BUFFALO — Lockport’s been here before.
Trailing in the final quarter, that is. But it was used to coming back.
That’s how the Lions got here — the Lions were at a deficit with 22 seconds left in the Section VI Class AA1 finals before a 3-pointer forced the game into overtime, where they pulled away with the 78-74 victory.
That magic wasn’t in the arena tonight.
Lockport fell to Health Sciences, 51-42, in the Section VI Class AA Crossover game at Buffalo State.
“We’ve talked about it, this isn’t a team you can fall behind too much. (Health Sciences) handled the ball well, they could handle the pressure and made a little spurt,” head coach Dave Gilson said. “We just didn’t have enough to do it. We didn’t go very deep into the bench and I think those guys probably got tired.”
The Falcons, who lost to Jamestown, 59-57, in the Class AA crossover last year, were aggressive and continued to attack the ball, while also pushing the pace and playing smart to not give up too many fouls.
Health Sciences (18-6) trapped Charlie Croff, the team’s leading scorer at 19.4 points per game, on the catch and in the full-court press. Croff netted 13 points while Caleb Barry led the team with 16 and Maurice Woods added 11 to the scoreboard.
“It seemed like we missed so many easy shots, so many free throws,” Gilson said. “And you don’t beat a team like that, missing those easy shots and missing free throws, you got to be able to convert.”
Lockport (17-7) jumped out to a 6-3 lead, but free throws tied the game at six apiece. The Falcons closed out the quarter on an 11-3 run which featured three 3-pointers, and the Lions trailed 17-9 after the first.
The Lions held the Falcons to one bucket in the second quarter, a triple from My’Chael Witt, who finished the game with seven points.
Lockport netted eight points, six of which were from Maurice Woods, to cut the deficit to three and trail 20-17 at the half.
The Lions found themselves at a 15-point deficit heading into the final quarter. Nashaan Young had three 3s in the third quarter for the Falcons while Croff added two buckets for the Lions.
Young finished the game with 24 points. He ended up open in the corner a few times as they were focused on the penetration.
Health Sciences took advantage of bad passes from Lockport, which was dishing the ball around a lot trying to find an open shot.
Croff started the fourth with a bucket and Barry followed up with a dunk to cut the deficit to 10. Barry got back-to-back baskets to trail 40-36, before Lockport’s fouls gave the Falcons seven points from the charity stripe.
“We’ve been in that predicament, I don’t think these guys have any quit in them, and they’re used to being able to come back. You just can’t always rely on that,” Gilson said. “We kind of just fell apart in spurts, turned it over at some bad times and those turnovers led to transition points for them.”
Health Sciences will move on to face the Section V crossover winner between Greece Athena and Penfield at noon Saturday at Rush-Henrietta High School.