Patriots hang on for win

A heavy underdog, Lyme figured it had nothing to lose.

So the Indians entered Saturday's Frontier League "D" Division boys basketball semifinals with very little pressure because nobody expected them to knock off top-seeded Sackets Harbor, or even give the regular-season champions a close game.

But the fourth-seeded Indians took the No. 1 Patriots to the limit, even forcing overtime, before falling 70-63 at Jefferson Community College.

Form held in the first "D" semifinal as No. 2 Belleville Henderson topped No. 3 Copenhagen 54-39.

Beaver River also posted an upset in the first "C'' Division semifinal. The Beavers knocked off No. 2 Sandy Creek 43-41, earning a spot in the title game against No. 1 Thousand Islands. The Vikings overcame a slow start to rout No. 4 South Lewis 66-36.

The "C" Division final is at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at JCC, followed by the "D" title game at 8 p.m.

SACKETS HARBOR 70, LYME 63 (OT)

Sophomore Zach D'Alessandro scored 26 points, making five 3-pointers, to help the Patriots pull out of their early-game doldrums.

But it took all the Patriots had to beat off a Lyme challenge, which saw the Indians keep falling behind in the second half and battling back time and again.

"We beat them twice, but both games we had trouble putting them away," said Sackets Harbor coach Jeff Robbins. "Several times I thought we were pulling away, but we just couldn't shake them."

Lyme (6-10) kept fighting, mainly behind eighth-grader Troy Wilson, who canned six 3-pointers en route to a 23-point performance, and junior Cory Walker, who netted four 3-pointers and finished with 20 points.

"For the most part, we kept our composure when we fell behind and executed pretty well," Lyme coach Leo Wilson said. "The key was we kept working and just didn't settle for bad shots."

Sackets Harbor (15-2), which fell behind 9-6 after a quarter, used a 14-3 run at the end of the first half to grab a 25-22 lead.

The Patriots still led by two entering the fourth quarter, and extended the margin to nine points a couple of times in the final period before Lyme battled back.

A Walker steal and layup finally got Lyme even at 60-60 with 40.4 seconds left. Sackets turned the ball over on its final possession, but Lyme's Jordan Jenkins missed a running layup at the buzzer.

"It was about as good a shot as we could have asked for," coach Wilson said. "And because we played man-to-man the entire game, fatigue was a factor in overtime."

The Patriots scored the first five points of overtime to regain the momentum.

D'Alessandro missed his first five shots, but kept on firing. "Coach always says you're only as good as your next shot," he said. "He got after us pretty good at halftime because we didn't come prepared to play hard the entire game."

Said Robbins: "When Zach gets his feet set, he's deadly. And I thought Derek (Sweitzer) came off the bench to really give us some energy when we had none."

BELLEVILLE HENDERSON 54,

COPENHAGEN 39

The Panthers (14-3) rode brilliant performances from their dynamic senior guard duo of Tyler Abbott and Brandon Tibbles to beat Copenhagen for the third time this season.

Abbott scored 21 points and Tibbles added 19 as Belleville Henderson outscored the Golden Knights (10-7) by 29-16 in the second half.

"It's a luxury to have two kids who can handle, score and create for others," said Panthers' coach Dave Green. "I thought we responded well to their physical play and took the ball to the basket hard the second half."

Tibbles said everything started with defense. "When we take pride in our defensive effort, everything else comes together. Coach told us to go strong to the hoop, and find the open guy if we didn't have our own shot."

Belleville Henderson was exceptionally active on defense with its hands, getting deflections and steals, which led to easy baskets.

Copenhagen coach Matt Zehr said Tibbles hurt." He was everywhere. And I thought Tyler was as aggressive with the ball today as we've seen him," Zehr said.

David Hovendon scored nine points for Copenhagen.

BEAVER RIVER 43, SANDY CREEK 41

The Beavers have been a playoff afterthought for a long time. But an outstanding team defensive effort has put them back in title contention again.

"We knew we had to keep the score low, handle the ball efficiently and just take our time," said first-year Beaver River coach Lynn Petzoldt. "It was a stressful week with them handling us pretty good (58-48 win on Tuesday), but my kids really bounced back."

Junior Evan Buckingham scored 16 points for Beaver River (8-9), which ran the shot clock down on almost every possession. Gabe Shepherd and Adam Moore each contributed nine points.

"Getting out to an early lead helped," Buckingham said. "Then we didn't have to force shots and could just run our offense."

Sandy Creek (20-7) started out shooting poorly and never got into an offensive rhythm. As coach Bill Fowler said, "If you can't score you can't win."

Beaver River led 12-7 after one quarter, fell behind 22-20 at halftime then seized a 33-30 advantage after three quarters.

The biggest shot of the game came from Beaver River senior Sam Lyndaker, who canned a 3-pointer (his only basket) in the final second of the shot clock with the Beavers leading by just a point with under a minute to play.

"When he let it go I thought, 'Oh, no,'" Buckingham said. "But I guess it was just meant to be."

Koby Fowler scored 12 points to lead the Comets.

THOUSAND ISLANDS 66,

SOUTH LEWIS 36

Four days after beating the Falcons by 31 points, the Vikings needed a first-quarter scare to wake them up.

South Lewis (0-17) trailed only 10-9 after eight minutes before Thousand Islands scoring leader Ryan Hanrahan scored seven straight points to kick-start the Vikings' offense.

After that, it was all Vikings as they led 25-14 at halftime and 45-26 after three quarters.

"We shouldn't have to wait that long to find some energy," said Thousand Islands coach Scott LaLonde.

Hanrahan scored 24 points and Jacob Waterman added 11 for Thousand Islands, which beat Beaver River in both regular-season meetings.

"We'd better come out a little stronger next time," LaLonde said.

The Falcons received 10 points from Anthony Ripp.