Unatego's Woods stands tall in MAC final

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February 20, 2012

Sparks crowd, team in 43-39 defeat of Sidney

By Dean Russin Sports Editor The Daily Star Mon Feb 20, 2012, 02:30 AM EST

ONEONTA _ Unatego doesn't need cheerleaders with Travis Woods around.

Woods secured the Spartans' first league championship since 1984 by blocking a late three-point attempt as Unatego beat Sidney, 43-39, in the Midstate Athletic Conference boys basketball final Saturday at Oneonta State.

"It's nice to have him," Unatego coach Jim Knight said of Woods, a 6-foot-5 senior center who finished with a game-high 15 points, five rebounds, three blocks and two steals. "It helps our defenders up top because they know if they get beat, Travis is right there to alter shots or block shots and also get rebounds. Travis has worked hard on his game, so everything he gets, he deserves."

Woods received plenty of cheers Saturday, the loudest coming after he clubbed Damian Zimmer's deep three from the right wing into the stands just before time expired. That clinched the Spartans' first conference crown since a 61-55 victory over Windsor in the 1984 Susquenango Association championship game.

Woods also turned up the volume with a block and a slam dunk in each of the first and third quarters.

"It feels great to do it," Woods said of dunking the ball. "I always think about (dunking in) big games because I want to get the crowd into it."

Phil Youngs opened the scoring by converting a steal at midcourt into a layup, sparking a 6-0 run for the Spartans that led to a 13-8 advantage after one quarter.

Woods got the crowd going in the final 55 seconds of the opening period, slamming in his first of two dunks from the right baseline to make it 13-6 and later batting the ball away from a driving Zimmer.

After Sidney inbounded, junior guard Zimmer went right back at Woods for an uncontested left-hander that closed the first-quarter scoring with 2 seconds to go.

Sidney (11-6) started the second quarter on an 11-2 run that Jon Wingate wrapped up with a three-point bankshot from the top of the key, giving the Warriors a 19-15 edge with 1:38 left before the half.

Six seconds later, Woods scored on a putback, drew a foul on Mike Cruz and hit the free throw to make it a one-point game. The Warriors outscored Unatego, 4-2, over the last 1:10 for a 23-20 lead at the break and made it 26-20 when Brandon Walters hit a three-pointer from the left diagonal 35 seconds into the third period.

Quinn Barnhart then took over for Unatego (17-1), scoring six of his nine points from in close to help the Spartans to a 32-30 lead after three quarters.

"Barnhart's the one who hurt us," Sidney coach Mike Brazee said of the 6-2 junior forward, who also drew two shooting fouls on putback attempts in the third quarter. "Barnhart hurt us with some offensive rebounds and some putbacks. We kept yelling at the kids every timeout about boxing out and boxing out and boxing out."

Sidney started strong again in the fourth quarter as Mike Ward scored from the left elbow, Zimmer converted a basket-and-one on a drive into the paint and Joe Matzel made a transition layup for a 37-32 lead with 4:58 to go.

Knight then subbed in junior guard Tyler Butler, a starter who turned his first touch of the fourth quarter into a floating layup down the middle.

With Unatego in full-court-press mode, Butler stole the ball to set up Kellen Komenda's three-pointer from the right diagonal to tie the score at 37 with 4:22 left.

"Tyler is the guy on my team who refuses to lose," Knight said of Butler, a Class C all-state quarterback who scored all four of his points in the final quarter. "Something gets inside of him. He's special."

Youngs scored the go-ahead points on a drive into Barnhart underneath, Butler hit a jumper from the left baseline and Woods scored on a putback to cap an 11-0 Unatego run that made it 43-37 with 53 seconds remaining. All three baskets followed press-induced steals, by Woods, Komenda and Youngs, respectively.

"The five-point lead was gone in a heartbeat," said Brazee, whose team turned the ball over 18 times _ 13 on steals _ but stayed close by outrebounding the Spartans, 28-19. "I think (Unatego's press) maybe wore us down a little bit, and we got a little tentative in the half-court once we got through the press."

Zimmer capped the scoring and his 13-point outing on a turnaround basket in the middle of the paint with 39.4 seconds left. Zimmer grabbed his game-high ninth rebound a few seconds later as Komenda's press-breaker layup rolled off the rim. Komenda returned the favor, though, hustling back to rebound Zimmer's late miss on a two-point attempt and drawing a foul on Walters with 8.7 seconds left. Ward rebounded Komenda's missed free throw and Sidney called timeout, leaving the Warriors with 8.5 seconds to go the length of the floor and little chance to score four more points.

"I don't think anybody expected us to be here," said Brazee, whose team graduated 2011 Daily Star Player of the Year Dylan Umbra and four other key players a few months after beating Unatego, 48-36, in last season's MAC final. "We just keep getting better. All that youth is growing up."

Ward finished with a team-best 14 points for the Warriors, who are seeded seventh for the Section Four Class C Tournament and will host MAC rival Oxford _ the 10th seed _ in a first-round game Tuesday night.

Unatego also opens against a MAC foe Tuesday, when the second-seeded Spartans will host No. 15 Greene.

"The beginning of this year, I didn't know how good we were going to be," said Knight, who will step down after seven years as the Spartans head coach at the end of this season. "I knew we were going to be pretty good, but the chemistry on this team is like none I've ever seen. Everybody pulls for each other, we work hard every night in practice; I don't have to get on these guys for that.

"It's just a pleasure to be around these guys," he continued. "They worked hard, and now it's sort of snowballed and we've gotten a lot of confidence. Now, it's onward and upward."

Should Unatego and Sidney win their sectional openers, they'll meet for the third time this season in a quarterfinal Friday.

"The bad thing about sectionals is we see the same teams," Brazee said. "We're going to play Oxford at home next week and if we beat them and Unatego wins, we're playing Unatego again. So that's getting old."

Unatego also beat Sidney, 55-43, in January.

Unatego 43, Sidney 39

MAC 1-4 TOURNAMENT

Saturday's Championship at Oneonta State

2-SIDNEY (11-6): Damian Zimmer 5 3-3 13, Jon Wingate 1 0-0 3, Mike Ward 7 0-0 14, Bill Kozak 0 0-0 0, Brandon Walters 1 0-0 3, Mike Cruz 1 0-0 2, Joe Matzel 2 0-0 4. TOTALS: 17 3-3 39.

1-UNATEGO (17-1): David VanAlstine 0 0-1 0, Kellen Komenda 3 0-1 7, Tyler Butler 2 0-0 4, Phil Youngs 2 0-0 4, Dan Kleeschulte 0 0-0 0, Dan Shelton 0 4-5 4, Travis Woods 7 1-3 15, Quinn Barnhart 4 1-6 9, Nick Becht 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18 6-16 43.

Sidney ..... 8 15 7 9 _ 39

Unatego ..... 13 7 12 11 _ 43

Three-point field goals: S 2 (Walters, Wingate); U 1 (Komenda).

Dean Russin can be reached at drussin@thedailystar.com or 607-432-1000, ext. 215.