Spirits rally in opener
High School Boys Basketball | Paraclete 54, Burroughs 51
LANCASTER — You can call the Paraclete boys basketball many things: a winning program, well coached, talented. The list goes on.
But on Tuesday night against visiting Burroughs you can call it Harry Houdini.
The Spirits definitely pulled a rabbit out of their hats in the final two minutes of the game and escaped with a thrilling 5451 victory against the Burros to open the season at Paraclete High School.
“You could tell it was the first game. We had a lot of mental mistakes offensively and defensively and I’ll take blame for that,” Paraclete head coach Newton Chelette said. “We got good shots and we got the shots we wanted, they just didn’t fall. I thought we executed well. Hey a pretty win is better than an ugly loss.”
Since Chelette’s arrival, the Spirits (1-0) have owned Burroughs, including three victories over the team from Ridgecrest last season.
Amado Coleman, who got off to a slow start, led the Spirits with 26 points and 14 rebounds and was one of the key cogs down the stretch to help Paraclete’s comeback.
After the Burros (0-2) went up 46-43, Paraclete drove down the court and Coleman, who thought he was fouled, missed the shot as Burroughs grabbed the rebound. Coleman started chirping with the referee and was slapped with a technical foul. The Burros extended the lead to 48-43 with 2:03 remaining.
After two more free throws by Burroughs the Spirits trailed 50-43 and were in trouble. However, Paraclete showed
its resiliency and Coleman hit a two after being fouled. He missed the opportunity for the three-point play, but the Spirits trailed 50-45.
After the Burros hit 1-of2 free throws to lead 51-45, Paraclete’s Dylan Cox hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game to cut the lead in half 51-48 with 1:02 remaining.
On the ensuing possession, Coleman stole a pass by Burroughs and was fouled right after the steal. He sank both free throws as the Burros clung to a 51-50 lead with 37.2 seconds remaining.
On the inbounds play the Burros turned the ball over once again as Paraclete’s full court pressure defense got to its opponent. Coleman hit an off balance two to give Paraclete the lead for good, 52-51.
“We played hard and we got some clutch stops. We had very good teamwork. Coach (Chelette) told us to lock in and that’s what we did,” Coleman said. “We’ve been working very hard in practice and we just have to continue that.”
The Burros took a time out and with eight seconds remaining, Myles Rowley did his best Houdini impression as he picked the pocket of Evan Hansen and was fouled. Rowley made both free throws putting the Spirits up 54-51. One last desperation 3-pointer by Hansen missed sealing the victory for Paraclete.