A few inches here, a few tenths of a second there….it was these tiny fractions that separated the West Genesee boys basketball team from getting even with Liverpool in last Tuesday night’s first-place CNY Counties League showdown.
But instead of a cathartic victory, the Wildcats were forced to accept a 58-57 overtime defeat when the Warriors’ Nahjier Johnson, from the point, hit a jump shot at the horn, negating a valiant effort by WG that included a comeback from an eight-point fourth-quarter deficit.
That the Wildcats would turn around and beat Bishop Kearney 73-72 Saturday in Rochester when Malik Zachery made a 3-point shot from just inside the half-court line offered yet another example of the thin margin between glory and sadness in this sport – or any sport.
Against Kearney, WG trailed, 37-34, at halftime, and the game continued to go back and forth in the second half, all the way to the final minute.
Jack Bova’s 3-pointer with 25.3 seconds left got the Wildcats back in front, 68-67, and the margin grew to 70-67 before Kearney roared back and scored the next five points to seize a 72-70 lead with just 3.5 seconds to play.
Inbounding the ball under its basket, WG gave it to Zachery, who dribbled down the right sideline and, just after passing the half-court line, let fly with a jumper approximately 40 feet from the rim. It swished, and the Wildcats enjoyed the same wild celebration it was forced to witness on its home floor when Liverpool beat them four nights earlier.
Entering the final minute of OT against the Warriors, WG trailed 56-55, but erased that deficit when Will Amica, in the game because Zachery had fouled out late in regulation, hit a pair of free throws.
Liverpool’s Charles Pride missed a shot on the ensuing possession, and the Wildcats got the ball back. It swung to Bova, whose 3-pointer had tied it, 50-50, late in regulation. Now, Bova had a chance to clinch the victory, and his 3-pointer was halfway down – but somehow spun out.
The Warriors came up with the rebound and, with 8.8 seconds left in OT, took a timeout. Liverpool head coach Ryan Blackwell said that the plan was to have Jonah Harder screen for Pride as he drove to the basket and, if that didn’t work, pass it to Johnson.
Pride did get the ball, but decided to pass off to Johnson, who from the corner dribbled to the point, waiting as long as possible before getting off his shot less than half a second before the horn. It swished through, and Johnson was mobbed by his teammates in celebration.
In particular, Pride and Devan Mederios had to feel relief to go with their happiness. Both of them missed free throws late in the fourth quarter that allowed WG to stay alive.
Pride could not convert on either of his foul shots with 1:03 left. After Bova’s 3-poitner the Warriors worked the ball around until Mederios, driving to the basket, was fouled with 1.6 seconds to play.
Not only did that cause Zachery to foul out, it gave Mederios two free throws. He missed the first, and after a WG timeout, missed the second one, too, sending the game to OT, where another stirring finish went against the Wildcats.
This game differed in a big way from Liverpool’s 78-54 rout of WG two weeks earlier. Bova had missed that game with an ankle injury, but he was quite present here, hitting on his first three shots (two of them 3-pointers) and ultimately pushing the Wildcats to a 25-19 halftime lead.
Led by Pride and Johnson, the Warriors opened the second half on a 17-6 run to grab the lead, and it grew as large as eight, 48-40, midway through the fourth quarter. Back-to-back baskets by Zachery initiated WG’s late 10-2 run that got it to OT.
Johnson’s game-winner gave him 21 points for the night, nearly matching the 23 points he put up in the first game against WG. Pride had 17 points and Mederios got 12 points as Zachery (15 points) and Bova (14 points) paced the Wildcats.
Having absorbed all this, plus a weather postponement of Friday’s game with Henninger, the Wildcats still managed to go to Kearney and turn things around with Zachery’s long buzzer-beater.
Other than hoping to make up the Henninger game, WG also would host Corcoran Tuesday night, a day before the Section III Class AA playoff brackets are revealed.
