DRYDEN –– The No. 1 Moravia boys basketball team used a late-game run to fend off a final surge from No. 2 Delaware Academy (Delhi) to win 57-47 in the Section IV Class C championship game Saturday at Tompkins Cortland Community College.
It’s the third consecutive Class C crown for Moravia, and second straight with a win over Delaware Academy. The Blue Devils move onto the regional championship game, where they will take on the undefeated Section III winner, 24-0 Cooperstown, at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton.
Moravia led by eight going into the final quarter, but a 10-3 run from Delaware Academy to open the fourth cut the lead to one with 3:45 left. The Blue Devils then took a timeout to plan their final push, and they responded with a 13-4 run to secure the three-peat.
Dillon Palmer knocked down a 3-pointer right out of the late timeout to put Moravia up four. Delaware Academy responded with a basket to cut its deficit back to two, but Joe Baylor began to take over for the Blue Devils. Baylor scored the next seven points for his team and also added an assist to Palmer with 35 seconds left to cap off the win.
Baylor looked unguardable during the final run from Moravia. The senior hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key, scored on a spin move and a floater in the paint, then hit a difficult fadeaway with a hand in his face. Baylor wanted to turn it up a notch late in the fourth, and he came through in the clutch.
“Things got competitive,” Baylor said. “There was some talking and I took it to heart. They went on a little run, but you have to act like you’ve been there before. They didn’t act like they were there.”
Baylor finished with a game-high 29 points and though he had the spotlight in spurts throughout the game, it was making timely shots, grabbing rebounds, blocking shots and drawing charges from everyone on the floor from Moravia that led it to a win.
“They have been the true underdog this whole year, and, you know, I think people have overlooked them,” Moravia head coach Todd Mulvaney said. “I think somebody like Joe gets a lot of attention, but we just have some really team-oriented kids that work hard, and it shows defensively. They just work so well together. I’m just so happy and proud of them.”
The defense shined for Moravia in all four quarters. Delaware Academy came into Sunday’s contest shooting the ball well and averaging 67 points a game. The Blue Devils held the Bulldogs to 21 points in the first half and 20 points below their average when the final horn hit. It was team defense all around. Whether it was Baylor and Jairen Francis making things difficult down low or Riley Jones being a pest on ball, it all clicked.
“We just gave up our bodies,” Baylor said. “We took charges, blocked shots and it changed the momentum like crazy. We really just dug in. We wanted to guard their bigs and we were physical with them because we knew they wanted to be physical with any team they play.”
Preparing for a team like Delaware Academy defensively was not an easy task, but Mulvaney saw his team buy into the game plan.
“They’ve been working hard the last few days preparing for them,” Mulvaney said. “That’s probably the hardest team that we had to prepare for all year between their size, shooting ability and athleticism. They have good players all around, so you can’t really cheat anywhere or they’re going to hurt you. We just had to do our best to contest and get to spots.”
Behind Baylor’s 29 points, Palmer added 12, Jones had eight, Zach Szachta had four and Francis and Westin Walker had two.
