Marathon’s Diego Castellot taking a lay-up after getting a steal (Ross Cohen/Cortland Voice)
MARATHON, N.Y. — The Marathon Olympians dominated i a 64-38 win over the Richfield Springs Indians Saturday night, advancing to the Section IV Class D semi-finals.
Both teams were getting the best out of each other at the start of the game. By the middle of the second quarter, the Olympians were only leading by three and were struggling on defense, with the Indians coming at them attacking the paint.
Marathon Junior Andrew Tillotson answered back with three straight three pointers from the corner in less than a minute, extending the Olympians to a comfortable 12-point lead.
“When their coach called a timeout, I told them that we weren't getting the ball to the corners enough,” said Marathon head coach Jim Holland. “We missed a lot of corner opportunities we should have gotten. So when we came out of the time out that is what we focused on, and Andrew is one of our corner shooters and he finally got alive.”
Both Marathon Juniors Tillotson and Diego Castellot led the Olympians scoring 13 points each, combining for a total of 26.
Marathon came out dominating in the second half already leading by 16 points (33-17), having great ball movement and applying plenty of pressure on defense.
“We pressed a lot on the second half, we just moved it down to a half court press,” Holland said. “I think our guys did a better job moving the ball offensively for us to get some points on the offense of end. We moved the ball real well. One of best games for that.”
Marathon will travel to SUNY Oneonta to play their semi-finals game on Wednesday, Feb. 27th.
McGraw falls to DeRuyter in Sectional Semifinals
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The DeRuyter Rockets defeated the McGraw Golden Eagles, 77-72, in a tightly contested matchup at SRC Arena in Syracuse.
The Rockets held a lead heading into the third quarter until McGraw rallied to keep the game close until the closing seconds.
The Rockets will face the Lyme Central Indians at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, Sunday, March 3, at 12 p.m.
