Once, twice, three times, the shots went in the air in the waning seconds, and any one of them would mean that the Bishop Ludden boys basketball team would knock off Jamesville-DeWitt, just as it had done in last March’s Section III Class A final.
But the shots didn’t fall, and the Gaelic Knights, who led most of the way, had to deal with a 63-62 defeat to the Red Rams in last Friday night’s clash of two traditional Central New York hoops powerhouses.
That proved quite a contrast to what was going on back in Ludden’s neighborhood. Westhill handed out its 2014 state Class B championship rings prior to its game against Bishop Grimes, and then proceeded to ring up the scoreboard often as it crushed the Cobras 87-44.
All of the excitement was at J-D. At one point in the fourth quarter, Ludden led 60-54, but the Rams rallied to tie it with six straight points. Then, after Jack Rauch’s runner put Ludden back in front, Evan Dourdas answered with 1:02 to play, and it was 62-62.
Now the Rams’ defense, who had managed to negate the Gaelic Knights’ size advantage and keep Ludden’s other star forward, Zach Walser, off the board after scoring 22 points in the first three periods, came up big, first with a turnover with 40.4 seconds left.
Then, on a drive to the basket, DeRegis was fouled with 25.9 seconds to play. Given a one-and-one free-throw opportunity, DeRegis, after Ludden called time-out to try to ice him, rattled in the first shot before missing the second.
With a chance to win, Ludden had the ball and it was in the hands of a familiar face to J-D, even as he now donned Gaelic Knights green.
Mika Adams-Woods played junior varsity for the Rams last year, only to transfer to Ludden for this, his freshman year. Now the starting point guard for the Gaelic Knights, Adams-Woods had mostly stayed quiet during this tense evening, but at the end, he became a central figure.
With eight seconds left, just as Adams-Woods appeared to have a clear lane to the basket, Ludden head coach Pat Donnelly called a time-out to set up a final play, even as the one in front of him was unfolding.
Starting over from the left side, Adams-Woods again would get the shot, but it rattled off the rim. Rauch grabbed the rebound and had two rebound chances to win it, but they clanged off the rim, too, and the clock ran out.
So ended a contest that produced intensity from the opening trip, with an exchange of 3-pointers that showed J-D was not about to let the taller, stronger Ludden squad get away from them.
Walser tried, though, netting 15 first-half points as the Gaelic Knights led by as many as eight in the second quarter. But sparked by nine points from Isaiah Johnson in that period, the Rams closed the gap to 35-32 by halftime.
They went back and forth in the third quarter, too, J-D taking the lead three times, only to have Ludden snatch it back each time and, again, gain an eight-point edge, 53-45, late in the period.
Once more, the Rams rallied, using a 9-1 push to tie it, 54-54, with less than six minutes to play before baskets by Adams-Woods, Cameron Beauford and Shi’kem Lee created the six-point deficit J-D would climb out of at the end.
Back in Ludden’s neighborhood, once Westhill was done picking up championship jewelry, it made the case that it was ready to add to that collection this winter by overwhelming Bishop Grimes from the opening tip.
And what made it so scary for future foes was that it wasn’t a show run by Jordan Roland, who had 16 points, or Tyler Reynolds, who managed just six points.
Instead, it was Ryan Roland leading the way with a career-high 25 points, including five 3-pointers. And it was Brian Daily notching a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds, plus four steals, while Jeff Lobello remained his steady self with 11 points, five assists and three rebounds.
