Onondaga — Excitement, tension and relieved exaltation – they’re all part of the routine by now for the Bishop Ludden boys basketball team.
Again pushed to the last seconds in Saturday night’s Section III Class AA semifinal at SRC Arena, the Gaelic Knights again made it out, as the clutch play of sophomore forward Sh’ikem Lee produced a 56-54 victory over Henninger.
Unlike their meeting on this same court in last season’s sectional title game, Ludden, the no. 3 seed, got the best of the no. 2 seed Black Knights in the team’s third nail-biter in as many games.
First, the Gaelic Knights held off “Holy War” rival Christian Brothers Academy 52-49 in the Feb. 9 regular-season finale. Then, a week later, it nearly blew a double-digit fourth-quarter lead against West Genesee in the sectional quarterfinals, only to escape 51-50.
Henninger provided yet another test of Ludden’s poise and composure, shadowing the Gaelic Knights throughout the game and taking the lead, 54-53, on Destin Blunt’s pair of free throws with 47.3 seconds left.
Not taking a time-out, Ludden moved up the court, and patiently worked it around. With the Black Knights intent on bottling up Mika Adams-Woods, Lee flashed open in the paint and he sank the go-ahead basket with 20 seconds left.
Now trailing 55-54, Henninger had plenty of time to answer and perhaps win the game, but the aggressive Ludden defense forced a turnover as Adams-Woods stole the ball and passed it to Lee, who was fouled with 3.2 seconds to play.
Lee made the first free throw, but missed the second, and Henninger rebounded and took its last time-out. Needing to go the length of the floor in a short amount of time, the Black Knights found itself again under intense pressure and could not get a shot off before the horn sounded.
continued — That it was Lee getting the winning points made sense, given the larger role he took on, especially in the first half, when he delivered nine of his 12 points as Ludden overcame a brief five-point deficit and, with a 9-2 run, took a 25-23 lead to the break.
Adams-Woods took over in the third quarter by netting 12 of his 23 points. His three-point play, combined with Keandre Sanders’ long 3-pointer right before the period ended, erased another Black Knights lead and put Ludden in front 42-38.
This was a game, though, where no one would get away. The Gaelic Knights’ largest advantage was 51-44 with less than three minutes left, and Henninger promptly went on a 10-2 run to set up the latest Ludden last-second thrill ride.
Daquan Brantley paced the Black Knights with 18 points. Blunt added 14 points, while Nijuwan Smith and Anthonee Samuel had seven points apiece, one less than Ludden’s Joe Connor.
Now Ludden is back to where it was in 2015, when Henninger denied them the sectional title. This time, though, it’s Liverpool as the opposition next Saturday night at 6:30 at SRC Arena.
No doubt, the Gaelic Knights remember how the Warriors whipped them 83-64 in the Dec. 27 final of the Rosemary Corcoran Holiday Tournament. Like Ludden, Liverpool had to escape its sectional semifinal with Corcoran, blowing an 11-point lead late in regulation before recovering to prevail 84-77 in overtime.
