GROTON –– One night after falling in overtime, the Groton boys basketball team never seemed to find itself in a 68-45 loss to Union Springs Thursday at Groton High School.
The Red Hawks came out of the gates sluggish, trailing 5-4 after a quarter of play. Union Springs found its game in the middle quarters, outscoring Groton 52-27. That was enough for the Wolves to coast to a victory.
Groton was coming off a 74-70 overtime loss to Newark Valley Wednesday and Groton head coach Mike Holl thinks tired legs factored into Thursday’s result.
“I think that back-to-back hurt us,” Holl said. “We played a pretty good first half relatively speaking. In the second half, I feel like we kind of ran out of gas is what a lot of what it was. Union Springs is good team and they took us out of our of stuff (Thursday). So we’ll have a lot to look on tape and a lot to learn.”
Union Springs’ full-court pressure created havoc throughout the game. The increased tempo coupled with tired legs pushed Groton into turnovers and rushed offensive possessions. This allowed the Wolves to get transition opportunities and easy looks at the basket and from behind the arc all night. Union Springs ended the night with four double-digit scorers.
Holl believes his team’s fatigue was also evident in the little things they weren’t able to do.
“I haven’t checked out free throw percentage, but we aren’t doing ourselves any favors from the line,” Holl said. “I don’t feel like we rebounded like we did (Wednesday night). We had 54, maybe 55, rebounds last night, if we had half that (Thursday night) I’d be shocked. So there is little fundamental things that when players get tired they tend to forget.”
Colson Slade led Groton with 12 points, Jerome Turner had 10, Sean O’Brien scored nine, Conor Eldred has eight and Carmelo Riley-Israel posted six points.
Despite starting the season 0-2, Holl is optimistic about his team’s outlook moving froward.
“The only time it’s okay to lose is if you learn from your mistakes,” Holl said. “It’s not okay if you just keep repeating the same things over and over again. We have to go back and look at the tape to see what really bit us and fix it in practice.
“I still have really high hopes for this team,” Holl added. “I have a lot of veteran guys. I have five seniors on the team this year. They’re a great group of guys with a great culture that we’re trying to build here at Groton. It’s been like turning a big ship, it doesn’t happen overnight. But we’re starting to see progress of these guys developing the culture we want here.”
Groton will look for its first win at 7 p.m. Tuesday when it visits Moravia.
BOYS BASKETBALL
BISHOP GRIMES 48, CORTLAND 31
Iniko Abani led Cortland with eight points, but the Purple Tigers lost the final three quarters 41-26 after trailing 7-5 after one.
Zach Muir scored five points, Damauri Bell and Caden Albright each scored four points, Jaxson Gambitta and Cal Albright both netted three points and Jamir Bell and Logan Toomey recorded two points apiece.
NEWFIELD 55, MARATHON 50
Austin Poth went for 25 points for Marathon, but the Olympians trailed 22-12 after a quarter and couldn’t recover. Poth knocked down six triples on the night and scored 16 points after halftime.
Camdyn Kashuba added 12 points for Marathon, Colton Oram scored six points, Tucker Trabucco had three points and Barrett Trabucco and Blake Birdsall both scored two points.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
POLAND 48, CINCINNATUS 6
Lydia Scutt scored all six of Cincinnatus’ points in a losing effort.
TULLY 43, PORT BYRON 36
Ella Polak and Anna Congelli combined for 31 of Tully’s 43 points as the Black Knights outscored Port Byron 23-13 in the middle quarters. Polak went for 20 points and Congelli scored 11. Tully won despite shooting 7-for-25 from the free throw line.
Anna Pierce added five points for the Black Knights and Gabby Flatt and Sydney Arnott scored two points apiece.
HOCKEY
WHITESBORO 4, CORTLAND/HOMER 1
Finn Thomas scored Cortland/Homer’s lone goal in the first period, but the Golden Eagles surrendered three goals in the final two periods. Lukas Norman and Bodey McGrath each assisted on Thomas’ goal and Jack Medeiros made 46 saves in goal.
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
TULL Y 3, CHITTENANGO 0
Kaylynne Bennett went off for 13 kills, three aces, a block and 16 digs and Anna Lund recorded 26 assists, nine digs, a kill and an ace as Tully won 25-16, 25-13, 25-23.
Maddy Lund added 14 digs, four aces and an assist, Rowan Usherwood chipped in 13 digs, six kills and three aces and Elaina Iozzo had six digs and an ace. Karissa Olender (six digs), Ella Lund (four kills, two blocks) and Molly Verbanic (one kill, one block, one ace) all contributed for the Black Knights as well.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
BOYS BASKETBALL
Homer at Fulton, 7:45 p.m. today
Marathon at Oxford, 7 p.m. today
Cincinnatus at Stockbridge Valley, 7 p.m. today
Newark Valley at Dryden, 7 p.m. today
Southern Cayuga at Moravia, 5:30 p.m. today
Carthage at Cortland, 1:45 p.m. Saturday
Tully at West Canada Valley, 2:30 p.m. Saturday
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Bishop Ludden at Cortland, 6:45 p.m. today
Fulton at Homer, 6:45 p.m. today
Marathon at Newfield, 6:30 p.m. today
Stockbridge Valley at McGraw, 6 p.m. today
Groton at Candor, 5:30 p.m. today
Dryden at Newark Valley, 7:15 p.m. today
Southern Cayuga at Moravia, 7 p.m. today
Marathon at Bainbridge-Guilford, 5:45 p.m. Saturday
Homer at Syracuse West, 6:30 p.m. Monday at Corcoran High School
Tully at Onondaga, 7 p.m. Monday
HOCKEY
Oswego at Cortland/Homer, 7 p.m. Monday at JM McDonald Sports Complex
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
McGraw, Cincinnatus, DeRuyter at SUNY Morrisville, 9:30 a.m. Saturday
OHSL Tournament at Tully, 9 a.m. Saturday
Tully at Manlius Pebble Hill, 7 p.m. Monday
Fabius-Pompey at DeRuyter, 6:30 p.m. Monday
BOYS WRESTLING
Homer at Chenango Valley, 4 p.m. today
Homer at Chenango Valley, 9:30 a.m. Saturday
Groton at Union-Endicott, 9 a.m. Saturday
Dryden at Norwich, 8 a.m. Saturday
Southern Hills at Central Valley Academy, 9 a.m. Saturday
Moravia at Elmira, 9 a.m. Saturday
GIRLS WRESTLING
Groton at Union-Endicott, 5:30 p.m. today
INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
Cortland, DeRuyter at Onondaga Community College, 4:30 p.m. today
Homer, Tully at Onondaga Community College, 9 a.m. Saturday
Groton, Dryden at SUNY Cortland, 9 a.m. Saturday
BOWLING
Solvay at Cortland, 3:30 p.m. Monday at Cort-Lanes
BOYS SWIMMING & DIVING
Dryden at Elmira, 9 a.m. Saturday
