Bulldogs edge Yellowjackets in classic one-point thriller

Posted 2/20/19

It was an instant classic. In fact, the entire home and away 2019 varsity basketball series between Edgewood and Mineola was a classic.Despite taking the lead for the first time in last Tuesday’s game with 27 seconds to play, Mineola fell short at the Edgewood gymnasium in their final district game, 45-44. The Edgewood squad took revenge after Mineola had handed them their only district loss of the season back on Jan. 18, a 49-48 overtime thriller.

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Bulldogs edge Yellowjackets in classic one-point thriller

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It was an instant classic. In fact, the entire home and away 2019 varsity basketball series between Edgewood and Mineola was a classic. Despite taking the lead for the first time in last Tuesday’s game with 27 seconds to play, Mineola fell short at the Edgewood gymnasium in their final district game, 45-44. The Edgewood squad took revenge after Mineola had handed them their only district loss of the season back on Jan. 18, a 49-48 overtime thriller.

The result evened the district records at 11-1. It would be hard to find two teams more evenly matched than the Yellowjackets and the Bulldogs. In any way one would care to compare the teams, they are remarkably similar. Discipline, skill and professionalism are hallmarks of each side.

Taking advantage of the home atmosphere, Edgewood came out strong and forged an early first quarter lead. Solid work by guards Jordan Davison and Brayden Allen, and post Sean Joyce built an eight-point advantage midway through the opening quarter.

Yellowjacket guard Jonah Fischer, who had 22 points on the night and played his best defensive game of the year, combined a three-point shot with a three-point play to close the gap. Post Kadavian George added a nice floater from the lane, and the Yellowjackets’ deficit was five, 15-10, at the quarter break.

A free-flowing first quarter gave way to a defensive second quarter. The individual inside struggles between Bulldog post Joyce and Yellowjacket big men Kadavian George and Davian Sneed were Battles Royale. The officials talked to each big man about the physical play. There was no appearance of flagrancy all night; it was just strong physical play.

Fischer figured large in the second quarter as he stole the ball on Edgewood’s initial possession and was fouled on the layup attempt. Remarkably, he worked even harder to steal the ball on Edgewood’s ensuing possession and received a hard foul on his scoring attempt. The message was clear from the Yellowjackets – they would be here all night.

The Bulldogs slowly increased their margin to an eight-point difference behind strong inside play of Brodie Prather, and a full-court breakaway. Once again Fischer hit a three-pointer to keep Mineola within striking range. The final points of the half went to Edgewood as they took their largest lead of the night into intermission, 25-16.

The third quarter was a seesaw. Scores by Sneed, Shaw Franklin, and Fischer were answered by an offensive rebound put-back from Allen and a turnaround jumper by Joyce. With 4:02 to play in the third quarter the lead was once again seven points.

Perhaps the key play of the night was George’s pinpoint pass from deep in the corner to Sneed under the basket, and he put the shot up before the defense could react. After this basket, there were no more eight-point margins. It was a close game for the remaining 12 minutes of action.

Two Fischer three-pointers and an offensive rebound put-back by George drew the visitors to within one point, 36-35 at the break. Through three quarters the statistics were close as well. Mineola held an advantage in rebounding 18-13, although they coughed up 13 turnovers to Edgewood’s nine.

The final quarter started with a long, crazy sequence of play resulting in no scoring. It wasn’t until 6:43 to play when Sneed hit one of two free throws to tie the game at 36. Edgewood appeared to take control in the fourth with a nice lay-in by Prather, a Joyce turnaround jumper and a long three-pointer. For Mineola, Sneed contributed another offensive rebound put-back. Edgewood was up 43-38 with just over a minute to play.

Franklin hit a jumper to make the score 43-40. Fischer then stole the ball and went to the line, where he sunk both attempts to make it 43-42. Edgewood then spread the floor and burned time off the clock. Sneed stole the ball during a trap, but stepped on the out of bounds in the process.

Mineola intentionally fouled Edgewood and put Davison at the line with 31 seconds to play. Sneed snagged the rebound off the iron and fed it to Franklin. Franklin drove it the length of the court and hit a short jumper in the lane. With 27 seconds remaining Mineola had its first lead of the night.

The Bulldogs were whistled for an offensive foul with 15 seconds remaining and the Yellowjackets were to inbound the ball in the backcourt. Mineola went for the home run inbounds ball, a long pass down court to a breaking George. The ball passed just outside of George’s reach and went out of bounds untouched. Edgewood now had the inbounds in their offensive zone under the basket.

The inbounds play went predictably to Joyce, who hit a strong leaning-in bank shot, and put Edgewood up 45-44 with seven seconds to play. Fischer took the inbound pass and drove down the court, cutting over the key and into the lane. He put up a short jumper with two clicks left on the clock. It danced off the iron. Sneed grabbed it for a put-back just as the final buzzer sounded. It was done, 45-44 Edgewood.