MVT Presence At: Cooperstown/Harpursville (girls) – 1:00, Oriskany/Franklin (girls) – 3:00, New York Mills/Marathon (boys) – 5:00 (all games at Oneonta State)
Last MVT appearance in Oneonta: November 21, 2012 at Oneonta High School, where Mariah Ruff & company led Oneonta girls to a 45-32 victory over Troy (both teams still at it – Troy won their 1st regional game in A over J-D Tuesday, Oneonta’s playing Notre Dame at OCC tomorrow).
Last MVT appearance at Oneonta State: Taking it back a couple years now. Like tomorrow, it was Sect. 3/Sect. 4 regional play. March of 2011 – South Kortright girls won a tight game over Hamilton (led by 1,000 point scorer Jordan Peterson). Harpursville girls, with 2,000+ point scorer Hannah Kimmel, made light work of Fabius-Pompey, led by 1,000+ point scorer Stevie Ray. New York Mills boys pulled away and beat a game squad from Hancock. That NYM team, led by Fred Russ (Class D Player of the Year) and 6’9″ Matt Welch (1st team), went on to win the NYSPHSAA state title in Class D that year.
Preview: Cooperstown is coming in clicking on all cylinders. They’ve got quickness, size, shooting ability, and they play well as a unit. Sumer Murdock, their leading scorer, has been lighting teams up of late, yet Liz Millea (their FRESHMAN point guard) has been controlling the game on both ends. To me, she’s their most important player, and a member of the Cooperstown coaching staff, while in conversation with him, seems to agree. Nicole Cring has continued what she’s been doing all year in the blocks. Gives them double digit scoring consistently, and she’s earned the name Windex from us because she cleans the glass. Grabs boards, and at 6’1″ with jumping ability and long arms to go with good timing, getting 5-7 blocks in a game isn’t anything new. The only thing that can come back to haunt them is foul trouble in their backcourt – they have bodies on their roster, but Coach Niles doesn’t have a whole lot of backcourt help off the bench. When Millea/Murdock/Maggie Hall are out, the game changes. Admittedly, I know very little about Harpursville. What I do know is at 18-3, they’re sitting at #5 in the NYSSWA Class C polls (2 spots ahead of Cooperstown). The program is synonymous with success, and what I remember about the team 2 years ago was that even though they had a 2,000 point scorer, there was much more to that squad. Their 2nd best player at the time… was a freshman. That would make her a junior now, which I’ve always said is a player’s hungriest year. This junior, Miranda Drummond, dropped 27 in their 60-36 W over Unatego to win the Section 4 crown. Also, they won’t be afraid of the moment: they were here 2 years ago, and they lost in the sectional finals last year. It isn’t their first rodeo. Should be quite a battle to start!
Then we have Oriskany/Franklin. Oriskany undefeated, #2 in the state in D and feature Christina Graziadei (1,298 points – Oriskany’s record holder), along w/ a very capable supporting cast, with sophomore PG Madison Zizzi, senior wing Shannon Van Shufflin & sophomore F Jordan Sahl shouldering a lot of the load as well. Don’t let the box score from the 40-37 Oriskany W over NYM in the finals (where Graziadei dropped 31) fool you – this has been a potent crew that just happened to take a night off collectively. Franklin is also undefeated, ranked #5 in the state in D, and they also feature a stud of their own. Jordan Beers was a 1st team all-stater last year, and she’s continued her roll this year. They fought off a determined Morris crew in the Section 4 finals, and Beers dropped 24… in the 2nd half. 33 for the game. 2 players puttin da team on their backs doe… I’m very interested in this one. Personally been following Oriskany hoops through the sectional run. Great group of kids. Watched Franklin soccer in the fall, was impressed with workmanlike attitude of players, and some of them are on the basketball court. Also seemed like a good group of kids. Looking forward to it!
Finally, New York Mills/Marathon boys. Admittedly don’t know much about Marathon, but they beat Morris by 5 to make it this far, and they’re actually below .500 – 10-12 on the season. I know enough of Morris to get an idea of Marathon’s ability off that score. NYM is 19-3 and ranked #3 in the state in D. What I will say about NYM is they’re not the most consistent bunch – I can say that because I’ve seen both sides. In the regular season, I watched their highs. They made a highly anticipated matchup with West Canada Valley turn into a Marauder-fest blowout. However, a month later at Oriskany, they laid an egg and ended up losing by about 25. It was a shockingly awful performance (mind you, I called it at halftime with them down 4). They let Copenhagen play them tough to start sectionals, and Oriskany got up double-digits on them early in their quarterfinal game. Since then, NYM has hit another level. They blew Oriskany out in the last 2.5 quarters and got a double digit W, followed that with a W over Faith Heritage, who sported one of the best players in D this year in Luke Last, and dominated Cincy at the Dome with a 25 point W. NYM has some size. Not as much size as before, but 6’5″ Zach Vennaro had a nice showing at the Dome, and 6’3″ Cody Mariotti has been a contributor for them all year. NYM has an experienced point guard. Senior JT Ross was their starting PG in the state championship run as a sophomore. NYM has Nick Comenale. That helps quite a bit. Mr. Silky Smooth has his legs back under him after missing time with a sprained ankle late in the regular season. If NYM goes out and lays an egg tomorrow, expect Marathon to put up quite a fight and perhaps steal one. If NYM plays like they did against Cincy, it might feel like a 32 minute marathon for the Section 4 representatives.
The politician Rob Drumm is in good ol’ Stony Brook for SUNY business this weekend, so it’s just me tomorrow. No Blues Brothers getup like Thursday either – back to normal. Swing by. I might actually wave if my name gets thrown in a chant, New York Mills…
– Jeff Mlinar
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