South Shore Shocks Loughlin in OT

BROOKLYN, NY - South Shore and Bishop Loughlin battled each other in the Brooklyn Bridge Holiday Classic being played at George Westinghouse High School. Despite a waterfall of turnovers during the game, it turned out to be an exciting finish.

The game wasn't decided after the first 32 minutes, so 4 minutes of extra play was needed. In those four minutes, South Shore was able to make one more play to come away with a thrilling 87-86 victory.

South Shore was able to take a 76-65 lead late in the fourth quarter, but it wasn't enough to keep Loughlin away. Sophomore Idan Tretout '18 hit his only basket of the second half to get things rolling for Loughlin.

South Shore couldn't keep possession of the ball and kept turning it over and fouling Loughlin players to stop the clock. They were able to go on a 14-3 run in the last 2:45 seconds of the fourth quarter to tie it at the end of regulation at 79.

After two free throws by Loughlin's Keith Williams '17 put the Lions on top 83-81, South Shore answered when Shaquille Ricks '16 drained a three from the right elbow. After a timeout, sophomore point guard Markquis Nowell '18 swished a corner pocket three from the left side to once again give Loughlin the lead 86-84 with less than a minute left.

The momentum was only for a moment, because inexplicably, big man Yaradyah Evans '16 took a quick three from the left elbow to once again give South Shore a one point lead with 0:25 seconds left in overtime.

Loughlin had three more chances to answer, but weren't able to do it. They missed a three, got possession when there was a fight for the rebound with 0:10 seconds left. South Shore escaped when Loughlin turned the ball over again when Jeremy Betjol '16 lost his balance on a spin and was called for travelling.

There were a lot of impressive individual performances from both sides. Nowell was Loughlin's high scorer and was given the MVP award for his team from the tournament. The diminutive guard finished with 24 points and was a constant force with his relentless attacking style of offense. Plus he drained 4 three pointers.

Tretout may have only one three in the second half, but he scored 13 in the first half and was the spark for his team early and finished with 16. Jordan Thomas '17 also finished with 16 points for Loughlin, doing most of his damage on rebounds and finishing inside.

South Shore was led by Ricks, who was the game high scorer with 25 points. He was constantly at the charity stripe, battling in the paint for the entire game. Ziare Mateen '16 was equally devastating driving the basketball on the break or knocking down shots from behind the arc. The senior finished with 19 points, including 3 treys.

Nick Simeon '16 was the guard with his ball in his hands for the majority of the second half for South Shore. He finished with 14 points, but hit a couple of big time shots that packed a heavy punch against Loughlin.

It wasn't pretty, but it was definitely a game that had you on the edge of your seat. It went down to the last seconds and South Shore was the team that was able to walk away happy with the victory.