For four quarters, Brandon Barron had done everything possible to give the Skaneateles boys basketball team the chance for a season-defining win at Bishop Ludden Tuesday night.
Yet with just 1.6 seconds to work with and his team down by two, all Barron could do was heave a shot beyond midcourt as the buzzer sounded. It missed, and the Lakers fell to the Gaelic Knights by a score of 55-53.
Off for a week since prevailing at East Syracuse-Minoa on Jan. 3, Skaneateles was refreshed, a stark contrast to Ludden, who had put forth a fierce effort to get a big 63-53 win at Bishop Grimes in its last outing on Jan. 6.
Perhaps taking advantage of that situation, the Lakers steadily built a 28-21 halftime lead, Barron constantly converting to make up for the Gaelic Knights’ attention on Jimmy Atkinson, who only had six points following his 35-point effort at ESM the week before.
Ludden would turn it around, though, zooming ahead 42-39 by the end of the third quarter as its sophomore duo of Ben Hackett (20 points) and Dan Kaigler (15 points) led the charge.
Skaneateles stayed within range as the fourth quarter went on, and were down two, 52-50, when Barron drained a 3-pointer with 30 seconds to play to put his team in front by one. That gave Barron 24 points overall.
Not panicking, Ludden went back to Kaigler, whose basket with 11 seconds left put his side up 54-53, and when the Lakers could not answer, it had to foul Nick Walker with 1.6 seconds to play.
Walker made one free throw but missed the second, setting up Barron’s final heave. Aside from him, Ryan McQuiggan had the most production on this night, earning eight points, while Alex Brownlee and Austin Gardner matched Atkinson’s total of six points.
The Lakers would rebound Thursday night, ripping past Jordan-Elbridge 77-43. Able to score at will during the first half, Skaneateles roared out to a 50-26 advantage and, for good measure, blitzed the Eagles 20-6 in the third period, allowing the reserves to take over late.
Barron cooled down to 14 points, but Atkinson hit a trio of 3-pointers to account for most of his 11 points as Gardner also got 11 points. Ben Eppolito had nine points and Luke Drancsak contributed eight points.
But the J-E victory came at a price, as Atkinson suffered a pair of ankle sprains that could keep him out of action for the next couple of weeks. Without him, the Lakers (7-4, 5-1 league) host Bishop Grimes on Tuesday, one of just two remaining home contests (the other is Feb. 10 against J-E), as Skaneateles will visit Hannibal next Friday night.
