NORWICH – One thing is certain: A two-decade drought between STAC basketball championships will end tonight at the Binghamton Events Center.
Unbeaten Norwich (17-0) squares off with Union-Endicott (14-3) at 7:45 p.m., its second straight league final and third in six season.
With a victory, the Purple Tornado would end a 20-year span between league titles, while U-E is seeking its first STAC crown in a quarter century. “We’re looking at this as a win-win for us, no matter what happens,” said Norwich head coach Tom Collier. “We get to play in the Events Center for the league championship, and we get to play two high-caliber teams. It’s the perfect preparation for sectionals.”
Norwich fans will surely recognize the man guiding the opposing club. U-E is led by 2000 NHS graduate Joey Alger, whom Collier knows quite well. Nearly 20 years ago, Collier served as Alger’s Norwich Little League coach. “You can definitely say the STAC championship has a Norwich flavor,” Collier said.
It’s Norwich’s second meeting with U-E in as many years. The Tigers edged Norwich last year by three in the Stop DWI tournament ; however, Norwich was missing its two leading scorers in that game, Mike Sutton and Kyle Edwards.
A lot has changed in 14 months, and U-E has become the league’s top scoring team. C.J. Krowiak, a slick lefty guard, scores at a 25-point-a-game clip, teammate Osama Barwari pumped in 24 points in a STAC semifinals victory over Susquehanna Valley, while Joey Orlando and Matt Eastman are strong complements. Eastman has a team-high 44 threes this season, many of those treys coming off dribble penetration and subsequent kickout passes.
“They score a lot of points, and they get up and down the floor in a hurry,” Collier said of U-E. “We saw them last summer, and going into this season, I thought (U-E) was the best team in our league. I wasn’t sure if U-E or Maine-Endwell would be here, but we’re here.”
Norwich is coming off a supremely impressive road victory over Elmira on Wednesday, the last team to defeat Union-Endicott. Elmira did the job by simply outscoring the Tigers. Collier said his team will need to win with defense. “We have to try and make the game lower scoring,” he said. “The strength of our team is defense, and (U-E) will definitely test it.”
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MAC Championship Games
(Saturday at SUNY Oneonta)

Girls

Bainbridge-Guilford (12-5) vs. Harpursville (17-0), 2 p.m.
Since losing three of its first five games, one of those defeats to Harpursville, Bainbridge-Guilford has won 10 of 12 games, and avenged a loss to Sidney last week to reach the MAC girls title tilt.
In that initial meeting with the Hornets, B-G played well enough defensively to win the game giving up just 36 points. But on offense, the Bobcats scored just four points in the first half, and finished with a season-low 23. “We’ve gotten better on offense since we played them, but so has Harpursville,” said B-G coach Bob Conway. “I think their role players have gotten better offensively, and it will be a tougher matchup for us.”
Fifth-year varsity player, Miranda Drummond, leads the Hornets on offense, and Conway expects that Drummond will get her share of points. It will come down to making things more difficult for her - not an easy task - while also defending the rest of the Hornets’ lineup. “We just have keep (Drummond) shooting jump shots, and not let her get to the rim. You can’t ever stop her, you just have to contain what she does.”
B-G junior Morgan Bullis has three straight 20-point games, point guard Abbey Smith is playing her best basketball, and spot-up shooter Taylor Palmatier will likely need to produce a double figures scoring game in order for B-G to win. “We have to score, and we didn’t do that the first game,” Conway said. “We also need to do a great job defensively, especially on Drummond, to give us a chance to win.”

Boys

Unadilla Valley (12-5) vs. Unatego (11-6), 4 p.m.
Unadilla Valley looks for its first league title since winning back-to-back crowns in 2006-2007. To end the seven-year title drought, the Storm will need to displace Unatego, the MAC’s top dog the past two seasons.
UV comes in on a roll beating Greene last week in the league semifinals, and in its previous game, dealt the Spartans their first league defeat. “We got off to a great start, and we just played consistent the rest of the game,” said UV coach Matt Osborne of the clash with Unatego.
Since winning their last league title, the Storm have suffered through a few losing seasons, but began to turn the corner last year. “We haven’t had this group of kids all together until this year,” Osborne said. “We’ve moved some kids up early and had some additions. We have a nice combination of talent, and everyone understands their role and what they need to do.”
Sophomore David Dufresne leads UV in scoring this season, and had 28 points in the win over the Trojans. Seniors Nate Shackleton and Nick White also score in double figures for the Storm.
The Spartans are led by Tanner Winchester and Kellen Komenda, who are deadly three-point marksman and prolific scorers. “No matter what happens, we know Unatego will keep coming at us,” Osborne said. “With the players they have, I don’t think any lead is safe.”