BY BRIAN FEESSouthern Tier Sports Report
ELMIRA — The Corning Hawks boys’ basketball team moved to 2-0 on the season with a 72-55 win over Elmira on Tuesday night.
Corning led 33-26 at the half, after a big three by Nolyn Proudfoot to end the half stretched the lead to seven at the break.
Elmira hung around into the fourth quarter, but Corning outscored Elmira 17-10 in the fourth to close out the win.
A strong defensive effort helped lead the Hawks to the win.
“It all comes down to defense,” Nolyn Proudfoot said. “Kohl (Hogue) had six steals, Teigen (Gill) guarded their best player like a madman. Just a lot of turnovers into points.”
While the Hawks are not the biggest team, they feel like they can guard anyone.
“That’s one of our strongest components,” Proudfoot said. “Our man to man defense. No matter our size, we can guard anybody. We just front the post.”
While Elmira has 6-foot, 6-inch center Malaki Banks, the Hawks players stepped up in working to slow him down.
“They have Banks, but Kyler Stevenson is known for guarding guys 5-6-7 inches taller than him,” Proudfoot said. “He does a good job.”
Nolyn Proudfoot had 23 points and six rebounds, while Kyler Stevenson had 16 points, six rebound and a steal.
For Proudfoot it wasn’t his best shooting day, but he was happy to see how well everyone else stepped up.
“It definitely isn’t my best showing,” Proudfoot said. “I did force the ball a little bit. My teammates let me know about it. They are right, but I know they will always stick by me. We have a lot of really good people on our team. A lot of the same guys from last year. Everyone can do their thing. If I’m not on, someone else is on.”
Carter Proudfoot had 15 points, four steals, four assists, a block and three rebounds and Kohl Hogue had 11 points, six steals, four rebounds and an assist.
Teigen Gill had seven points, two steals, two assists and two rebounds.
Julian Colon had 22 points to lead Elmira and Malaki Banks finished with 15 points.
Darien Harris had 12 points, Zach Conklin had four and Drew Clearwater finished with two points.
Corning plays at Binghamton on Friday with a 7:15 p.m. varsity start.
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PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES
PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE GAME:
