The Cortland boys basketball team won the second quarter 20-2 to break the game wide open and cruise to a 72-29 win over an overmatched McGraw team Friday night in the first round of the Tom Neugebauer Holiday Tournament at Cortland Jr./Sr. High School.
Cortland will face Homer in the title game at 6:45 p.m. today.
Seven different Purple Tigers scored in the second quarter, led by Owen Johnson’s five points and Cal Albright’s four. Cortland was able to move the ball well and get out and run all quarter.
“We’ve got 13 guys that work hard,” Cortland head coach Jeremy Milligan said. “We emphasize that everyone needs to do their job. Guys that are in, if we have a little bit of a lead, we don’t want to be complacent. We want to work really hard on defense and allow that to turn into easy offense.”
Cortland appeared to have the better athletes on the floor at all times, jumping into passing lanes and making McGraw work for whatever it got. The Purple Tigers turned that into three double-digit scorers as everyone got involved.
Zach Muir led all scorers with 13 points, Johnson recorded 11 points off the bench and Jaxson Gambitta scored 10 points. Tyler Thomas and Cal Albright each contributed eight points, Iniko Abani notched six points, Jamir Bell and Landon Smith both had five points and Caden Albright scored three points. Damauri Bell and Joel Carr both played and didn’t score.
“Our goal is to try and get everyone in every game and make positive contributions,” Milligan said. “It was nice to be able to extend the lead in the second half and allow a good amount of playing time and lots of smiles on faces. One of the guys’ favorites who’s new to basketball, Landon, was able to get in an knock down a couple big shots. The bench erupted and that put a smile on everybody’s face in the gym.”
Riley Van Liew led McGraw with seven points, Mason Allen had six points, Calob Sutton notched five points, Brennan Wilson, Blair Mulcahy and Thomas Lea all scored three points and Easton Livermore added two points.
Cortland will take on its cross-town rival for the first of three meetings this season in the championship game. Cortland hasn’t won its holiday tournament since 2019 and doesn’t have a victory since renaming it after volunteer assistant coach Tom Neugebauer three years ago. Milligan and the Purple Tigers want to get the win for their assistant.
“Homer’s had our number,” Milligan said. “They beat us three times last year and we split the year before. Homer just got its first win and is going to be tough (today). They’re long and knock down the outside shots. Between (Kaden) Durham and (Max) Franco, they’re very long in the interior and we’ll have our hands full. We’re excited about an opportunity to play in the championship game.”
“When the boys met during the first few weeks of the season, one of their goals was to win the tournament,” Milligan added.
McGraw will face Groton in the consolation game at 5 p.m. today.
