Boys’ Basketball

GROTON – Oxford’s grind-it-out defense kept Groton’s buzzsaw, run-and-gun offense at bay most of the night, and the Blackhawks advanced to the Section IV Class C championship game for the second straight year, 63-54, Wednesday on the Indians’ home floor.

Oxford plays Odessa-Montour in the Class C championship game, Saturday at 6:45 p.m. at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. “It’s been a long season, and people look at our record and take for granted that we would get back to the Section IV championship game,” said Oxford coach Tim Davis. “We’ve been going at it for four solid months now. It’s tough to keep guys working hard, especially on defense, but this team has bought into our defensive concept, and we focus on shutting the other team down.”

Groton wasn’t shut down, but it took over 5 1/2 dozen shots to reach 54 points against Oxford finishing 20-for-68 from the field (29 percent) and 9-for-33 (27 percent) on three-point field goal attempts. Oxford entered the contest allowing just 41 points a contest, lowest among all Section IV teams.

“We played our normal tough man-to-man defense, we just couldn’t give any help-side defense and had to play their shooters honest,” Davis said. “We did a nice job keeping a hand in their shooters’ face all night.”