Lights Out!! for Mt. Vernon
All it would take is one blow! The game was evenly matched 68-68 as the clock ran out Mount Vernon senior Kadeem Dinham would hit the big game winning shot so he thought 70-68.
The Knights and Mount Vernon fans would rush the court the clock read zero. As the ball swooshed into the net the clock read 1.7 seconds the ball would not touch the hardwood and the whistle would be blown. The referee blew the whistle waving his arms saying a time-out was called by one of the Newburgh Eagles (Section IX) players. The three referee's cleared the court the game was not over to the surprise of the Knights.
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The game resumed with 2.0 seconds put back on the clock, Newburgh would have possession of the ball. The ball is passed off to junior William Bouton who does the unthinkable. If you were there, you would have left the game scratching your head asking how.
From behind the half court line Bouton heaves a prayer and it is answered with a 55 foot turn around bank shot. Newburgh took down the Knights with one blow for the win 71-70. The Mount Vernon Knights stood froze in disbelief that their season was officially over.
Dinham, in a somber voice, spoke about the last shot that Newburgh took, "I didn't believe it. It was unbelievable. I thought we won. I didn't even know how they could put 2.0 seconds back on the clock. I started to walk off the court but it hit the glass and went in. It's so hard, especially for the seniors."
After the game, with his team's emotions running high, the Knights Coach Bob Cimmino spoke about his team's loss. "It's so unfortunate to have it zap away in a two second period. Tribute to Newburgh, they are a very talented team that played us strongly. If you take the basketball out of the equation right now, your players are hurting. Your family has been suspended; it ends so abruptly there is no practice tomorrow. Now all the college plans must get started."
Coach Cimmino then gave his take on the last minutes of the game saying, "This is what we do and now it's done. We had victory. The buzzer went off. We had victory. Then two minutes later, we were done. So it really hurts. There is no replay at this level and you just gotta take it that the referee saw the kid call a time-out. I didn't see anyone call a time-out but it's not up to me to look for it. I was just watching the ball spin and drop down. This is the hardest loss that I have ever been a part of such a good group of player's nine seniors. We didn't come with our 'A' game early. We made some mistakes, but we played well enough to win. Defense kicked in the second half and we did a nice little run we were up five with 50seconds left. They just made a couple of plays and again their quality team and did what their suppose to do. That ball bounces for a reason sometimes it bounces the way you don't like it to bounce. They got us today."
During game play in the first quarter, the Mount Vernon Knights were up by 15 points. Newburgh would go on a run in the second quarter commanding their strongest lead. The Knights were in foul trouble the quarter would finish in Newburgh's favor 33-29. Mount Vernon would have a nice little run with Jabarie Hinds and Sherrod Wright downing most of the shots finishing the third 50-46. The fourth quarter saw a lot of back and forth game play by both teams Newburgh would trail throughout the quarter before tying up the score 68-68 with 33:3 seconds left.
The rest is puzzling. A game winning shot by the Knights gave them the win. However, two seconds later it was snatched away 70-68.
The high scorer of the game is Sherrod Wright with 25 points. Fellow Knight Jabarie Hinds would contribute 12points and Jordan Lessane added 11 points. William Bouton finishes with 17 points and Patrick Johnson would add 16 points for the Newburgh Eagles.
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