Frank Speziale Photo

BINGHAMTON – With every ounce of energy they had left in the tank, the Unadilla Valley boys basketball team gave all they had but fell short late in the fourth to the Cooperstown Hawkeyes in the New York State Class C quarterfinals at the Floyd L. Maines Arena Sunday afternoon. The Hawkeyes claimed the win with a final of 61-46.

Led by Jack Lambert’s 24 points, seven Cooperstown players registered in the scoring column throughout the contest. Most of those players stepped up when the Storm’s defensive efforts had shut down Lambert’s scoring.

UV’s Andrew Jackson also dropped 24 points, most coming late in the game when the Storm made a surge to cut the Hawkeyes lead down to single digits in the fourth quarter.

Lambert opened up the contest immediately with a curling jumper off a screen then followed with back-to-back 3-point field goals, deep from beyond the arc.

The Storm’s Levi Rifanburg scored the first two baskets for his team and was fouled on both but missed both chances at the foul line. The senior’s points were the only scored in the quarter while Cooperstown ran out to a 12-4 lead.

Unadilla Valley came around in the second quarter but not until after Noah Lifgren scored down low and Lambert drained yet another 3-pointer, pushing the Hawkeyes lead to 15 early in the stanza.