No. 2 Weedsport Moves to Semi-Finals After Close Victory

Coming off of a high team morale from a 101-66 victory over Mount Markham last week, the Varsity Boys’ Basketball team rode that momentum in a 83-71 victory over No. 7 Onondaga to move onto the semifinals in the Section III Class C tournament.

“It was a whole new game, just focus on Onondaga,” said head coach John Sgarlata. “A totally different team, very physical, we we just focused on this game. Zero to zero to start.”

A slow start to the first half led to some key plays throughout. Many plays included a slam dunk in an open court. The Warriors haven’t faced low scoring this year, but the halftime talk that Sgarlata gave wasn’t any different.

“[I told them] just stick with it, we had an 11-point lead,” said Sgarlata. “We took them into free throw trouble, we had to avoid our own free throw trouble, so we had four guys with two fouls…I knew we’d get a run and start making some shots.”

Sgarlata predicted right, as his team racked up the points in the third quarter. Many points came from Jake O’Connor and Riley Spingler, who both led the Warriors with 25 points a piece. With a huge momentum switch in the Warriors’ favor, they ended the quarter with a 21-point advantage.

“Defense, we were able wrap them up defensively,” said Sgarlata. “Their point guard went out of the game, he had three fouls. They had trouble handling the ball, so we just took that.”

Thanks to a lot of foul-trouble from the struggling Tigers, the Warriors were able to take advantage of that as well – a key factor to the team’s win, according to Sgarlata.

“They’re physical, they’re a physical team,” said Sgarlata. “It’s kind of like two sledge hammers running into each other, because we’re both similar teams. Jake just controlled the ball well.”

Now, as the No. 2 Warriors look ahead, they face No. 3 Tully at the Allen Gym at Onondaga Community College on Saturday. Weedsport and Tully have met twice this season already. Tully won the first game, 70-69 at Tully; Weedsport took the rematch at Weedsport 68-62.

Tully defeated No. 14 Sauquoit Valley 77-38, and No. 6 Herkimer 70-51 to get to the semifinals a

This game, by many fans, is being called the rubber match, to determine who takes the series “title” between the two teams. However, for Sgarlata and his team, it’s just another game that needs the same preparation as always.

“Same as we had last time, we can’t do anything special, they’re just a very, very good team,” said Sgarlata. “We just have to play well and hope for the best.”