Jake Wittig had two chances, in the waning seconds of Tuesday night’s Section III Class AA quarterfinal, to keep his high school career going.
With the Fayetteville-Manlius boys basketball team trailing Utica Proctor by three, the Hornets had possession, and as everyone expected, the ball was in Wittig’s hands. Make a 3-pointer here, and the game would go to overtime, and from there, who knew what could happen.
Twice, Wittig would put up contested shots from outside the arc in the last 10 seconds. Twice, they missed, the clock ran out.
So F-M’s season ended in a 55-52 defeat, the hard work of a campaign marked by lots of new faces, not to mention bouts of illness and injury that struck the roster (Wittig included) concluding short of a first sectional title for the program in six decades.
F-M had gone to Proctor on Jan. 20 and lost, 75-64, unable to recover from a first half where the Raiders tore through the Hornets’ defense for 43 points.
For the playoff rematch, F-M did a lot better protecting the interior during the first quarter, yet still fell behind 12-8 because Proctor produced all of its offense from four 3-pointers.
When F-M went to the outside in the second quarter to meet this threat, the Raiders found success in the paint. All the while, the Hornets’ attack was stymied, unable to find consistent production as its deficit grew to 27-19 by halftime.
F-M nearly doubled that point production in the third quarter and cut the Raiders’ lead in half, but still trailed, 42-36, before Wittig’s driving basket early in the final period began a proper comeback.
Twice, Nick Quilty-Koval hit big 3-pointers, including one that tied the game, 50-50. And it had golden chance to go in front, but between them, Jimmy Barns and David Stegemann missed five straight free throws, any one of which would have put F-M in front.
After a Proctor free throw, Cormac Bettinger got open inside and, with 54.5 seconds left, hit a big lay-up, and finally the Hornets were in front, 52-51, only to see the Raiders stay cool and respond with four straight points.
That still gave Wittig, who had a team-high 13 points, a chance to force OT, but his shots just missed the mark. All of Quilty-Koval’s 12 points came from four 3-pointers, while Bettinger had 10 points, Stegemann eight points and Jeff Martin seven points.
F-M finished with a 12-8 record, and Wittig heads off to the University of Rochester. Quilty-Koval, Martin, Barns, Bettinger and Abe Danher also depart, leaving a lot of responsibility for the likes of Stegemann, Jawaan Crouch and Fernando Johnson to handle next season.
