DRYDEN –– The Dryden boys basketball found a way to win late despite an uneven showing at times, beating Elmira Notre Dame 60-57 Wednesday night at Dryden High School.
The Lions trailed for most of the night, failing to work in front at any point after the first quarter. Xander Scott gave Dryden a 52-50 lead midway through the fourth quarter on a steal and layup and it held on down the stretch.
Elmira Notre Dame rained down 11 3-pointers in the first three quarters to build its lead. Dryden struggled to find a rhythm on either end, but seemingly flipped the switch down the stretch. Dryden held the Crusaders to one 3-pointer in the final frame and the tightened-up defense led to offense on the other end.
The run began when a loose ball intentional foul was called on Elmira Notre Dame’s Patrick McCarthy with 5:12 to play. Peter Nydam went 1-for-2 at the line to cut the margin to two and Dryden was off and running. Scott tied the game with a jumper before his steal and layup gave the Lions back the lead. Christopher O’Brien knocked down a pair of free throws to tie things up again for the Crusaders before Danny Murphy connected on a mid-range jumper. Another steal and fast break finish from Nydam capped the 9-2 burst.
“It was good to see we finally adjusted,” Dryden head coach Zach LeViere said. “I’d like us to be able to make those adjustments earlier in the game. Every game kind of takes on its own tempo and feel and you have to be able to adjust, players and coaches both. We were talking about those adjustments of we’ve got good length and it’s tough to score at the rim against us. That leads to a team like Elmira Notre Dame, who shot the ball well, to take advantage of us defending the rim and you need to adjust. A lot of teams have one or two guys who can shoot, but it felt like all five guys on the floor for them could. Credit to our guys for being able to make the adjustment in the fourth quarter. We still gave up some looks from three, but our defender was closer and making those shots a little bit more difficult.”
Elmira Notre Dame made one last push. Julian Cleary drilled the lone 3-pointer of the fourth to make it a one-point game again. Scott found Murphy for a slick reverse finish to extend the lead again and a fast-break finish from Carmelo Miles gave Dryden a three-point lead with under a minute to play. The Crusaders got a pair of looks from deep to tie the game, but came up empty.
“It was huge, we finally brought the intensity up,” Nydam said. “We started getting onto shooters, got hands on a few passes that really helped us down the stretch and got the result. We communicated better, we helped (off shooters) a little less and trusted our guys to play more one-on-one on the ball handlers and we were just more intense.”
Dryden struggled to find consistency early on, opening the door for Elmira Notre Dame. The Lions were lackadaisical on both ends at times, leading to open 3-pointers and turnovers. Despite the struggles, the offensive ability of Scott and Nydam kept Dryden alive. The lead never exceeded eight points as the duo combined for 32 of Dryden’s 45 points in the first three quarters. LeViere also credited the Crusaders for making the shots they needed to in building their lead.
“They came out and made key buckets time and time again,” LeViere said. “They were hitting a lot of shots and credit to them for shooting the lights out. Offensively, we just struggled to find a rhythm at times. We looked a little sloppy and one of the things I talked about was having that sense of urgency. We didn’t have that for really the first three and half quarters of the game.”
The win moved Dryden to 5-1 despite some uneven performances throughout the early portion of the season. Wednesday marked the beginning of six games in 10 days for the Lions, who are hoping more consistent games will lead to more consistent play on the floor.
“That’s a lot of games but hopefully we can keep it rolling,” Nydam said. “We have to keep the intensity up, keep the energy and good feelings and hopefully pick up a bunch of wins.”
Nydam led with 21 points, Scott tallied 18, Murphy added 14 points, Miles scored four and Luke Eshelman tacked on a 3-pointer.
Dryden will continue its loaded upcoming schedule at 7 p.m. Friday, when it visits Elmira Heights.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
MORAVIA 52, ODESSA-MONTOUR 35
No additional details were reported.
INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
CORTLAND
Morgann Doane, Ashley Merritt and Xander Schutt all won an event for Cortland at the Twilight Invite, with Doane placing first in the girls triple jump (28 feet, 7.75 inches), Merritt winning the girls pole vault (7 feet, 6 inches) and Schutt beating the field in the boys 400-meter dash (53.38 seconds).
Merritt also finished third in the girls long jump. Alivia Reif came in third in the shot put, Abby Romans was fourth in the long jump and sixth in the 400-meter race, Juliana Zarcone placed fourth in the pole vault, Serene Gray finished fourth in the triple jump, Bailey Dintino came in fourth in the 55-meter dash, Lexi Saunders placed sixth in the long jump, Lealynn O’Brien finished sixth in the 1,500-meter race and Isabella Sisting was sixth in the 55-meter dash.
