Kaden Durham scored four consecutive points in the final minute to help Homer win its first game of the season, 48-44 over Groton Friday night in the first round of the Tom Neugebauer Holiday Tournament at Cortland Jr./Sr. High School.
Homer will face cross-town rival Cortland in the championship game at 6:45 p.m. today.
Durham was fouled on both of his layups, which put the Trojans up 46-42. Durham missed both free throws and Max Franco missed a pair, but Brycen Poole was fouled with 10.2 seconds left after an offensive rebound and hit both shots to ice the game.
Durham hadn’t taken many contested layups all night, but he made a few tough shots through contact when it mattered most.
“I knew there was a guy there,” Durham said. “I honestly was going to try and dunk it, but my knee kind of shut down while I was going up. I think I do better on competitive layups and finishes.”
Homer closed the game with a 16-5 fourth quarter after trailing 39-32 after three. The Trojans have been struggling late in games, but head coach Ken Updike felt his team took a step forward Friday night.
“We talked about learning how to win,” Updike said. “There’s a process involved with learning how to win. We played a close one out at Fowler and there were a couple loose possessions offensively down the stretch that buried us a little bit. (Assistant coach) Riley (McEvoy) brings up a good point that if we don’t have that game, maybe we aren’t able to X and O our way out of this position.”
Durham felt things turned early in the fourth on a pair of turnovers that turned into easy buckets for his side.
“It was the turnovers,” Durham said. “Ryan (Beard) got a good rip with the ball and attacked for a nice layup. I think that was the turning point. Our energy also went up and we were talking on defense.”
Updike noticed his guys were successful when they valued their possessions. Homer took a 20-10 lead after a quarter, then a Groton defensive change turned the tide. The Trojans are still getting used to making adjustments on the fly and need a bit of time to process those.
“It’s not even that it’s a problem,” Updike said. “This is a fairly inexperienced group varsity-wise. You’ve got two seniors that are returning that played significant minutes, but the rest of the crew is brand new to significant minutes. When things change defensively and a team goes to something different, we need to be able to make an adjustment.”
The Red Hawks turned things around immediately after starting the second quarter. Conor Eldred worked hard to get the offense going and was a problem for the Homer defense. He finished with 14 points and helped Groton turn the tide.
“We made some adjustments on defense,” Groton head coach Mike Holl said. “We prefer man, but it’s tough to go man when they’re much bigger than we are. When we got out of that it gave us an opportunity to get back in the game.”
Holl’s group has been in plenty of games this year, but this marks another close loss for the Red Hawks.
“In the fourth quarter, we didn’t really do anything different but couldn’t put the ball in the basket,” Holl said. “Defensively, we got away from rebounding. They got more second-chance opportunities and momentum swung in their direction. Here we are, close but no cigar again.”
Jack Brady led Homer’s scoring with 14 points and Durham added 11 with some dominant defense near the rim. Franco went for 10, Beard contributed eight, Lincoln Marshall scored three and Poole recorded two.
Eldred paced Groton with 14 points, Jaiden Mitchell had 10 points, Jerome Turner and Lane Darling both scored six points, Colson Slade notched five points and Carmelo Riley-Israel scored three points.
Groton will face McGraw in the consolation game at 5 p.m. today at Cortland Jr./Sr. High School.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
CORTLAND 37, JORDAN-ELBRIDGE 18
Cortland snapped a five-game losing streak behind 10 points, six rebounds and one assist from Gabby Brown. The Purple Tigers led 15-6 at halftime and pulled away with a 15-4 third quarter.
Zee-Anna Sweat followed Brown up with nine points, Aubree Larkin recorded eight points, five boards, two assists and four steals, Kartyr Hubbard notched three points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two steals, Nora Gambitta, Ava Turner and Lily Tinker all scored two points and Katie Harris recorded one point for the Purple Tigers.
HOCKEY
SYRACUSE CITY 4, CORTLAND/HOMER 3
No additional details were reported.
INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
CORTLAND
Morgann Doane won the girls triple jump (30 feet, 8 inches) and placed in two other events, while Xander Schutt won the boys 300-meter dash (38.18 seconds) at the Snowman Showdown.
Doane was also fifth in the girls high jump and sixth in the long jump. Alivia Reif placed sixth in the shot put.
Eugene Aharkov was the only other Cortland boy to place, coming in sixth in the long jump.
HOMER
Ingrid Aagaard won both the girls 1,000-meter race (3:15.14) and 1,500-meter race (5:16.66) and Izzi Tutino won the girls 300-meter dash (44.73 seconds) at the Snowman Showdown. Gunnar Tyrrell took first in the 55-meter dash (6.68 seconds) for the Homer boys.
Tutino also came in second in the girls 55-meter dash, Hannah Bouwens was second in the shot put and Reese Evangelista came in sixth in the 600-meter race.
Tyrrell placed second in the boys long jump as well, Chris Boylan was second in the triple jump and third in the 1,000-meter race, Logan Griffin came in second in the shot put, Anthony Guido finished fifth in the 55-meter dash and Liam O’Brien and Aidan Small came in fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 1,600-meter race.
MARATHON
Andrew Edsall paced Marathon at the Snowman Showdown by coming in first in the boys 1,000-meter race (2:51.86), second in the 600-meter race and third in the pole vault.
Abby Trabucco was the only Marathon girl to place, coming in fourth in the pole vault.
GROTON
David Shea won the boys shot put at the Snowman Showdown with a 39-foot, 1,75-inch toss. Ross Bush also placed third in the boys long jump.
DRYDEN
Reagan Burnham and Eliot Couch each placed second in two events for Dryden at the Snowman Showdown. Burnham was second in the girls 1,000-meter and 1,500-meter races, while Couch was second in the boys 1,000-meter and 1,600-meter races.
Jade Brockner came in third in the girls 300-meter dash, Jillian Miller and Hannah Emmelhainz finished fourth and fifth, respectively in the 55-meter hurdles, Nicole Morrow came in sixth in the 600-meter race and Lungawm Songput finished fifth in the triple jump. The 4x200-meter relay team of Morrow, Emmelhainz, Miller and Brockner finished third.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
BOYS BASKETBALL
Homer at Cortland, 6:45 p.m. today
McGraw vs. Groton, 5 p.m. today at Cortland Jr./Sr. High School
Cincinnatus vs. Morrisville-Eaton, 5:30 p.m. today at Fabius-Pompey Jr./Sr. High School
Dryden vs. Unatego/Franklin, noon today at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena
Moravia at Bainbridge-Guilford, 6 p.m. Monday
Cincinnatus vs. Fabius-Pompey or Otselic Valley, Monday at Fabius-Pompey Jr./Sr. High School
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Ballston Spa at Cortland, 1 p.m. today
McGraw vs. Poland, 2 p.m. today at Fabius-Pompey Jr./Sr. High School
McGraw vs. Fabius-Pompey or Otselic Valley, Monday at Fabius-Pompey Jr./Sr. High School
BOYS WRESTLING
Homer at Spencerport, 10 a.m. today
Moravia at A-P-W/Pulaski/Sandy Creek, 8 a.m. Tuesday
GIRLS WRESTLING
Homer at Midlakes, 9 a.m. today
Groton at Coxsackie-Athens, 9 a.m. Monday
