Maybe the Oneida boys basketball team had to pay the devil, literally, when it beat Vernon-Verona-Sherrill for the seventh straight time on Jan. 22.
Following that, the Indians lost three straight games, starting with last Tuesday’s showdown with Tri-Valley League East leader New Hartford, which went to overtime before the hot-shooting Spartans prevailed by a score of 70-65. Then
Oneida went to 2-9 Clinton Friday and took a 70-63 loss to the Warriors, just to make things worse.
While all this was going on, VVS shook off a slow start and roared back to beat Camden 62-51, then capped the week Friday by surprising Whitesboro 54-51.
Against the Warriors, the Red Devils mostly relied on Joe Spinella and a superb defense to get through. Making Whitesboro work hard for every basket, VVS took a 23-19 lead at halftime, then hung in there as the Warriors stormed back in the second half.
Still, VVS was only down two, 49-47, when Isaac Pitman put together a three-point play, pushing his side ahead for good at 50-49.
Four free throws in the homestretch, mostly by Spinella, closed it out. Spinella carried the Red Devils’ attack most of the night, finishing with 26 points, while Pitman finished with nine points.
Against Camden, VVS trailed 18-11 going into the second quarter but then dominated that frame, outscoring the Blue Devils 18-5 to move ahead for good. The margin grew to 47-35 by the end of the third period.
Spinella, previewing his Whitesboro heroics, proved unstoppable on this night, working his way to 27 points, most of it from five successful 3-pointers. Pitman also stood out, earning 18 points, eight of them free throws.
None of this good work found its way to Oneida, though admittedly the loss to New Hartford had a lot to do with the Spartans’ catching fire from the perimeter in a way it never had before.
Oneida had fought back from a 28-20 first-half deficit, closing within 33-30 by halftime. That margin held until the fourth quarter, when Oneida finally went back in front, only to see New Hartford keep sinking 3-pointers, six of them from Calvin Floyd, who led his side with 18 points.
Despite all this, Kyle Peck carried the Indians to overtime, hitting two free throws with 40 seconds left in regulation to make it 61-61. Of his career-high 31 points, 10 came in the final period.
They were still even, 63-63, in the OT when the Spartans’ Derek German hit his team’s 17th 3-pointer of the night (the 17 were a school record for a single game) to put his side ahead for good. Twice, Oneida turned it over in the waning minutes, and four New Hartford free throws sealed the win.
Aside from Peck, Ben DeRocker, with 14 points (including three 3-pointers), and Mitch DuBois, with 12 points, got most of the offensive work done. German had 14 points and A.J. Wolfanger added 12 points (all from four 3-pointers) to help the visitors.
Losing to New Hartford was one thing, but no one saw the defeat at Clinton coming. Yet the Warriors got red-hot in the game’s middle stages, outscoring Oneida 44-28 in the second and third periods, and held on late.
Peck dropped to 13 points, while DeRocker led with 14 points. DuBois (10 points) and Keith Johnson (nine points) were close behind. Zach Lehman (14 points), Devin Cornelius (13 points) and Will Smegal (12 points) led the Cortland effort.
