DRYDEN –– The No. 1 Moravia boys basketball team wasted little time taking control of Tuesday’s game at Tompkins Cortland Community College against No. 5 Elmira Notre Dame, with a 48-6 halftime lead to show for it. The Blue Devils punched their ticket into the Section IV Class C title game with a 73-40 win.
Moravia will meet No. 2 Delhi in a rematch of last year’s final at 4 p.m. Saturday at Tompkins Cortland Community College.
It was nothing but dominance from Moravia on both ends of the floor in the first quarter. The Blue Devils looked unstoppable as they got open looks, shot the ball lights out, locked down Elmira Notre Dame on defense and consistently added to their lead.
Zach Szachta and Dillon Palmer were red hot in the first for Moravia. Palmer knocked down two 3-pointers and had 10 points total and Szachta had all nine of his points come via the three. Joe Baylor added five points of his own and Riley Jones had a basket. By the end of the first quarter, the Blue Devils had a commanding 26-0 lead.
Nothing changed in the second quarter for Moravia. Baylor began to click and found himself wide open on the fast break for a tomahawk slam within the first minute. The Blue Devils rode the momentum the rest of the way. Behind Baylor’s 14 points and another 3-pointer from Szachta, the Blue Devils continued to add to their big lead with a 22-6 run to take a 48-6 lead into halftime.
It started with defense for Moravia, and head coach Todd Mulvaney saw his team doing all the right things.
“I saw our defense really just flying around and getting to the places they needed to get to (Tuesday night),” Mulvaney said. “We saw them (END) shoot the ball lights out a few weeks ago here and we knew we had to get to the spots to really contest them. After that, we saw a few shots go in and then that that momentum just grew, and our guys just built off that and ran.”
Szachta, who finished with 15 points on five 3-pointers, had no problem letting his shot fly when he saw an opening. The junior’s outside shooting opens up Moravia’s offense in many different ways, but he believes it all starts on the other end of the floor.
“It really starts on the defensive end to get that energy going,” Szachta said. “On offense we just keep it flowing, make cuts through and keep the ball moving.”
Though Moravia was in the driver’s seat at halftime, it did not want to let up. The Blue Devils secured their win in the third quarter with a 19-13 to go up 67-19. Mulvaney knows anything can happen this time of the season, and it was a consistent message within the team.
“We knew we had to stay on them because they can shoot the ball well,” Mulvaney said. “Just how we got that early momentum, the same could happen for them. So we were just trying to reinforce that every time out. The guys were saying it to each other in the huddle, so I think that was a good sign of our leaders really taking control. Even in the locker room at halftime they were saying the same things.”
Baylor led all scorers with 21 points, Szachta had 15, Dillon Palmer had 13, Thomas Palmer and Jones had six, Eli Landis had five, and Jairen Francis had four.
