‘39’ and no longer holding
BINGHAMTON – This one was Oxford, its town, its fans, and players in the recent and not-so-recent past. A idle championship notation on a single banner adorning the wall of the high school gymnasium will now have a partner.
The Blackhawks, 39 years removed from the school’s lone Section IV championship, atoned for last year’s heart-breaking championship loss, beating Odessa-Montour Saturday, 50-43 in the Class C title contest Saturday night at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.
The Blackhawks (21-3) have now won 18 games in a row, all but one of those victories since the flip of 2008 to 2009. They play Section III’s champion on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. at Cortland State for the right to advance to the New York State semifinals in Glens Falls.
“I think this win is for the whole town,” said Oxford fifth-year head coach Tim Davis. In Davis’ tenure, the Blackhawks have made four MAC championship games, but didn’t win until this year. It also reached the sectional semifinals two years ago before seeing a premature end to the season. “We have had great support from the community all the way back. I played here, Jim (Champlin, assistant coach) played here. “We’ve had a strong program the last five years, and the whole town has come together.”
The Blackhawks’ season-long staple – strong defense – was up to the task of containing the Indians. Giving up just 43 points will win teams a lot of games. Nearly four minutes into the fourth quarter, it didn’t look like Oxford would make it to 40, much less the half-century it totaled by game’s end. Nearly 7 _ minutes passed between points for the Blackhawks, and in the meantime, O-M (16-7), underdogs by anyone’s measure, turned a two-point deficit early in the third quarter into a 36-32 lead. John Blaha hit a free throw with 5:35 left in the game for the first points of the stanza, and Brandon Letteer was fouled on and inside move setting up two more free throws with 4:57 remaining in the game.
“That drought killed us,” said Oxford junior guard Cory Seiler, who was a significant reserve in last year’s contest, and a crucial player in his team’s late-game surge. “They had all the momentum, but we started to get the ball inside, and that’s when we took over. The first half we didn’t play our game, but we started to play our game and do what we’ve done all year.”
An 18-7 outpouring of offense began innocently enough when backup Jeremy Nelson made two free throws after drawing a foul inside at 4:36. The free throws were the first points of any kind for Oxford in seven minutes, 25 seconds. Tom Gould tied the game when he made a nifty post move and drop step for a layup knotting the contest with 4:01 to play.
The lead came after a complete misfire. Brett Trask airballed a go-ahead shot attempt, but Alex Champlin, Oxford’s senior scoring leader, caught the ball and dropped in a layup in one motion for the edge. What ensued was a barrage of drives, shot-making – and one fall on a slippery Arena floor. Gould, Champlin, and Seiler all picked up steals as Oxford ratcheted up the defense.
Seiler, who scored eight in the fourth quarter, convertedd a driving layup after getting a steal, Champlin drove and dished to Trask for a 12-footer making it 42-38. O-M’s Blaha took the inbounds pass after Trask’s basket, and in an attempt to break the pressure defense of Seiler, slipped and lost control of the ball. It bounced directly to Seiler, who took two steps for an uncontested layup and a six-point lead. Seiler scored again following a Gould steal, and the lead grew to eight points.
Trask and Seiler tacked on insurance baskets as Oxford celebrated. “The way we played for 28 minutes, the last four were kind of shocking,” Davis said. “It took that long before we finally settled down and got back to our game.”
Champlin, who was scoring nearly 25 points in the postseason, was held to just 13 points on 5-for-18 shooting, his second lowest total this season. Seiler had all 10 of his points in the second half, and Gould along with Trask also scored 10 apiece to balance the Blackhawks’ scoring ledger. “We have good leadership, but there’s talent, too,” Davis said of this year’s team. “…We had a lot of depth last year and shared a lot of playing time. We didn’t have as much depth this year. Nothing against the guys that don’t play, but (the lack of depth) has really defined the roles of the guys who do play. There isn’t a lot of confusion for the guys that are out there.”
Until a propitious fourth quarter, one in which Oxford horded nearly 40 percent of its points, Odessa-Montour was giving and taking equally in a defensive slugfest.
Oxford got untracked late in the first quarter to grab a one-point lead. Trask canned a three ball at the top of the key after getting a pass from Gould, and Champlin stepped into a three after a pass from Trask at the quarter’s buzzer, and buried the long-range attempt giving his team an 11-10 lead.
