Oxford boys’ basketball coach Tim Davis has never been to the state championships at Glens Falls, and he doesn’t plan on attending this year either unless he is traveling on the team bus.
The Blackhawks are one victory from a trip to the Class C state semifinals, and standing in the way is Section III champion Onondaga, winners over Lafayette earlier this week in the sectional crossover championship game. Oxford plays the Tigers at 4:45 p.m. Saturday at SUNY Cortland.
“They’re an athletic team that likes to play zone defense,” Davis said, who made the trip north earlier this week to watch Onondaga play. “They’re a scrappy team that is all over the place and doesn’t give up.”
No game better exemplifies the Tigers’ team mentality that the C-2 title game victory over Tully. Down 21-7 at halftime, Onondaga rallied for a 37-35 victory.
A rally wasn’t needed against Lafayette, although the Tigers did need some big plays late in the game to hold on for a 54-44 victory.
Ted Zabel leads a balanced scoring roster at 13 points per game. Others contributing to the offense are Taylor Bassett at point guard, Zach Holbrook, and inside player Brad Emerson.
“I think they do play decent defense,” Davis said. “They’re an athletic team, but I don’t think they’ll have a size or speed advantage on us.”
In winning 18 games in a row, Oxford faced little adversity in a streak that has covered 10 weeks without a defeat. In the 50-43 title victory over Odessa-Montour last Saturday, the Blackhawks trailed in the fourth quarter for the first time since a Dec. 29 defeat to Chenango Valley – one in which Oxford dropped the game on buzzer-beater.
Cory Seiler came up big in the last quarter for Oxford, especially with leading scorer Alex Champlin bottled up most of the second half. Tom Gould, Brett Trask, and Jeremy Nelson also contributed to the Oxford cause in the fourth quarter.
“I’ve always known we’ve had other good players other than Alex, Tom and Cory,” Davis said. “When someone tries to stop somebody (like Tom or Alex), we exploit it by going to the other guys. If teams try to stop our guards, we can go inside.”
Oxford waited 39 years to win another Section IV championship. Now the Blackhawks – and Davis – have the opportunity to make their first trip to Glens Falls. “This is part of the process to get to Glens Falls,” Davis said of Saturday’s game. “At this point, we can’t think of anything else other than beating Onondaga.”