Caleb Epp went for 14 points, nine rebounds, four assists and a steal and McGraw pulled away from Stockbridge Valley for a 43-24 win Thursday night at McGraw High School.
Epp was all over the place Thursday, grabbing rebounds in the middle of the Eagles’ 1-3-1 defense, pushing the ball up the court on the fast break and slicing and dicing in the half court. The senior is now averaging 12.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 7.3 assists and attributes his early-season success to his team’s style of play.
“Mostly it’s the unselfishness with our team,” Epp said. “It’s the coach and the leaders we have on our team too, they push everyone to do their best and give it their all every day no matter what.”
McGraw head coach Jamey Crumb has seen his star senior step up time and time again early in the season and loves what he’s seeing.
“He’s in a bigger leadership role,” Crumb said. “We need him to be the motor and put people in spots so they know what they’re doing. When they don’t step out on him he’s finally not afraid to shoot. When they do he can get by them with ease. I’m glad that he’s finally in that good role for him.”
Most of Epp’s four assists came on full-court passes after rebounds, mainly to Dylan Truman. Epp has made a killing off those the last two seasons.
“It’s just my basketball IQ most of the time,” Epp said. “We like running those leak outs. Last year that was half of our offense on the fast break.”
McGraw held Stockbridge Valley’s offense down with a new-look defense. Crumb put this in recently and is now 2-0 with the odd-front zone.
“We put it in mainly because we see a lot of defenses in the 1-3-1,” Crumb said. “Madison ran it a lot, we play Hamilton there’s a couple other teams we play that we know run it, so we wanted to get familiar with the rotations.”
“We put it in specifically for Madison because of their size and it looked really good there,” the second-year head coach added. “I’m still figuring out where to put the length. The defense was awesome and it leads to our fast breaks.”
McGraw took an 11-5 lead after a quarter and led 25-9 at halftime. The lead got as big as 26 in the fourth quarter before the Eagles took the starters out.
Jaydon Bassett followed Epp up with six points and three rebounds while battling foul trouble, Truman notched six points, four boards, an assist and a block, Calob Sutton pitched in five points, two rebounds, six assists and two steals and Riley Van Liew had five points, six rebounds, two assists and a steal. Blair Mulcahy (three points), Mason Allen (three points, five rebounds, one steal), Cody Ross (one point), Noah Heath (three rebounds), Steven Zogg (one rebound) and Nick West (one rebound) also contributed for the Eagles.
McGraw, now 3-1, will next play at 7 p.m. Tuesday at home against Mater Dei Academy.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
HOMER 48, CHITTENANGO 43
Homer took a 31-18 lead into halftime and hung on for the win thanks to Lauren Franco’s eight points, 10 rebounds, two assists and four steals and Anya Gofkowski’s seven points, six rebounds, one assist and seven blocks. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Trojans.
Lizzy McCloy chipped in eight points, four boards, three assists, a steal and a block, Eila Spanbauer added seven points, four rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block and Kennadie Taylor contributed four points, four rebounds, one assist and a steal. Kaylee Darling (six points, four rebounds), Brayden Partigianoni (three points, three rebounds, one assist, one steal), Izzy Small (three points, three rebounds), Maddy Morgan (two points, three rebounds, two steals, one block) and Aislynn Cobb (one rebound) also contributed to Homer’s win.
TULLY 59, FABIUS-POMPEY 15
Tully held its rival to two first-half points and held a 38-2 lead at the break. Sammy Morgan led Tully with 20 points on four made threes.
Rachel Daddona made three triples in an 11-point outing, Ella Polak scored eight points, Grace McKenna added seven points, Anna Pierce had five points, Anna Congelli netted four points, Gabby Flatt had three points and Macy Mech scored one point for the Black Knights.
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
CINCINNATUS 3, STOCKBRIDGE VALLEY 1
Allyson St. Germain dominated for Cincinnatus, going for 10 kills, five aces, three digs and 20 service points in the Lions’ 25-21, 25-17, 21-25, 25-9 win.