Champlin found his rhythm in the second quarter scoring eight points, although O-M’s Tom Dykshoorn and Letteer had the appropriate answers with six and five points in the stanza. Letteer’s three with eight seconds left in the half tied the game at 26-26.
Oxford’s offense went almost into neutral in the third quarter, and seven turnovers by the Blackhawks didn’t help matters. Seiler’s first basket of the game, a baseline jumper with 4:01 left, preceded the long absence of points.
“We knew we wanted it bad this year,” Seiler said. “Scotty (Seiler) wanted it and Jeff (Champlin) wanted it last year. We lost by one and there was nothing we could do about it. The whole town was behind us and we wanted to do it for them. It’s been 39 years, so we figured we would banner up.”
O-M: John Blaha, 3-7 1-2-7; Dan Stephens, 0-1 0-0-0; Matt Shutter, 2-11 1-2-6; Trevor Carey, 0-4 0-0-0; Tom Dykshoorn, 7-10 1-2-15; Brandon Letteer, 6-16 2-2-15. Totals: 18-49 5-8-43.
Oxford: Brett Trask, 4-8 1-2-10; Cory Seiler, 4-9 2-2-10; Alex Champlin, 5-18 2-2-13; Ethan Paul, 1-4 0-0-2; Ralph Renaud, 0 0-0-0; Jeremy Nelson, 1-2 3-4-5; Tom Gould, 4-6 2-2-10. Totals: 19-47 10-12-50.
O-M 10 16 7 10—43
Oxf. 11 15 6 18—50
Fouled out: none. Team fouls: (O) 9, (O-M) 12. Turnovers: (O) 14, (O-M) 16. Three-point shooting: (O) 2-for-11 (Trask, 1-4, Champlin, 1-5, Seiler, 0-2). (O-M) 2-for-13, (Shutter, 1-4, Letteer, 1-6, Blaha, 0-1).
The Blackhawks, 39 years removed from the school’s lone Section IV championship, atoned for last year’s heart-breaking championship loss, beating Odessa-Montour Saturday, 50-43 in the Class C title contest Saturday night at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.
The Blackhawks (21-3) have now won 18 games in a row, all but one of those victories since the flip of 2008 to 2009. They play Section III’s champion on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. at Cortland State for the right to advance to the New York State semifinals in Glens Falls.
“I think this win is for the whole town,” said Oxford fifth-year head coach Tim Davis. In Davis’ tenure, the Blackhawks have made four MAC championship games, but didn’t win until this year. It also reached the sectional semifinals two years ago before seeing a premature end to the season. “We have had great support from the community all the way back. I played here, Jim (Champlin, assistant coach) played here. “We’ve had a strong program the last five years, and the whole town has come together.”
The Blackhawks’ season-long staple – strong defense – was up to the task of containing the Indians. Giving up just 43 points will win teams a lot of games. Nearly four minutes into the fourth quarter, it didn’t look like Oxford would make it to 40, much less the half-century it totaled by game’s end. Nearly 7 _ minutes passed between points for the Blackhawks, and in the meantime, O-M (16-7), underdogs by anyone’s measure, turned a two-point deficit early in the third quarter into a 36-32 lead. John Blaha hit a free throw with 5:35 left in the game for the first points of the stanza, and Brandon Letteer was fouled on and inside move setting up two more free throws with 4:57 remaining in the game.
“That drought killed us,” said Oxford junior guard Cory Seiler, who was a significant reserve in last year’s contest, and a crucial player in his team’s late-game surge. “They had all the momentum, but we started to get the ball inside, and that’s when we took over. The first half we didn’t play our game, but we started to play our game and do what we’ve done all year.”
An 18-7 outpouring of offense began innocently enough when backup Jeremy Nelson made two free throws after drawing a foul inside at 4:36. The free throws were the first points of any kind for Oxford in seven minutes, 25 seconds. Tom Gould tied the game when he made a nifty post move and drop step for a layup knotting the contest with 4:01 to play.
The lead came after a complete misfire. Brett Trask airballed a go-ahead shot attempt, but Alex Champlin, Oxford’s senior scoring leader, caught the ball and dropped in a layup in one motion for the edge. What ensued was a barrage of drives, shot-making – and one fall on a slippery Arena floor. Gould, Champlin, and Seiler all picked up steals as Oxford ratcheted up the defense.
