Winning road games at Harbour View High School over the last couple of seasons has been anything but easy for the KVHS Sr Boys basketball team. Yesterday was just another chapter in a very entertaining series.
The Vikings executed a well designed game plan and physically out-worked the visitors for most of the game, but the Crusaders found the resolve to tie the game in the dying second of regulation and the pulled away in overtime for a 85-75 victory.
The first three quarters of the game was back-and-forth with both teams grinding out baskets. The Crusaders won each quarter but was never able to pull away. Each time KVHS made a run Harbour View had an answer, especially Landon Brooks who hit a number tough 3-pointers to keep the home team in the hunt.
The 4th quarter, however, belonged to Harbour View’s Alex Underwood who erupted for 13 of the team’s 19 points in the quarter. Riding Alex’s hot hand the Vikings slowly chipped away at the Crusaders lead to tie the game at 69-69 with 49 seconds remaining in regulation.
Following a Crusaders timeout to advance the ball, they turned the ball over on a back-court violation. This gave the home team the ball and all the momentum. Facing full court pressure, Harbour View’s Ethan Lavoie calmly drove past two defenders to bank in a short floater to give HVHS a 71-69 lead with 42 seconds remaining.
Choosing to save their last timeout, KVHS advanced the ball against the HVHS 2-1-2 zone defense. Harbour View did a good job defending the Crusader’s initial action but Cole Defazio was able to grab a offensive rebound then found Liam McKee who was fouled with 17 seconds on the game clock. Unfortunately, Liam was only able to convert one of his free throws, allowing the Vikings to cling to a 1-point lead at 71-70.
Following a Harbour timeout, it was the Crusaders turn to grab the momentum. As HVHS inbounded the ball, Liam McKee was able to steal the pass then find Cole DeFazio in transition. Not willing to concede anything, the Vikings sprinted back to prevent the layup and make Cole earn his points from the foul line. As it turned out, this was a great strategy. Cole also goes 1 for 2 from the line to tie the game at 71-71 with 12 seconds to go.
With Harbour View out of timeouts they inbound the ball for one last possession. This time KVHS’s Cohen Fisher gets the open court steal. Once again, Harbour fouls to prevent the layup, but this time is called for the unsportsmanlike foul with 5 seconds remaining. That two shots and the ball. That’s ball game, right? No!
Cohen misses both and on the inbound play, KVHS throws the ball out of bounds with 3.8 seconds.
Harbour View inbounds to Cole Fitzgerald who barely misses a running one-hand shot from center court with Adam Butler draped all over him. We’re going to overtime.
In the extra period KVHS is able to turn up the defensive pressure to turn over Vikings, plus the HVHS floor general, Cole Fitzgerald picked up his 5th foul. This forced the hot shooting Alex Underwood to assume the primary ball handling responsible which disrupted the team’s offensive rhythm.
The Crusader win the overtime period, 14-4 for the 85-75 victory, in a very entertaining basketball game.
Leaders for KVHS were:
- Cole DeFazio with 29 points, 19 rebounds, 5 assist, and 3 steals
- Adam Butler with 20 points, 20 rebounds, 9 assists, and 3 steals
- Liam McKee with 17 points, 5 assists and 6 steals.
Leaders for Harbour View were:
- Alex Underwood with 34 points
- Landon Brooks with 24 points (5 3-pointers)
The Crusaders improve to 3-0 in league play and 11-6 overall.
KVHS Player of the Game
The KVHS player of the game was James MacDougall. The 6’9″ center had one of his better offensive games of the season. James scored 7 points, pulled down 8 rebounds, and had 4 blocked shots in 17 minutes.
What’s Next
The Crusader will host the undefeated (3-0) Rothesay Red Hawks Saturday February 12 at 3:00 pm today.