SECTION 4 BOYS' BASKETBALL: CORNING RALLIES TO TOP ELMIRA AS THEY WIN SECTIONALS FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2022 (24 PHOTOS) (2025-03-08)
By Brian FeesSouthern Tier Sports ReportCORNING — The Corning Hawks didn’t take their first lead on Saturday until overtime, but once they took a lead they never gave it up, edging Elmira 72-69 to win their first sectional title since 2022.
“I’m feeling great,” Nolyn Proudfoot said. “We hadn’t won the past two years, but we knew we were a special group. We have a great group of guys who love basketball.”
Corning fell behind early, trailing 18-9 after one quarter, but the rest of the game constantly stayed between a tie game and an eight-point Elmira lead, with Corning never leading in regulation and Elmira never leading by more than eight the rest of the way.
“The biggest thing is, we were down 5-6-7 points the whole game,” Johnston Jr. said. “We knew when we tied the ball game up and had the opportunity to go to overtime it gave us a lot of energy. I thought we started to block some people out in the overtime and that was huge.”
Elmira led by five in the final minutes, but Kyler Stevenson grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in to get Corning within three with 1:10 left in regulation.
“We have been through this earlier in the season with Horseheads,” Proudfoot said of coming from behind. “We were down earlier in the game, I knew if we kept our composure, stayed consistent, kept the energy high we know we will come out victorious.
“At the beginning I was forcing some shots, I admit I had some bad turnovers. But, we just shared the ball at the end. We had some great offensive rebounds, easy layups and got up the floor, because that’s what we do. We are not that big, but we can move the ball.”
Down three the Hawks passed the ball around, and found Kohl Hogue open in the left corner and he drained the three to tie the game.
“I just saw a shot from the corner,” he said. “I don’t normally knock down, but I just had confidence and knocked it down. I felt great about it.
“It felt great (getting the shot). It felt like I had the team on my back and I had to knock the shot down. The ball came to me in the corner and I had to knock it down.”
Because the team has so many unselfish player Hogue knows that anyone can end up with the big shot attempt late.
“It comes from everyone’s unselfishness,” Hogue said. “And, when we need a shot we are going to knock it down.”
And, no matter what the score is, the Hawks players always feel like they can come back.
“It just shows us we are super competitive and hate losing,” Hogue said. “We are just so unselfish. The Horseheads game, that was close, I knew we weren’t going to lose and this game I knew we weren’t going to lose. I just had it in the back of my head our guys were going to make something happen.”
The Hawks have trust in everyone in those spots.
“We give them the green light to shoot the three,” Johnston Jr. said. “We have the thing we call winning time and if it gets down to the 2-3-4 minute mark and we have the lead we want to run clock.
“We are willing to make layups and take free throws. We are excited, and I’m happy for the kids. I said to them a week ago, we are 17-3 right now and everybody is going to judge you on what you do in the game. And, I’m happy with them they kept fighting and gave themselves a chance to win.”
While there was plenty of celebrating in his head, Hogue knew he had to get back on defense as Elmira still had 20 seconds in regulation.
“Just got to get back on defense, worry about the next play,” Hogue said.
The Express weren’t able to convert and Corning ended up with one last shot in regulation, which was a drive to the basket that they couldn’t convert.
In overtime Stevenson won the tip-off and got the ball to Mekai Daniels giving the Hawks their first lead of the game.
“I think the key was, in the beginning of the game in the jump ball, people don’t realize how important that is to win that, to give the ball to yourself first, to have the opportunity to score first, to have the lead,” Johnston Jr. said. “We thought in overtime Kyler with (Malachi) Banks (of Elmira) you go against a 6-6 kid you go with a defensive jump. We just thought Kyler could win the jump and get us the ball and we knew if we could score first all the confidence would come back.”
Stevenson put Corning up four in overtime, but Harris had a drive and was fouled with 59.9 seconds left. The free throw missed, but it was a two-point game.
On the inbounds, Corning threw a ball to a well guarded Proudfoot, who was behind the Elmira defender. Proudfoot hauled in the pass and raced to the basket for a layup to put Corning up four.
Harris hit a three with 41.1 seconds left in overtime to cut the deficit to one. Corning missed on their next possession, but Stevenson grabbed the rebound and got the ball to Proudfoot, who was fouled and hit two free throws. A last second half-court shot by Dash Harris hit the rim, but bounced away giving the Hawks the win.
Proudfoot had five points in the opening quarter, on a three and two free throws, but Elmira put plenty of pressure on him.
“It was going to be tougher earlier in the game,” Proudfoot said. “I knew they were going to come out and pressure me. We have so many other great people.”
Proudfoot had 12 in the second quarter, with two threes, and he had 10 in the third, as he finished with a game high 34 points, with four threes and 6-for-6 shooting from the line.
“I knew coming in it was a big game, I needed to come out and have a big performance,’ Johnston Jr. said. “Later on in the game Kyler and Mekai, they had some big offensive rebounds, but it was about making plays and making things happen.”
Unselfishness has been a theme for the Hawks all year, and it played a big role on Saturday.
“Nolyn hit it on the head for a ninth grader,” Johnston Jr. said. “It’s a team effort. We had some guys, the stats go unnoticed. Teigen (Gill) and Mekai they may not score a lot of points, but they kept the ball alive. Kyler came alive at the end of the game as well. We know with Nolyn we have to get him the ball so he can sore. But, it leaves some other people open and he made some nice feeds. Just really proud of the kids. What it is, we are maybe a young group, but we have a lot of experience. It’s great to coach kids who love basketball.
“We did a really good job the last four minutes contesting and blocking out. That was the absolute difference. Some guys made some shots. We missed a lot of easy ones early. We have so much confidence, if we can stay in the game we have a chance to win.”
Proudfoot had five boards, two assists and a steal in the game and Stevenson had 14 points and nine boards.
Carter Proudfoot had nine points, with two assists, a steal and two rebounds and Jeremy Spears had five points, two boards and an assist.
Daniels had four points, two rebounds and an assist and Hogue had three points, eight boards and three assists, while Gill had three points, a blocked shots, an assist and two rebounds.
Down 18-9 after one quarter, Corning got within 30-28 at the half. Elmira led 53-47 after three, before Corning came back in the fourth. Carter Proudfoot had seven points in the third quarter for the Hawks.
James Harris had 22 points for Elmira, with a double-double, adding 10 boards. Julian Colon had 12 points and seven boards and Dash Harris had 10 points and four rebounds.
Byron Hall Jr. had 11 points and eight boards Anthony Kitching had nine points and four boards.
Zyquise Matias and Banks had two each, each with two boards, and Darien Harris had a point and three rebounds.
Harris had 19 in the second half for Elmira. He had 10 in the third quarter, going 5-for-6 from the line in the quarter.
Corning takes on the Section I champion at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at Yorktown.
“We play good competition all year long,” Johnston Jr. said. “Great rivalries between Corning, Horseheads and Elmira. Binghamton is as good as anybody. We played them to overtime the first game of the year and you saw what they could do in the STAC Championship and that kind of drove us.
“We knew if we could play better, play with a team like Binghamton, which I think can go a long way. I think that prepares you for the next games. We have to travel for four hours down to Yorktown. It’s exciting though so we get a chance to find out who wins tomorrow. It will be a great experience for our kids. Right now we have a ninth grader and three sophomores who are competing on varsity at high level. Our senior leadership is outstanding, we have a really good group of juniors. They are fun to be around each day and they push each other.”
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PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES
PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE GAME:
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