They're a great team and they play hard. They're physical and they're well coached. Dave's a good coach and he's been around the game a long time.
“Him and his assistant coach found some holes and they did a really good, good job exploiting it. And when you have that many guys with that much strength, it makes a difference.”
Candor led just three times, at 8-2 and 11-0 in the first quarter, then again at 40-39 with 2:10 remaining in the game. That last lead, created when Jakobe Foster drained his second and final 3-pointer of the evening, didn’t deter the Tigers, who quickly regained the lead on a Valentino Rossi basket just 23 seconds later.
Evan Sickler would can his second and final trey with 1:11 on the clock to make it 44-40, then Shea Bailey wrapped four free throws around a Ryan Huizinga field goal to seal the deal, the last two foul shots coming with 3.2 seconds on the clock.
Every Tioga player who got in the game was able to contribute to the win.
“(I’m) very, very pleased with the team effort, especially defensively,” coach Sickler said. “From a few days of practice, they've bought into a lot of help defense and stopping the ball. I can't be happier to start off on such a short practice session and get a win over here.”
“Everyone always talks about Evan as a good offensive player,” Thomas said. “The kid's an incredible defender too. He was guarding Jadon the whole time and he did a really good job. He made everything tough for him, as he should being the athlete he is.”
The Tigers grabbed an early 4-0 advantage when Evan Sickler found Karson Sindoni open underneath and Rossi also scored in the paint.
The Coyotes responded with a three and a basket from Foster, and a trey by Jadon Heidl to go up, 8-4, but Sindoni sank two shots at the charity stripe and tied the game with a basket, and Travis Fisher put the Tigers ahead with a field goal.
Wih 2:14 left in the period, Heidl pushed the home back in front with a traditional 3-point play, however, Tioga regained the lead on another Sindoni basket and Evan Sickler made it 14-11 heading into the second quarter.
Jacek Teribury made it a one-point game with a bucket early in the period, but Ethan Landmesser, Evan Sickler, Fisher and Sindoni combined for an 11-4 run to extend the lead to 25-17 at the break.
It looked like the Tigers would carry that 8-point cushion into the final frame with the help of three-balls from Jackson Bombard and Evan Sickler, but Heidl’s half-court buzzer beater closed the gap to 33-28 at the end of the period.
Tioga got up by seven early in the fourth, but the Coyotes chipped away at the lead and baskets by Foster and Teribury, followed by a Foster trey gave Candor its final lead.
With the overlapping seasons, most of the players didn’t get much time to relax before trading their football spikes for basketball sneakers.
“I almost had practice on the Sunday right after the state title game, and then I thought that they need a day at least to unwind and feel good about it, and I'm glad we did that,” coach Sickler said.
“We came in Monday, and these kids are so athletic, and they're so focused and so used to winning that they wanted to get ready and get after it. It was a great first four days of practice, and it makes me excited to think we’ve got a lot of season left and a lot of room to get even better.”
Evan Sickler paced the Tigers with 14 points and six assists while Sindoni contributed a dozen points. Rossi pulled down 11 rebounds and chipped in with six points, Fisher added seven points and six boards, and Bailey had four points and four assists. Bombard and Landmesser tacked on three and two points, respectively.
Foster led all scorers with 19 points while Heidl added 11. Teribury scored nine and Huizinga had three.
Tioga hit 73 percent of its free throws (11-for-15) while Candor made just three of its 12 attempts.
Thomas won’t dwell on the setback given the Coyotes’ schedule.
“It's one of those deals where we don't have time to worry too much about this,” he said. “Newfield comes to town on Tuesday. We have to prepare for that. We have to learn from the things that we screwed up on today.
“Our effort was there. We played hard, but we have to couple that with some basketball IQ.”
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IN PHOTO 1: Candor's Jason Jantz (11) and Jacek Teribury. ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
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