The Cortland boys basketball team fended off a late surge from visiting Cincinnatus Tuesday night to net the Purple Tigers a 54-46 win at Cortland Jr./Sr. High School.
Cortland opened up a 13-point lead on multiple occasions, but Cincinnatus continued to fire 3-pointers and a few fell to make it a six-point game with a little over a minute to play. Cortland responded with some smothering defense, not allowing the Lions a good look the rest of the way.
“We had built a lead and maintained a lead despite them making some great runs and scrappy play,” Cortland head coach Jeremy Milligan said. “It was nice to keep composure and not let them get all the way back. The closest was six points, but it was nice to have grit to close that game out. It’s a good sign of leadership from returning players.”
Milligan made a couple substitutions late when the game was tight to adjust his closing lineup. The Cortland head coach rotated guys all game and feels that versatility is one of his team’s best attributes.
“We’re only four games deep, so we don’t have any set rotation,” Milligan said. “Sometimes our rotation is based on who’s hot in that game or the previous day’s practice. It’s nice to have a lot of options with a lot of great kids who have been working hard in practice.”
Cincinnatus’ Jack Stafford, John Schuyler and Zack Streichert kept knocking down shots to keep the Lions in the game. Milligan was aware of Cincinnatus’ potency from deep –– Cincinnatus attempted 25 threes to 23 twos –– and felt his guys did all they could to slow down the Lions’ offense.
“We knew Cincinnatus was going to be scrappy,” Milligan said. “We had done a little bit of scouting and the report was they love their shots behind the arc and they’ve got kids that can knock it down. We were really focused on No. 2 (Stafford) and No. 3 (Schuyler), who are both outstanding basketball players. No. 11 (Streichert) caught fire (Tuesday night). They made a lot of threes despite our best efforts.”
The Purple Tigers slowly but surely extended their lead thanks to some superior athleticism. Jaxson Gambitta was able to command the boards and Zach Muir and Caden Albright caused havoc from the guard spot defensively. Others like Iniko Abani, Owen Michales, Cal Albright, Damauri Bell and Owen Johnson also made impacts on the defensive end for Cortland.
“We have phenomenal athletes who work hard,” Milligan said. “It’s nice to see them shine doing what they do best –– just play basketball and using their bodies.”
Cal Albright led Cortland with 10 points, scoring all of it in the first quarter. Muir added nine points, Gambitta had seven, Michales scored six, Abani, Caden Albright and Tyler Thomas notched five apiece, Bell recorded four and Johnson had three.
Schuyler, Stafford and Streichert scored all 46 of Cincinnatus’ points, with Schuyler going for 19 on a pair of 3-pointers, Stafford netting 13 with three made triples and Streichert scoring all 12 of his points in the second half with three makes from deep.
Cortland is now 2-2 after a 4-16 2023-24 season. It’s just the Purple Tigers’ second two-game winning streak in the last two years and Milligan is happy his guys have gotten to string some wins together.
“It’s something I hadn’t thought about,” Milligan said. “Two wins in a row feels like a basic thing, but winning is hard in anything you do. The guys have showed a lot of grit and they’ve really bought into the selfless play. I think they’re starting to see the fruits of their labor. To be able to put two in a row helps keeps morale up and climbs us back to .500.”
Cortland will look to make it three in a row at 6:45 p.m. Friday at home against Skaneateles. Cincinnatus, now 2-3, will try to stop a three-game skid at 7 p.m. Thursday at home against DeRuyter.
BOYS BASKETBALL
UNION SPRINGS 74, MARATHON 52
Marathon got down 39-29 at halftime, then a 22-10 third quarter sank the Olympians. Barrett Trabucco paced Marathon’s offense with 15 points on four made 3-pointers.
Austin Poth added 11 points for the Olympians, Colton Oram and Blake Birdsall each netted nine points, Camdyn Kashuba was held to four points, Robbie Anderson had three points and Tucker Trabucco had one point.
DERUYTER 66, BROOKFIELD 36
Devens Whalen led four DeRuyter players in double figures with 20 points as DeRuyter took a 21-9 lead after a quarter and never looked back. The Rockets are now 4-0 on the season.
Jackson Millett added 14 points on a pair of 3-pointers for DeRuyter and Dan Holl and Braden Metcalf each scored 12 points. Jonah Baxter netted four points, Josiah Hannafan had three points and Dylan Foster scored one point to round out the Rockets’ effort.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
OSWEGO 48, CORTLAND 38
Lily Yang buried three 3-pointers for nine points, but Cortland trailed 26-18 at halftime and couldn’t recover. The Purple Tigers made seven threes in their third straight loss.
Gabby Brown also scored nine points for Cortland, Katie Harris notched six points, Zee-Anna Sweat added five, Lily Tinker had three and Aubree Larkin, Ava Turner and Kartyr Hubbard scored two points apiece.
UNION SPRINGS 50, MARATHON 28
Addie Oram scored 15 of her 17 points in the second half, but Marathon couldn’t hang tight after getting the deficit to two in the third quarter. Oram made five triples on her 17 points.
Cassie Forrest and Audrey Ensign each contributed three points for the Olympians and Faith Baker and Catherine Newkirk scored two points apiece.
DRYDEN 58, LANSING 41
Guiliana Pascarella paced Dryden with 22 points, while Alyson Smith added a career-best 16 points in the Lions’ win.
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
CINCINNATUS 3, STOCKBRIDGE VALLEY 0
Allyson St. Germain and Kaedance Latta yet again led Cincinnatus in a 25-10, 25-15, 25-11 sweep of Stockbridge Valley. St. Germain went for 13 kills, five service points, three aces and four digs and Latta dished out 23 assists to go with 14 service points, three kills, an ace and six digs.
Cassia Schuyler added 16 service points, four aces and five digs, Maddie Pittsley recorded six kills, six service points, three aces, an assist and a dig and Payton Gerrard had eight digs and two service points. Madison Stover (seven service points, one ace, two digs), Hannah Ellerson (five kills, one service point, two assists, one dig), Lucy Finch (four kills, two digs), Ava Larrabee (three kills, one dig), Leah Stith (one dig) and Cadence Gerrard (one service point) also aided the Lions’ win.
BOWLING
HOMER BOYS 7, WEEDSPORT 0
HOMER GIRLS 7, WEEDSPORT 0
Tanner Vogel has a monster day for the Homer boys, rolling a 277 third game and a 624 series as Homer had a 2,850 final score. Addison Platt paced the Homer girls with a 167 high game and 469 series.
Ivan Eaton (213 game, 598 series), John Bishop (199 game, 558 series), John Holcomb (190 game, 532 series), Chris McMullin (152 game, 175 game) and Tyler Seymour (163 game) all aided Vogel’s big effort.
Kristen Combs (150 game, 432 series), Jaden Bush (155 game, 394 series), Annabelle Watkins (144 game, 369 series), Lucy Goodwin (119 game, 305 series), Mikey Pittsley (64 game, 74 game) and Abigail Biviano (85 game) followed Platt for the Homer girls.
