Coaches vs. Cancer basketball event returns to Fulton-Montgomery Community College
JOHNSTOWN – Coaches vs. Cancer made its return to the area's basketball courts over the weekend and the Oppenheim-Ephratah-St. Johnsville boys were among the winners in two days of games played at Fulton-Montgomery Community College.
The annual Coaches vs. Cancer Tip-Off Classic involving teams from Section II’s Western Athletic Conference was never scheduled last season with basketball season delayed by the coronavirus pandemic and competition mostly limited to county lines. COVID-19 impacted the return of the games with three canceled because of quarantine issues.
WAC schools matched up with teams from outside their league and Oppenheim-Ephratah-St. Johnsville, winless in the spring against Montgomery County competition, defeated the Salem of the Adirondack League 77-47 Sunday afternoon.
The Wolves’ nearest neighbors – Fort Plain and Canajoharie – had their games canceled later in the day, and Fort Plain has also announced the postponement of its Tuesday varsity and junior varsity games against Schoharie.
Duanesburg and Wells, the Section VII team Canajoharie had been scheduled to play Sunday, were canceled Saturday. Fort Plain’s opponent had been Edmeston from Section IV.
Oppenheim-Ephratah-St. Johnsville jumped ahead 23-9 in the first quarter of its game, topped 20 points in each of the first three quarters and led by 37 entering the fourth.
Colten Christensen led the Wolves with 25 points while Mason Snell added 22 and Owen Feagles had 14. Connor Chilson scored 27 points to lead Salem.
Richfield Springs made the trip from Section IV and was beaten by one point Saturday in a 43-42 loss to Galway. Dylan Hosford has 22 points for the Indians who led 13-2 after the first quarter despite playing without their second-leading scorer and one other varsity regular. Richfield Springs had the ball twice while trailing by one point in the game’s final 20 seconds but failed to score.
More: VVS boys win tip-off basketball tournament at Richfield Springs
Casey Clarke led Galway with 11 points. Austin Bowman added 11 to Hosford’s 22 for Richfield Springs.
Five varsity games were played Saturday and three Sunday.
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Proceeds from the weekend will benefit the American Cancer Society.
Sunday
OPPENHEIM-EPHRATAH-ST. JOHNSVILLE 77, SALEM 47
SALEM (n/a) – Connor Chilson 10 3-4 27; Zachariah Miller 3 0-0 6; Josh Harrington 1 0-0 3; Nate Twitchell 2 0-0 4; Zach Johnson 1 0-0 2; Altwon Webster 2 0-0 5. Totals: 19 3-4 47.
OPPENHEIM-EPHRATAH-ST. JOHNSVILLE (1-0) – Mason Snell 10 0-1 22; Kyle Hall 1 0-0 2; Colten Christensen 11 3-5 25; Zachary Grant 0 0-2 2; Tristan Stever 1 0-0 2; Ian Smith 3 0-0 6; Hunter Smith 2 0-1 6; Owen Feagles 7 0-2 14. Totals: 35 3-11 77.
Salem 9 10 10 18 – 47
Oppenheim-Ephratah-St. Johnsville 23 21 23 10 – 77
Three-pointers – Salem 6 (Chilson 4, Harrington 1, Webster 1); Oppenheim-Ephratah-St. Johnsville 4 (H.Smith 2, Snell 2).
Saturday
GALWAY 43, RICHFIELD SPRINGS 42
RICHFIELD SPRINGS (1-2) – Austin Bowman 4 2-4 11; Andrew Oakley 1 0-0 3; Brogan Graves 1 0-0 3; Damon Boss 1 0-0 3; Dylan Hosford 8 4-5 22. Totals: 15 6-9 42.
GALWAY (2-0) – Casey Clarke 5 1-1 11; Ryan Pudney 2 0-2 6; Myles Pleasants 3 0-0 8; Joseph DeVellis 2 0-0 5; Jack Ryan 3 0-4 6; Zachary Kenyon 1 0-0 2; Thomas Villano 1 1-3 3; Gavin O’Neil 1 0-2 2. Totals: 18 2-12 43.
Richfield Springs 13 6 8 15 – 42
Galway 2 19 9 13 – 43
Three-pointers – Richfield Springs 6 (Hosford 2, Boss 1, Bowman 1, Graves 1, Oakley 1); Galway 5 (Pleasants 2, Pudney 2, Devellis 1).
Saturday
FONDA-FULTONVILLE 70, SCHALMONT 35
SCHALMONT (n/a) –Joshua Escobales-Rivera 1 0-2 3; Isaiah Smith 3 0-0 7; Elijah Smith 2 0-2 5; Andrew Van Dyk 2 1-1 5; Paulie Brosius 1 0-0 3; Max Pratt 1 5-6 7; Troy Contompasis 0 1-2 1; Andrew Schraa 1 2-2 4. Totals: 11 9-16 35.
FONDA-FULTONVILLE (1-1) – Roger Boyer 1 0-0 3; Nate Mycek 0 0-0 0; Allen Booth 0 0-0 0; Jackson Cusack 6 2-5 18; Brady Melious 1 0-0 3; Colin Kowalski 2 1-3 7; Brady Whipple 3 1-3 7; Connor Weaver 3 0-0 8; Jeremiah Jimenez 0 1-2 1; Aidan Coupas 2 0-0 6; Nick Hastings 6 0-0 14; Josh Miller 1 0-0 3; Matthew Cliffored 0 0-0 0. Totals: 25 5-13 70.
Schalmont 5 6 10 14 – 35
Fonda-Fultonville 16 22 20 12 – 70
Three-pointers – Schalmont 4 (Brosius 1, Escobales-Rivera 1, E.Smith 1, I.Smith 1); Fonda-Fultonville 14 (Cusack 4, Coupas 2, Hastings 2, Kowalski 2, Weaver 2, Boyer 1, Miller 1).
Jon Rathbun is a sportswriter for the Times Telegram. Email Jon at sports@timestelegram.com.
This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Coaches vs. Cancer high school basketball back at Fulton-Montgomery CC