TROY- For a typical team staring at a fourth-quarter deficit in a high-stakes contest, it would be easy, almost understandable, to understand if it ended up falling short.
What was apparent to anyone paying attention, though, was that the Liverpool boys basketball team was far from typical.
Pulling off yet another remarkable rally, the Warriors fought its way to overtime against Albany’s Green Tech in Sunday’s Class AA regional final at Troy’s Hudson Valley Community College, only to see its effort fall just short in a 71-67 defeat.
The teams were battling for a spot in this this weekend’s state final four in Glens Falls, with a chance for Liverpool to repeat the run it made to the state championship earned in 2018 in Binghamton.
Unlike many state tournament opponents, Liverpool and Green Tech knew each other well. They had met Feb. 12, and the Eagles claimed an exciting contest 82-75 despite the Warriors’ Jaiden Reynolds setting a career mark with 37 points.
A month later, with far higher stakes, Liverpool and Green Tech would stage another classic, with the same agonizing results for the newly-crowned Section III champions.
Led mostly by Jacob Works and Andreo Ash, the Warriors jumped out 15-5, only to have the Eagles make up most of that ground before the first quarter was over.
A tight duel followed, neither side able to get away through most of the middle stages. A high-scoring second quarter ended with Green Tech in front 37-35 going to the break.
They maintained that torrid pace in the third period, and Liverpool was unable to make up ground, instead finding itself trailing 59-53 going to the fourth quarter.
Again, though, the Warriors summoned late-game magic, quickly catching up and setting up a tense closing stretch.
Trailing 65-63, Liverpool pulled even with Ash hitting a jumper just inside the 3-point line. Still, the Eagles had a chance to win it at the end of regulation and got two shots off on its last possession – but both went off the rim.
So it was overtime, something the Warriors knew a lot about, given the epic triple-OT win it earned over CBA two weekends earlier in the Section III semifinals.
Points were precious in the OT, each team with just two points in the first three minutes. So it was 67-67 when Green Tech’s Dayshaun Walton hit a go-ahead basket.
When Liverpool was unable to answer, the Eagles called a time-out, then worked down the clock until Zaveon Little, off a feed from Walton, hit a contested jumper from the free-throw line with 12.1 seconds to play that proved to be the clincher.
Ash had one of the best games of his high school career, pouring in 29 points as Works finished with 18 points. Reynolds never got the looks he had in the first meeting with Green Tech and had eight points as Bruce Wingate picked up six points.
The Warriors finished a 20-4 season. Though Works, Jake Socker and Jacob Trombley graduate, Ash, Reynolds, Wingate and Shontez Anderson could all return in 2022-23, making Liverpool again a threat to add to its recent imposing run of success.
