Chalk up win for Walton

ONEONTA – Chalk up another win for MAC’s division one.
Walton, who moved into the higher division this season, won its first outright league title and kept Oxford and division two winless in championship games with a 46-42 victory over the Blackhawks, Saturday evening at Oneonta State’s Fieldhouse Gymnasium.
Offensive rhythm and flow were foreign words after the first quarter. Insert, hustle, physical play, and scrappiness, and that better describes the action in which neither team shot the ball particularly well.
“All game, I thought our defense was terrific,” said Walton fourth-year coach Gary Williams. “Oxford has some players that shoot the ball well, and I think the key was our ability to maintain that level of defense the whole game.”
Walton was nearly as stingy on defense as its state-championship football team, and forced nearly as many turnovers. The Blackhawks had over 20 miscues for the game, a season-high, and shot 15-for-51 for the game. Take away a 50 percent first quarter (6-for-12), and Oxford was a mere 23 percent from the field.
“I felt they controlled the tempo nearly the entire game, and we weren’t able to get out and run the floor like we usually do,” said Oxford coach Tim Davis, who has led his team to three league championship games in his four years at the helm. “We turned it over way too much, and to play as badly as we did, we were still in the game.”
Yes, Oxford was not only in the game, it led by five points, 18-13, at halftime. While the Blackhawks were stumbling to a 1-for-12 shooting performance in the second quarter, they actually extended their first-quarter lead from three to five points.
Walton misfired on its first nine shot attempts of the second quarter, and the last, a Patrick O’Brien putback basket at the horn served as the Warriors’ only points of the quarter.
Tempo, moved to a near crawl with each team battling to find shots in their halfcourt sets. The Blackhawks’ shooting woes extended through the period making 2-of-11 shots.
Walton went on a 7-0 run midway through the quarter starting with a pair of O’Brien free throws. Drew Hammond scored on a layup off an inbounds pas closing it to one, and Chad Gardepe converted a layup and three-point play following an O’Brien steal to put Walton in front for the first time.
Oxford tied the game one more time, a Cory Seiler layup, but did not lead again.
O’Brien, Gardepe, and Hammond took advantage of the foul shooting bonus in the fourth quarter, so much so that it seemed like they were ready to purchase a time share. The trio was not collectively impressive, 13-for-24, but made enough to hold off the Blackhawks. “They were able to get some easy baskets, and they did a better job of rebounding,” Davis said. “I give Walton a ton of credit. Their bench players came in, and maybe they didn’t score, but there was no drop off in their play.”
O’Brien and Gardepe had 15 points in the victory for a Walton club that was in must-win mode the last three weeks. In late-January, Walton dropped back-to-back contests to Unatego and Sidney, and needed a regular-season-ending victory over Unadilla Valley to reach the championship game. “We got into a little bit of rut, so we had to go back to basic fundamentals,” Williams said. “We got back on track, and that makes this a whole lot sweeter.”
Scott Seiler had 11 points for Oxford (17-3), who are the number three seed in the Section IV, Class Tournament. Oxford hosts either Unadilla Valley or Newfield, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m.
Oxford: Cory Seiler, 3-5 0-0-8; Andrew Hubman, 1-3 0-0-2; Scott Seiler, 4-15 2-2-11; Tom Gould, 0-5 2-2-2; Alex Champlin, 2-11 2-2-6; Jeff Champlin, 2-5 0-1-4; Robert Amor, 1-2 0-0-2; Hugh Witchella, 2-5 3-4-7. Totals: 15-51 9-11-42.
Walton: Chad Gardepe, 4-10 7-11-15, Travis Sprague 0 0-0-0, Patrick O'Brien, 6-13 6-14-18, Jon Howard, 0-2 0-0-0, Steve Kaminsky, 0-3 0-2-0, Daniel Gehl, 0-0 0-0-0; Casey Killian, 0-4 0-0-0, Brad Hodges, 2-4 0-0-4, Drew Hammond, 2-5 5-7-9. Totals: 14-41 18-34-46.
Oxf. 14 4 4 20–42
Wal. 11 2 10 23–46
Fouled out: (O) A. Champlin, team fouls: (O) 21, (W) 13. Three-point goals: (O) 3-for-11 (C. Seiler, 2-3; S. Seiler, 1-6, A. Champlin 0-2.) (W) 0-for-11 (Gardepe, 0-2, O’Brien, 0-1, Howard, 0-1, Kaminsky, 0-2, Killian, 0-3, Hodges, 0-2). Officials: N. Ploutz, T. Price.


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