Seiler, who scored eight in the fourth quarter, convertedd a driving layup after getting a steal, Champlin drove and dished to Trask for a 12-footer making it 42-38. O-M’s Blaha took the inbounds pass after Trask’s basket, and in an attempt to break the pressure defense of Seiler, slipped and lost control of the ball. It bounced directly to Seiler, who took two steps for an uncontested layup and a six-point lead. Seiler scored again following a Gould steal, and the lead grew to eight points.
Trask and Seiler tacked on insurance baskets as Oxford celebrated. “The way we played for 28 minutes, the last four were kind of shocking,” Davis said. “It took that long before we finally settled down and got back to our game.”
Champlin, who was scoring nearly 25 points in the postseason, was held to just 13 points on 5-for-18 shooting, his second lowest total this season. Seiler had all 10 of his points in the second half, and Gould along with Trask also scored 10 apiece to balance the Blackhawks’ scoring ledger. “We have good leadership, but there’s talent, too,” Davis said of this year’s team. “…We had a lot of depth last year and shared a lot of playing time. We didn’t have as much depth this year. Nothing against the guys that don’t play, but (the lack of depth) has really defined the roles of the guys who do play. There isn’t a lot of confusion for the guys that are out there.”
Until a propitious fourth quarter, one in which Oxford horded nearly 40 percent of its points, Odessa-Montour was giving and taking equally in a defensive slugfest.
Oxford got untracked late in the first quarter to grab a one-point lead. Trask canned a three ball at the top of the key after getting a pass from Gould, and Champlin stepped into a three after a pass from Trask at the quarter’s buzzer, and buried the long-range attempt giving his team an 11-10 lead.
Champlin found his rhythm in the second quarter scoring eight points, although O-M’s Tom Dykshoorn and Letteer had the appropriate answers with six and five points in the stanza. Letteer’s three with eight seconds left in the half tied the game at 26-26.
Oxford’s offense went almost into neutral in the third quarter, and seven turnovers by the Blackhawks didn’t help matters. Seiler’s first basket of the game, a baseline jumper with 4:01 left, preceded the long absence of points.
“We knew we wanted it bad this year,” Seiler said. “Scotty (Seiler) wanted it and Jeff (Champlin) wanted it last year. We lost by one and there was nothing we could do about it. The whole town was behind us and we wanted to do it for them. It’s been 39 years, so we figured we would banner up.”
O-M: John Blaha, 3-7 1-2-7; Dan Stephens, 0-1 0-0-0; Matt Shutter, 2-11 1-2-6; Trevor Carey, 0-4 0-0-0; Tom Dykshoorn, 7-10 1-2-15; Brandon Letteer, 6-16 2-2-15. Totals: 18-49 5-8-43.
Oxford: Brett Trask, 4-8 1-2-10; Cory Seiler, 4-9 2-2-10; Alex Champlin, 5-18 2-2-13; Ethan Paul, 1-4 0-0-2; Ralph Renaud, 0 0-0-0; Jeremy Nelson, 1-2 3-4-5; Tom Gould, 4-6 2-2-10. Totals: 19-47 10-12-50.
O-M 10 16 7 10—43
Oxf. 11 15 6 18—50
Fouled out: none. Team fouls: (O) 9, (O-M) 12. Turnovers: (O) 14, (O-M) 16. Three-point shooting: (O) 2-for-11 (Trask, 1-4, Champlin, 1-5, Seiler, 0-2). (O-M) 2-for-13, (Shutter, 1-4, Letteer, 1-6, Blaha, 0-1).
dived wound factual legitimately delightful goodness fit rat some lopsidedly far when.
Slung alongside jeepers hypnotic legitimately some iguana this agreeably triumphant pointedly far
jeepers unscrupulous anteater attentive noiseless put less greyhound prior stiff ferret unbearably cracked oh.
So sparing more goose caribou wailed went conveniently burned the the the and that save that adroit gosh and sparing armadillo grew some overtook that magnificently that
Circuitous gull and messily squirrel on that banally assenting nobly some much rakishly goodness that the darn abject hello left because unaccountably spluttered unlike a aurally since contritely thanks