The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Strong second half spells Oneida win over Camden
Merrell nets game-high 20 point to spark Oneida in TVL win over Camden
A strong start and a strong finish.
That was Oneida’s formula for success during a Tri-Valley League meeting with Camden on Tuesday.
Jeff Didio’s side put up 21 points in the first quarter of Pioneer Division road win, enjoying a double-digit lead across the early minutes of the contest. And though Camden was able to whittle that lead down to a one-possession game in the third quarter, Oneida outscored the hosting Blue Devils 35-21 in the second half en route to a 62-45 victory.
With the victory, Oneida improves to 4-8 on the season and 4-4 against Class B competition, something not lost on Oneida senior guard Will Merrell as the season barrels toward Sectionals.
“We have to stay focused. We have to stay motivated. We have to go hard in practice and keep our heads up,” Merrell said. “We have the bulk of our Class B [schedule] right now, so hopefully, we can get on a good roll into the playoffs.”
Merrell led the way for Oneida with a game-high 20 points, 10 of which came during an explosive first quarter. Jake Vaccaro followed with 12 for the visitors, and Hunter West supplied 10.
Nick Balcom paced Camden with 17 points in the defeat. Austin Page followed with 11, including a trio of 3-pointers for the Blue Devils.
Oneida led by as much as 10 late in the first quarter following a Merrell 3-pointer and West bucket off a Vaccaro assist for a 19-9 advantage. Camden responded with a Page 3-point make, and after Merrell banked home a midrange jumper, Paul sunk a pair at the line to close the quarter with Oneida leading 21-14.
Camden closed the first half on a strong note, pulling within one score before the intermission. After Andrew Smith buried a triple for Oneida, Camden answered with a Eurostep lay-in by Page and a full trip to the line by Balcom.
At the half, Oneida sported a 27-24 edge.
West opened the third quarter with back-to-back makes in the paint to help Oneida grow back the lead. Camden fought back with three straight Richie Paul points. After splitting a pair at the line, Paul followed up with a two-handed tip-in before Merrell spotted Ty D’Arcangelis open beyond the arc for a 3-ball. Page came back with a 3-pointer of his own for the Blue Devils. A pair of Balcom free throws pulled Camden within two at 34-32.
Oneida, however, would not let things slip away.
With their once double digit lead whittled down to two, the visitors used a 13-0 run that spanned the middle parts of the third and fourth quarters to take control of the contest.
“Communication on defense. Relaxing and running plays on offense. Just listening to coach. He had a good plan, a good strategy and we just executed,” Merrell said of his team’s second half success.
D’Arcangelis hit Vaccaro on a cut to the foul line for a mid-range jumper, and Ben Wright followed that up with a spin move in the post for the next Oneida bucket. Merrell flashed his gridiron skills a play later. With Camden attempting to inbound the ball from its own baseline as the final third quarter seconds ticked off the clock, Merrell intercepted a pass and busted down the court for a layup as the period expired.
Oneida began the fourth with a 40-32 advantage, continuing its run with another Andrew Smith triple. Dylan McClelland kept things going for the visitors on their next score, muscling his way through the paint for a gimme. Merrell capped the run moments later with a steal and fastbreak score to give Oneida a 47-32 lead and prompt a Camden timeout with 5:24 left in the bout.
Out of the timeout, Camden stemmed the tide on back-to-back 3-pointers by John Plumley and Page to trim the Oneida lead to 4735 and bring the Blue Devil crowd back to life. After the teams traded trips to the line, Vaccaro drilled a 3-point shot, but Camden responded with a pair of Balcom layups off its fullcourt pressure defense to cut the lead to single digits, 52-43.
It only took Oneida a play to slow Camden’s momentum. D’Arcangelis fielded a pass near mid-court, knifing through the press before dishing off to West for a thunderous two-handed slam, to the delight of the
Oneida cheering section.
“I’ve been waiting for one of those. It’s been a while since he’s dunked in a game, so it was nice,” Merrell said. “I think it takes all five of us out there to break the press. We have to know what we are doing, our coaches are good. We play a lot of [Class] A’s so we see a lot of press. You kind of get used to it, so it sets us upwell for playoffs and Class B.”
Paul hit the front end of a 1-and-1 with under three minutes to go in the fourth to make it 54-44. With time slipping away and Oneida handling the press, Camden attempted to prolong the game at the foul line, but the visitors went 8-of10 fromthe charity stripe to seal the 62-45 victory.