LOCH SHELDRAKE--The Bears and Bulldogs played two league basketball games last week with the Tri-Valley boys edging Sullivan West 51-48 at Grahamsville Thursday and the lady Bears posting a 43-36 sectional berth win Saturday morning in the 8th Annual Sullivan County BCANY v Cancer Classic at Sullivan County Community College.
Both games presented tie-scores and nail-biting moments for coaches, players and fans.
Sullivan West varsity boys coach John Meyers following Thursday's loss said "I'm the most proud of my guys for this game....win or lose they played from the opening tap to the end."
Meyers emphasized that "we lost by 15 to them the first time we played and tonight by three and Tri-Valley played great defense and hats off to them as they made the foul shots down at the end."
This game played close throughout all four quarters with Tri-Valley taking the first eight minutes of play 12-11 and Sullivan West edging the Bears 13-10 in the second quarter resulting in a 25-21 half time lead for Tri-Valley.
The Bears boosted their lead to 12 points, 44-32 at the end of the third quarter outscoring Sullivan West 19-11 off four points by Robert Warden and six points each by Tom Mungeer and Chris Mosher.
The 12-point Bears lead didn't last very long and at the 5:50 mark Sullivan West's Austin Melchick drilled a tray to tie the game at 44-44 after the Bulldogs had held Tri-Valley scoreless for two and a half minutes of fourth quarter play.
The Bulldogs outscored Tri-Valley 16-7 in the fourth quarter but the game was eventually won on the foul line as the Bears added clutch foul shots, three from Chase Botsford, one from Tom Mungeer and one from Robert Worden to squeeze out the three point win .
Thomas Mungeer led the Bears with 17 points while Robert Worden added 12 points for Tri-Valley that upped their record to 607 and 2-3 in OCIAA Division V league play.
Sullivan West dropped to 3-10 and 0-4 in league play.
Leading the scoring for the Bulldogs was Ryszard Mujanovic with 12 points.
Tri-Valley coach Kevin Delaney was happy with the win but added ,"our defense did not help us and we really let them back in the game in the fourth quarter."
With visions of postseason dancing in their minds and knowing a win would clinch sectional play Tri-Valley opened up a 7-6 first quarter lead and then outscored Sullivan West 15-6 in the second quarter which led to a 22-12 half time lead.
The Bears 15 second quarter points came from two trays by Nicole Beach and two points each from Autumn Bender, Morgan Shamro and Angie Ditoro.
The 10-point Tri-Valley half-time lead started slipping away early in the third quarter as the Bears defense got into foul trouble sending the Bulldogs to the free throw line where they made 10 foul shots and at 2:14 tied the game at 22-22 with Elaine Durkin adding the 21st and 22ed point.
Sullivan West outscored the Bears in that third quarter 14-4 and started the final eight minutes of play tied at 26 each.
Foul shots again played a leading role in the fourth quarter as Tri-Valley took advantage of poor Sullivan West defensive decisions by going to the foul line for 11 points and a 17-10 fourth quarter advantage resulting in a seven-point victory.
Key fourth quarter foul shooting for Tri-Valley was produced by Morgan Shamro with five, Samantha Raymond with four and Ashley Lawrence with two.
Two trays, one by Nicole Beach and another by Shamro added to Tri-Valley's fourth quarter advantage.
Morgan Shamro led Tri-Valley in scoring with 13 points followed by Nicole Beach with 12 and Samantha Raymond with 11.
Leading scorers for Sullivan West were Brianna Bryant and Elaine Durkin with 12 points and Chyenne Gaebel with 11.
Sullivan West committed 30 turnovers to Tri-Valley's 26.
Sullivan West's overall record is now 7-10 and 1-3 in league play. Tri-Valley ups their record to 8-7 overall and 2-2 in OCIAA Division league play.
Bears coach Jason Closs with the win commented "today's win against Sullivan West qualified Tri-Valley for the Sectionals."
"We played relatively well in the first half and took a 10 point lead into half time but got bogged down in the third quarter with foul trouble and lost our momentum on offense."
"I was very pleased about our energy in the fourth quarter when we regained the momentum and knocked down some four sots of our own as this was a game we had to grind out but in the end we will learn a lot from today," Closs added.
Sullivan West coach Patrick Donavan refused to comment.
Tri-Valley's Eliz Hannold (20) shoots over Sullivan West's Bridget Hart (23) in the Bears 43-36 win Saturday at Sullivan County Community College.
Tri-Valley Bears forward Samantha Raymond (44) shoots over Sullivan West's Alexa Santoro in Tri-Valley's 43-36 win Saturday at Sullivan County Community College.
Tri-Valley forward Brennan Healy (24) goes high shooting over Sullivan West's Austin Melchick (20) in the Bears 51-48 win Thursday at Grahamsville.
Tri-Valley forward Brennan Healy (24) shoots over Sullivan West's Hashim Gambari (23) in the Bears 51-48 win Thursday at Grahamsville.
Tri-Valley's Chase Botsford (34) looks to pass off to team mate Brennan Healy (24) as Sullivan West's Linzii Koradis (24) attempts a block in the Bears 51-48 win Thursday at Grahamsville.
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