MIKE WOULD LIKE IT!
Saratoga Central Catholic loses in final seconds to Argyle in Mike Beson Memorial tournament thriller
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> A rally, a lead, a closing second bucket for the home team in front of a packed house and then a buzzer-beater put back for the win, former Saratoga Central Catholic assistant basketball coach Mike Beson would have loved it.
He probably wouldn’t have been thrilled when Argyle’s Gabriel Wood was the player that put back an in-and-out three-point attempt by Scotts sophomore Parker Frost for the 74-73 win against the Saints, but he would have enjoyed the heck out of it.
Saturday night marked the seventh annual Mike Beson Memorial Tournament, held in honor of the late basketball assistant and head golf coach at Saratoga Central Catholic who lost his battle with ALS in 2013.
The tournament finale was one for the ages as the Saints battled back against an Argyle team that put up an eyepopping 91 points in the boys opener on Friday against visiting Wells and took the lead late
in the third quarter on a three-pointer by Ryan McCarroll.
Saratoga Central would stretch its lead to as many as nine points early in the fourth as the Scots appeared to implode as two different players picked their fourth and then subsequent fifth fouls on technicals.
“I was happy with our boys,” Saints Coach Brett Simpson said. “During one of their technical fouls I brought them over and I said ‘We play our game.’
“I was happy with our offense down the stretch, I thought we were a little quick how we made shot after shot and a couple times we have to get better on the defensive end.”
Just as the Saints appeared ready to keep the tournament title in house Argyle did what it did best - drain three-pointers.
Senior Caide Flanders hit the first trey of the fourth quarter for the Scots followed by senior tournament MVP Peyton Lufkin draining two in a row to pull Argyle within three before sophomore Parker Frost proved that he was as cold as ice, drilling a three-pointer from the right wing to knot the contest at 67 points apiece.
“I told our kids it was a race it 60, I didn’t think it was going to get to 70, but that’s because our defense wasn’t as strong as it needed to be,” Simpson said.
The Saints didn’t back down as sophomore alltourney Robbie Bolen III drilled a three-pointer of his own to put Saratoga Central back up by three, 70-67.
Free throws, time outs and successive rebounds by the Scots on the offensive boards kept the contest close before Frost appeared to ice the game with another three-pointer with 21 seconds left and a 72-71 lead.
This time the hero appeared to be another sophomore, another all-tourney standout in Anthony Barille who drove the lane and laid it in with 6.3 seconds left and a 73-73 Saint lead.
Argyle and Frost didn’t hesitate, getting the ball into his hot hands, again in the wing and floated the ball up and directly on net only to see it bounce from back to front in the closing seconds.
Just when all appeared to be loss, senior Gabriel Wood did what he had done throughout the contest, crash the boards once again for the put back as the horn sounded with the ball exiting the bottom of the net for the win.
“I told the kids ‘This stinks, but it’s an early game, it might be a blessing in disguise,we don’t know yet..’ But being a young team and we need to realize that there is a shot clock and all that,” Simpson said about the Saint offense with the lead late in the game. “The good news is that we put up 70-something points and if we can lock it up on defense I think we’ll be O.K.”
Tournament MVP, senior Peyton Lufkin finished with a game-high 21 points with Derek Liddle following with 15 and a trio of Scots, Caide Flanders, Frost and Wood finishing with 12 each.
The Saints were paced by all-tourney selections Robbie Bolen III with 28-points and Anthony Barile with15. Junior Hayden Day dropped in 12 with the lone Saints senior, Jordan Catone finishing with 12 points on the night.