By TIM TAYLORTioga County Sports Report
OWEGO — Owego took advantage of a 20-6 second quarter run to battle past Candor, 61-51, and come away with the Charlie Sibley Memorial Tournament title here Saturday,
The teams opened with early 3-point field goals, but the scoring was limited before the Coyotes emerged with an 8-5 first period lead.
The second quarter was much different for the host River Hawks as they exploded for 20 points to build a 25-14 cushion at halftime. The surge was highlighted by a pair of Kingston Brainard 3-pointers, who had seven points in the period, five more from Duke Snyder and four more from Carter Rieg.
“It started with Kingston Brainard getting hot and making some threes, and us trying to push the ball a little bit more, but I just thought, defensively, particularly in the first half, we were so good and so connected and the communication was better,” said Owego coach Chris Evans.
“It was the difference and they're a good team,” Candor coach Nate Thomas said. “Chris is a fantastic coach. He puts his guys in unbelievable positions to score the basketball. Their guards play so darn hard and we knew coming in, defensively, it was going be a ton of pressure on us, and in the second quarter that's on me. In my own stubborn ways I wanted our guys to pull themselves out of it.”
“I was so pleased and I have all the respect in the world for Nate and his program and I think that Candor team's going to win IAC this year,” said Evans. “I think they're that talented.
Owego extended its advantage to 39-26 through three quarters on the strength of two Calvin Smith treys, another from Brainard and a pair of baskets by Atlas Boland.
Candor refused to go down without a fight and outscored Owego in the fourth quarter, surging for 25 points. Jakobe Foster led the comeback attempt with 10 points and Donald Makie scored eight.
Makie single-handedly outscored the River Hawks, 9-2, in the third and fourth quarters to pull the Coyotes within 10 at 39-29, then Mat Smith was left wide open for a bucket to close the gap to 39-31 in the first minute of the final frame.
With 4:08 remaining to play and Owego hanging onto a 43-35 advantage, Rieg hit a pair of free throws to make it a 10-point contest, then Snyder went 5-for-5 at the stripe down the stretch to hold Candor at bay.
“The other thing that happened at the end was that when they went on a run, they didn't get enough stops on us,” Evans said. “We actually were continuing to score, whether it was a big three from Calvin Smith or Duke Snyder going to the basket or another three from Cal or something.
“Duke was just tremendous,” said Evans. “He rebounds at 5-foot-10. He rebounds with the best of them. He puts his nose in there and he just plays so hard. I wish I could have had three all-tournament players, but I appreciate the hard work that they put in every day and it paid off tonight.”
“One of the things that I saw with Duke, we were making those early, so we had to have him at the line later on just try to get the ball in his hands, because free throw shooting can be a fickle thing. From time to time last year we had our issues. First game we had our issues, but I like the fact that we're getting to the line. I know we only made 16 out of 29 in our first game the other night, which is horrific, but I like the fact that we went 29 times, and I'm hoping that we can go to the line over 20 times a game, because I think we have the guards who can kind of get downhill and force that action a little bit.”
The River Hawks were 10-for-14 at the free throw line and connected for seven 3-pointers while Candor was 7-for-9 at the line with four treys.
Calvin Smith knocked down four treys and finished with a team-high 16 points while Snyder made six of his seven foul shots and scored 14 points and Brainard, who hit two three-balls, contributed a dozen points. Rieg added nine points, Boland had six and Nolan Card tacked on four.
“This was Nolan Card's second game,” Evans said. “He struggled a little bit in his first game of varsity basketball, but this one he decided that he was going to go after every rebound, and he was a man out there. He grew up a lot and then Atlas Boland off the bench helped tremendously inside.
Makie scored a game-high 18 points, Foster chipped in with 16 and Mat Smith sank two treys and finished with 10 points. Ben Sheridan recorded five points and Teagan Kwiatkowski had two.
“Early in the season this is a fantastic test,” Thomas said. “This is exactly what we need. Being in this position against a really good physical team, I didn't want to call a timeout. I wanted to see what those guys would do, how they would respond, and that was the difference of the game, so it's on me, and that's perfectly fine.
“Our guys battled,” Thomas said. “They absolutely battled. We can't be more proud of the way that we responded after that second quarter, and Owego shot the lights out of the ball tonight. It wasn't because we let them. They have great shooters, and like I said, Chris puts great spots to be able to do that.”
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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