Liam Grant followed Schutt on the boys side with a third-place finish in the high jump and fourth-place finish in the triple jump, Eugene Aharkov came in third in the long jump and sixth in the 400-meter race, Liam Burns was fourth in the high jump and fifth in the 200-meter dash, Mason Kurtz placed fourth in the 55-meter dash, Jacob Mones was fourth in the 1,600-meter race, Connor Brown came in fourth in the shot put, Luke Kesler placed fifth in the shot put, Asher Armstrong finished sixth in the long jump and triple jump and Colton Bishop placed sixth in the 55-meter hurdles.
HOMER
Ingrid Aagaard, Izzi Tutino and Gunnar Tyrrell both won two events for Homer at the Twilight Invite, with Aagaard winning the girls 400-meter race (1:06.55) and 800-meter race (2:30.16), Tutino placing first in the girls 55-meter dash (7.67 seconds) and 200-meter dash (27.80 seconds) and Tyrrell topping the competition in the boys 55-meter dash (6.68 seconds) and 200-meter dash (24.31 seconds).
Reese Evangelista also won the girls 1,500-meter race (5:59.72) and Tutino placed second in the long jump. Sophie Kennett was second in the 55-meter hurdles and third in the triple jump, Hannah Bouwens placed second in the shot put, Emily Chisholm finished third in the high jump, Amelia Wagner was fourth in both the 1,500-meter race and 55-meter hurdles, Emma Poli came in fourth in the 400-meter race, Eleanor Ensign finished fourth in the shot put, Mia Knight came in fifth in the 400-meter race and sixth in the 800-meter race and Emma Effinger placed sixth in the 200-meter dash.
Tyrrell also finished second in the boys triple jump, while Chris Boylan won the 1,600-meter race (5:16.04), was second in the long jump and third in the 800-meter race and Logan Griffin topped the field in the shot put (39 feet, 7 inches). Aidan Small, Liam O’Brien and Michael Thalheimer were second, third and fifth, respectively, in the 1,600-meter race, Donavin Brown came in third in the 55-meter hurdles and fifth in the triple jump, Nick Costa placed fourth in the 55-meter dash, Matt Costa finished fourth in the 55-meter hurdles, Tristyn Henkel was sixth in the 400-meter race, Liam Zech placed sixth in the 800-meter race and Jack Bertram came in sixth in the shot put.
GROTON
Ross Bush was the top Groton athlete at the Twilight Invite, winning the boys 800-meter race (2:04.24) and coming in second in the 400-meter race.
Westly Sturmer also finished fifth in the boys 800-meter race, Trenton Bass came in fifth in the long jump and Bryce Wilkinson placed sixth in the 1,600-meter race.
MORAVIA
Karson Mackey won the girls 55-meter hurdles (9.92 seconds) for Moravia at the Twilight Invite, while also finishing fifth in the 200-meter dash.
Cece Stryker was fourth in the girls 55-meter dash and Natalie Torok placed fifth in the 1,500-meter race.
Mason Kratzer was the only Moravia boy to place, coming in fourth in the high jump.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
BOYS BASKETBALL
Central Square at Homer, 6:45 p.m. Friday
Tioga at Marathon, 7 p.m. Friday
Madison at McGraw, 7 p.m. Friday
Spencer-Van Etten at Groton, 6:30 p.m. Friday
Otselic Valley at Cincinnatus, 7 p.m. Friday
Dryden at Elmira Heights, 7 p.m. Friday
Onondaga at Tully, 7 p.m. Friday
Newfield at Moravia, 7 p.m. Friday
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Cortland at Skaneateles, 6:30 p.m. today
Tully at Fabius-Pompey, 7 p.m. today
Groton at Spencer-Van Etten, 7:30 p.m. Friday
Elmira Heights at Dryden, 7 p.m. Friday
Moravia at Newfield, 6:30 p.m. Friday
HOCKEY
Skaneateles at Cortland/Homer, 7 p.m. today at J.M. McDonald Sports Complex
Cortland/Homer at CBA, 8 p.m. Friday at Tsha’Hon’nonyen’dakhwa’
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
Stockbridge Valley at McGraw, 7 p.m. today
Cincinnatus at DeRuyter, 7 p.m. today
Tully at Pulaski, 7 p.m. today
DeRuyter at Fabius-Pompey, 7 p.m. Friday
BOYS WRESTLING
Hannibal at Cortland, 6 p.m. today
Whitney Point at Homer, 5 p.m. today
Cooperstown/Milford at Southern Hills, 6 p.m. today at Tully High School
GIRLS WRESTLING
Harpursville at Homer, 6 p.m. today
INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
Groton, Dryden at SUNY Cortland, 7 p.m. Friday
BOWLING
Cortland at Homer, 3:30 p.m. today at Hi-Lanes
Groton at Union Springs/Port Byron, 4 p.m. Friday at Starlite Lanes
