Marathon head coach Jim Holland speaks to his players in the locker room following their win over Morris (Cortland Voice).
ONEONTA, N.Y. — After a tight game down the stretch, the Marathon Olympians were able to come away with a 72-66 win over the Morris Central Mustangs, leading them to the Section IV Class D Finals.
Marathon was off to a dominant start to the game, moving the ball well on offense to find the open man while putting pressure on Morris defensively. Heading into the second half, Marathon held a comfortable 13-point lead, with junior Diego Castellot scoring 18 points and ending the second quarter with a buzzer beater reverse layup that got the crowd going.
The Mustangs mounted their comeback in the third quarter, applying defensive pressure on the Olympians for the rest of the game. Their defense forced turnovers, and players began boxing out on the defensive and offensive end.
During the fourth quarter, Morris took the lead to bring the score to 53-52.
It came to the last few minutes down the stretch, as both teams were going at it back and forth. With seconds left and Marathon leading by four, Morris had nothing else to do but get a quick bucket and start fouling. That’s when Marathon junior Kenyon Depuy came in clutch, securing a game-winning rebound and hitting both his free throws after being fouled.
Depuy was outstanding at attacking the paint, scoring a total of 16 points, with six of them coming from the line.
“In the first half, we did a great job as a team, everybody was looking to score,” said Marathon head coach, Jim Holland. “They increased the intensity in the second half. It put us in trouble. We didn't think they had another gear to go, but they went into high gear. We struggled with it, but we came out of it.”
Castellot led the Olympians with 21 total points, nine of them coming from behind the arc.
Marathon will be playing Edmeston Central at 3 p.m. Sat., March 2, at SUNY Oneonta. The Cortland Voice will be live-streaming the game via our Facebook page.
