By DYLAN O’LOUGHLIN
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Tournament MVP Brody Vance netted nine of his game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter as the Andover-Whitesville Panthers (NYSSWA Class D No. 3) erased an eight-point second half deficit to win the 2026 Section V Class D title over the Elba Lancers (NYSSWA Class D No. 6) 54-47.
The championship is the Panthers first sectional title as a merged program.
“Perseverance, when these guys got down, they played absolutely phenomenal,” Andover-Whitesville head coach Jimmy Joyce said. “Elba is a phenomenal team, extremely well-coached and they knew what we were going to try and do. We made some adjustments and it worked in our favor. The guys stuck with it and they didn’t give up. We’ve learned from our mistakes and it doesn’t matter what the deficit is now with these guys, they knew they were going to come back.
Andover-Whitesville started the second half down 26-20, but it after a lay up from Elba’s Alex Rascoe, the Panthers were facing their largest deficit of the game. That’s when Vance caught fire and knocked down back-to-back triples to immediately cut the lead back to two.
A three from senior Colton Calladine followed and gave the Panthers a 31-30 lead with 1:48 to go in the third. It was the first lead for Andover-Whitesville since the end of the first quarter where the Panthers led 12-11.
“We were in a bad spot heading into halftime,” junior forward Vincent Joyce said. “But, we knew that we could play a lot better and that’s what we did. We all regrouped and we came out firing.”
After a last second deuce from Elba’s Nick Scott gave the Lancers a two-point lead to end the third, junior Brady Werth connected on a triple to extend the lead to five to open up the fourth. Vance and Calladine responded with two three-pointers of their own to cut the lead to one, 41-40.
Vance took over from there as the junior netted six points, four free-throws and a lay up in the last three minutes of regulation to take a six-point lead. Andover-Whitesville turned defense into offense causing multiple turnovers leading to points as four different Panthers put points on the board in the final eight minutes to win the quarter 21-9.
“I just knew it was now or never,” Vance said. “I came out and hit a couple shots, but I couldn’t have done it without my team.”
In the first half, it was a physical battle. For Andover-Whtiesville, the highest scoring Panthers Vance (29.2 PPG) and Joyce (14.8 PPG) both picked up three fouls apiece in the opening 16 minutes. The 44.0 PPG duo found themselves on the bench for the rest of the first half.
“It was definitely hard sitting on the bench, but luckily we had a bench that supplied some energy and we kept it going,” Joyce said. “Colton (Calladine) was big, even with us out, but we picked it up in the second half and fixed it.”
In the second quarter, Calladine scored six of his 16 points to keep the Panthers in it with Joyce and Vance on the bench. Down by six midway through the quarter, Calladine went on his own 6-4 run to cut the lead to four. An Elba layup from senior Bing Zuber extended the lead to six at halftime, but Andover-Whitesville were still in striking distance and that’s all the Panthers needed.
“I just knew I had to keep people coming off the mentally into the game, even if making mistakes,” Calladine said. “Just keep going, play our ball and that’s all we needed to get the victory.”
Vance poured in 12 of his game-high 20 points from beyond the arc while Calladine posted 10 of his 16 points in the second half to lead Andover-Whitesville. Joyce chipped in six points while Jake Mattison added five in the opening eight minutes. James Miller-Young also collected five points while Gavin Frungillo tallied two.
For Elba, Brady Werth led the way with 11 points including nine from beyond the arc in the final 16 minutes while Ryan Marsceill knocked down three triples and a free throw for 10 points. Zuber and Rascoe also reached double-figures with 10 points while Scott picked up six.
Despite the loss, Elba finished the season as the second seed in Class D with a 17-6 record. It was also the first time the Lancers made it back to the final since 2024 after finishing 4-18 in 2025.
To go along with its first sectional title as a merged program, it is also Whitesville’s first title since 2007 and Andover’s first since 1955, breaking a 71-year drought.
“Feels awesome to break that barrier,” Joyce, Vance and Calladine all said. “What was it, 70-71 years of not having a championship in basketball? We did it for Andover, we had to bring it back for them.”
With the win, Andover-Whitesville improves 21-2 and moves on to the Class D Far West Regional against the Section VI Class D champions.
“We’ve talked about this day since 2019 so I want to enjoy it,” Jimmy Joyce said. “I want to take the weekend to really enjoy this and then Monday guess what? Time to game plan again, time to game plan. Why stop now? I think we can go further, we’re ready, we’re going to work even harder and keep winning.”
“The guys collectively, the heart they showed and I know it can be cliche because I’m sure there’s a lot of coaches that say that their guys have a lot of heart, but I mean the stats, they kind of talk for themselves,” Elba Head Coach Ciaci Zambito said. “They tell the story, four wins at the end of last year and getting absolutely blitzed by Fillmore in the quarterfinals to being right here to take a title, you can’t say enough about that.”
Andover-Whitesville will play the Section VI champion either Clymer or Sherman in the NYS Class D Far West Regional scheduled for Saturday, March 14.
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