THIS IS WHY WE PLAY THE GAMES…WOW WHAT A DAY!!!

The FABL Senior Boys Championship Tournament went into full swing at St. Stephen’s Field House this Saturday in a day that featured stepped up defense and outstanding individual performances.  The most amazing outcome of all was the upset win by 17^th seed Lane over 1^st seed McCain.

Let me remind everyone of an interesting and self serving quote from yesterday’s column “At 7:00 PM the top seeded MC CAIN squad takes on the dangerous 17 seed LANE”….well, what do you know, they are more dangerous than we thought winning 47-43 in the first ever 17 vs 1 upset in league history.

Both teams played to a near tie in the first half with McCain holding a 21-20 margin at the intermission.  McCains offense was very balanced with 7 players scoring in the half led by Lucas McCain with 6 points, including a perfect 4 for 4 from the line.  Lane depended on senior standout Jackson Ricks with 12 of his game high 17 points in the half.  At the break, Coach McCain adjusted and pressed on the gas hard to take a commanding 34-25 with only 9 minutes to go.  Then it happened….

In their best 9 minute performance of the season, Lane outscored the top seed 23-9 to pull off the unlikely upset.  Down the stretch, Griffin Lane scored 8 of his 14 points including 4 for 6 from the charity stripe.  Maybe the most amazing stat of all is that Brayden Koleszar, who only made 4 three point shots all season drained two bombs on his way to 8 points.  Lucas McCain led his team with 11 points while Ethan Magulick had 10 in a losing effort.

In the other upset, 10^th seed FREY manhandled 7^th seed HAINES 47-35 on the backs of Nate Frey with a game high 14 points and Trey Helmick with 10 to earn a matchup with the highest remaining seed MATTHEWS on Tuesday evening at 8 PM.  Chase Miller put up 14 points for Haines in the loss.

6^th seed KIMMETT took the lead early against 11^th see HILLMAN and never gave it up winning 47-39 showing the rest of the league that they no longer fold like a cheap suit in the 4^th quarter when the game is on the line.  The boys in blue were led by Jake Dexter with 10 points and Brody Knight with 8 points.  Hillman’s balanced attack was led by Nolan Restivo and Mason Plummer with 8 each.  Kimmett has earned a date with 4^th seeded HEARN on Tuesday evening.

Speaking of HEARN, the defensive minded 4^th seed beat 14^th seeded COELHO 37-22.  Jacon Klein led all scorers with 15 points.  He was assisted by Cole Lakenan with 8.  Caleb Stapleton could only muster 7 points in the loss.

In the next matchup MATTHEWS stopped the Cinderella, fan favorite, DAMICO by breaking her left slipper in the first half in taking a 23-11 lead at the half, then proceeded to break the other show in the second half while finally winning 49-27 to advance to the Elite 8. (boy that was tortured).  Ethan Long led all scorers with 18 points, accompanied by Andrew Nelson with 11, Ryan Bauer with 8 and Shayne Toutangeau with 7.  The red team was led by Zachacy Rose with 14 and Dom Damico with 7.

5^th seed WOLFE took to the floor against 12^th seed MILLER with one thing in mind…there will be no 12-5 upset in this tournament!!!  Miller had other ideas.  The grey team took an 11-4 lead at the first break.  Wolfe then adjusted outscoring the 12 seed 17-5 to take a 21-16 lead at the half.  They never looked back.  The purple team was led by Seth Jacobs who had the outstanding performance in the Sweet 16 with 21 points.  Every player on purple team scored including Sam Clarke with 9 and Grant Hinton and Cameron Shelley with 5 each.  Miller’s balanced attack was led by Hayden Speace with 11 and Teddy Roach with 7.  Wolfe meets 4^th seed DAVIDSON on Tuesday evening for a chance at a trip to the Final Four.

4^th seed DAVIDSON wasted no time against 13^th seeded BUFANO in taking a 17-4 lead after one period.  That 13 point lead ended up being the final margin in a 54-41 victory for the defending champs.  In a losing effort the gold team was led by the league’s top scorer Ian Alexander who was help to a low for him total of 13 points.  Davidson had three players in double digits including Greyson Glenn with 14, Parker Allen with 13 and Brayden Gmeiner with 12, 10 of those coming in the blowout first quarter.

In the night’s final contest, it took overtime before 8^th seeded HAYNES could knock down 9^th seed LISKA in what may very well have been Joe Liska’s last game coaching in Freedom Basketball.  He has been a fixture in this program for over 10 years.  This game was tight throughout with Liska taking and early advantage and leading through 3 quarters 32-26.  Someone put a lid on the blue team’s basket as Haynes, led by Rocky Remines with a game high 14 points came back to tie in regulation 37-37.  The blue team put their best five on the floor including Austin Shade with 13 and Mason Ambrose with 8 against Remines as well as Tyler Ruch and Everette Hooker with 8 each.  I have said that the team who make layups and FREE THROWS can win it all.  Well Rocky goes 4 for 6 in the OT to seal the deal and earn a date against 17^th seed LANE for chance at a trip to the Final Four.