1) UV’s Haywood Edwards (#1) heavily pressured on defense by Oxford’s Caden Rifanburg. Both would help their teams in the final minute. (Photo by Morgan Golliver) 2)Oxford’s Caden Rifanburg (#24) celebrates after knocking down the game-winning three at the buzzer against UV (Photo by Morgan Golliver)

OXFORD – It was an exciting night at Oxford high school on Tuesday evening for the home crowd. With the game on the line in the final seven seconds, Oxford was down by one until Caden Rifanburg knocked down a three at the buzzer to give Oxford the 45-42 victory over Unadilla Valley.

Oxford took a timeout before the final play of the game which helped set up a good strategy.

“Coming out of that timeout, our mindset was that we wanted to get up a good shot,” Coach Booker Davis said. “We expected them to press and set a play for that, but they didn’t. So, we went with Plan B, which was Donnie (Rickard) getting the ball and John Rovente setting up the screen.”

“They collapsed on Donnie, but he was able to make a great pass to Rifanburg for the game winning three as time expired.”

Coach Davis also said it was Rifanburg’s first varsity start.

Haywood Edwards had made what would’ve been a game-winning layup for UV if Oxford did not get the lucky shot off in time. The Storm took a 22-18 led at halftime before both teams battled it out in the final two quarters.

Oxford (1-1) hosts Gilbertsville-Mount Upton on Thursday at 7 p.m. while UV (0-3) looks to get back on track on the road against Morris on December 13 at 7 p.m.

Score by Quarters:

OX 12 6 16 11—45

UV 11 11 11 10—43

OX (1-1): Donovan Rickard 16, Jared Sheridan 9, Caden Rifanburg 9, John Rovente 7, Eli Bennett 4.

UV (0-3): Trason Murray 14, Trent Marinelli 8, Haywood Edwards 8, Keegan Platt 5, Tucker Cattanach 4, Zach Smith 2, Kaden Butts 2.

Three-pointers: OX 4 (Rifanburg 2, Rickard, Sheridan); UV 1 (Murray)