BY ERIC AHLQVIST
THE COOPERSTOWN CRIER
The boys Tri-Valley Championship
Game Saturday night at
Oneonta State was a story of
depth.
Morris had it, and Cherry Valley-
Springfield did not, and that
was the main difference in the
Mustangs’ 39-30 victory.
Morris won their first T-V title
since 1988 by wearing down
the Patriots, who lost in the
championship game for the
second straight season. Using
a 1-3-1 press and substituting
liberally, the Mustangs closed
the third quarter on a 10-0 run
by forcing steals and disrupting
CV-S’s offense.
One of those bench players,
Jared Weidman, provided
the proverbial dagger, sinking
a three-pointer from the top
of the key at the third quarter
buzzer to put Morris up seven,
27-20, in the low scoring contest.
``We had three bench players
in during most of that stretch,’’
said Morris first year head coach
Dave Sander. ``They were doing
so well, I gave them a few more
minutes than normal.’’
Making things even tougher
for CV-S as they attempted a
fourth quarter comeback was
point guard Shawn Cope’s foul
trouble. Cope picked up his
fourth foul in the third quarter
and fouled out early in the
fourth.
Although CV-S head coach
Terry Brant tried several replacements,
the Patriots were
turnover prone without their
senior leader.
``We struggled against their
press without him,’’ Brant said.
``We couldn’t find any bench
production and we didn’t shoot
the ball well. We play great
defense but our weakness all
year has been shotting the ball.
I think we’re under 20 percent
from three-point range.’’
Morris, which hadn’t allowed
any Tri-Valley opponent to score
50 points against them this season,
held CV-S without a double
digit scorer.
Senior center Kyle Flint had
nine points, 12 rebounds and
four blocked shots in the losing
effort. Alex Shuster also had nine
points.
CV-S led by one at the half and
Cope’s banked in three-pointer
from the wing to start to the second
half put them up four. But the
Mustangs went on an 18-4 run that
stretched the entire third quarter
and half of the fourth to take a
commanding 33-21 lead.
The Patriots kept fighting, scoring
the next six points, capped by
Ben VanAlstine’s driving lay-up, to
make it 35-30 with just over two
minutes left. Despite several opportunities
to draw closer, CV-S failed
to score over the final two minutes.
The loss was the second straight
for the Patriots in the T-V title game,
after losing to Laurens last year.
CV-S was scheduled to host Hunter-
Tannersville in a Section Four Class
D first round game on Tuesday,
but the game was postponed until
Wednesday because of snow.