Kaedance Latta added 13 assists, three aces, two blocks, one dig and 16 service points, Cassia Schuyler had 14 digs, four aces and nine service points and Madelyn Pittsley contributed four kills, five aces, four blocks and seven service points. Kaylee Brenchley (two kills, one assist, one dig, eight service points), Payton Gerrard (two kills, one ace, three service points)) and Lucy Finch (one block) also aided the Lions’ effort.
TULLY 3, MANLIUS PEBBLE HILL 1
Anna Lund dished out 28 assists to go with six aces, a block and six digs as Tully won 25-16, 23-25, 25-13, 26-24.
Sam Garback contributed 11 kills, one ace, two blocks and four digs, Kaylynne Bennett had six kills, four aces, a block and two digs, Maria Altman notched 16 digs and a kill and Maddy Lund had 13 digs, two kills and an ace. Karissa Olender (eight digs), Rowan Usherwood (six kills, seven digs) and Elaina Iozzo (five digs) also contributed to the Black Knights’ win.
BOWLING
HOMER BOYS 7, A-P-W 0
HOMER GIRLS 7, A-P-W 0
Chris McMullin’s 256 game and Ivan Eaton’s 645 series led the Homer boys, while Kimberli Proctor’s 182 game and Olivia Hamilton’s 516 series paced the Homer girls.
McMullin’s series was a 551 and Eaton’s best game was a 232. Tanner Vogel (211 game, 575 series), John Holcomb (207 game, 546 series), John Bishop (165 game, 481 series), Caleb Hamilton (157 game, 144 game) and Tyler Seymour (152 game) also bowled for the Trojan boys.
Proctor’s series was three behind Hamilton’s at a 513 and Hamilton’s best game was a 179. Lorelei Hill (130 game, 370 series), Addison Platt (134 game, 324 series), Kristen Combs (138 games, 318 series) and Jaden Bush (129 game, 316 series) contributed behind Proctor and Hamilton.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
BOYS BASKETBALL
Cortland at Institute of Technology, 6:30 p.m. today
Homer at Chittenango, 7 p.m. today
Marathon at Groton, 6:30 p.m. today
Cincinnatus at Madison, 7 p.m. today
Dryden at Elmira Notre Dame, 7:15 p.m. today
Wilson at Tully, 7 p.m. today
Moravia at Odessa-Montour, 7:30 p.m. today
Cortland at Homer, 6:45 p.m. Monday
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Syracuse West at Cortland, 6:45 p.m. today
Groton at Marathon, 7 p.m. today
Stockbridge Valley at Cincinnatus, 5:30 p.m. today
Elmira Notre Dame at Dryden, 7 p.m. today
Odessa-Montour at Moravia, 6 p.m. today
HOCKEY
Cortland/Homer at Clinton, 7:30 p.m. today
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
McGraw at DeRuyter, 7 p.m. today
Tully at Fabius-Pompey, 7 p.m. today
McGraw, Cincinnatus, DeRuyter at SUNY Morrisville, 9:30 a.m. Saturday
OHSL meet at Tully, 8:30 a.m. Saturday
Brookfield at Cincinnatus, 7 p.m. Monday
Stockbridge Valley at DeRuyter, 7 p.m. Monday
WRESTLING
Homer girls, Southern Hills at North Syracuse Junior High School, 9:15 a.m. Saturday
Homer boys, Marathon, Groton at Walton, 9:30 a.m. Saturday
INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
Cortland, Homer at Onondaga Community College, 3 p.m. Saturday
Groton, Dryden, Moravia at SUNY Cortland, 9 a.m. Saturday
Tully at Onondaga Community College, 9 a.m. Saturday
BOWLING
Cortland at A-P-W, 3:30 p.m. Monday at Lighthouse Lanes
SWIMMING & DIVING
Dryden at Elmira, 9 a.m. Saturday
