Stepinac & South Shore Advance to Fed T.O.C. Championship Round

GLENS FALLS, NY- If the Girls Class AA NYS Federation Semifinals were highly anticipated then the boys side of things were that times ten as with Long Island Lutheran, Stepinac, Liverpool, and South Shore in the field of four this weekend in the Capital Region it shaped up in advance to be a fantastic couple of games on Friday evening.

Much like the girls again the games more than lived up to the hype, and with a good number of college coaches in attendance checking in on some of New York's top talent it was a must-see event of the highest degree. NYCHoops.net was among those in attendance and we took in all the action and now bring you a recap of the action to see who will be moving on to play for the title on Saturday.

Sometimes you lose when you aren't the better team and that's something you just have to deal with, but for Long Island Lutheran on Friday this will be the toughest of all pills to swallow.

After Alan Griffin '18 knocked down a pair of FT's with 8.3 seconds left. LuHi head coach John Buck called a timeout to set up a play to try and win his team the game, the only problem was he soon after found out the official scorebook had him with no timeouts remaining. A technical foul was assessed and R.J. Davis '20 would knock down both. An ensuing foul would see Griffin hit another pair to seal the deal to give Stepinac a controversial 76-72 victory.

For most of this game Stepinac looked to be in firm control. The CHSAA champions led at the half 39-29 and were firing on all cylinders. It was a physical contest, but even against a team bigger than them they weren't backing down, finding ways to finish inside and take the game to Long Island Lutheran.

Stepinac head coach Pat Massaroni said he knew the LuHi run was coming though noting they were too good a team to just roll over to defeat, and slowly but surely, he was proven right as Frankie Policelli '18 and Tykei Greene '18 began to find their shooting touch in the 3rd quarter.

The 10-point Stepinac lead was cut in half heading to the 4th, and while Ed Minaya '19 was coming up with big shot after big shot in his first game back in over a month because of injury, Long Island Lutheran never wilted. Donatas Kupsas '18was able to finish in the paint with ease as the final quarter moved along, and after a putback by the Weber State bound senior with 1:08 to play in the game, LuHi took a 69-68 lead, their first lead since 11-9 midway through the opening quarter of play.

A.J. Griffin '21 proved age is no factor for him as the youngster responded on the other end with a spinning finish in the lane to give Stepinac back the lead, but then another big shot by Kupsas, a corner three ball, gave Long Island Lutheran a 72-70 lead with 14.2 seconds to play.

Down by 2 in the closing seconds Massaroni said there was no going for the tie here, he was going for the win.

"We drew up a play where R.J. was going to drive down the right wing and throw back to Alan for a three for the win, we were going for the win," Massaroni said about his thoughts in that situation.

Griffin was confident he would make the shot, while Davis was confident he would make the pass in the proper spot to give him the best chance to drain the game winner. That never occurred though as with 8.3 seconds left LuHi was overly aggressive in trying to contain the perimeter and committed a foul on Griffin. The senior would connect on both to tie the game at 72.

Wanting to diagram up a final play for the victory Buck would call a timeout there but immediately the referees blew their whistles and headed to the scorer’s table. They there would rule that Long Island Lutheran had no timeouts meaning it would be a technical foul call on LuHi, giving Stepinac 2 FT's and the ball with 8.3 seconds to go.

It was as tough a call as you will find anywhere in that spot, though Buck says he believes with all his heart he had one timeout remaining.

"Our book had me having a timeout left, four of my assistant coaches had me having a timeout left, and I've coached 10 years now and, in my gut, I felt I had a timeout left," Buck said about the timeout situation. "I didn't take one in the first half and I will go watch the film and if I'm wrong I will admit it, but my gut and our communication believe we had a timeout left."

There were a number of stoppages from blood on the floor that stopped play during times in the 4th quarter and Buck says he thinks there may have been a mix-up because of that with the timeout situation though Massaroni said he was told both teams had one timeout left prior to LuHi calling a timeout with just under a minute to go which would've left them with none.

After the dust settled Davis would go up to the charity stripe and nail his two FT's, and then a quick foul after that had Griffin sink a pair making it a 76-72 lead with 5.2 seconds to go. Long Island Lutheran ran up the court and missed a three at the buzzer to end the game and give Stepinac what could only be considered a controversial 76-72 win.

Davis would lead all scorers with 27 points for Stepinac, with Griffin adding 18 points and 10 rebounds as well in the win.

In defeat it was 20 points from Kupsas to lead Long Island Lutheran, while Greene chipped in with 16 points of his own in the heartbreaking loss.

It's a loss that Buck says will stay with him a bit for obvious reasons, and he just hopes he doesn't find out they were robbed of a chance to move on as he would hate to find out his kids were not given the opportunity they deserved.

"I don't know," Buck stated. "If that's a user error though that's a real shame and unacceptable."

Massaroni said that while the situation to celebrate the win may have been tough with all the circumstances surrounding it he is proud of the way his team responded after falling behind late, calling the feeling of getting to play for the NYS Class AA Federation Championship on Saturday unbelievable.

It's a special moment for Davis as well who now gets to play on Saturday to prove they are the best team in New York State, and regardless of who the opponent is, he says he and his team will be ready.

"I don't know much about either South Shore or Liverpool but whoever we face we will be ready for a fight and ready to go."

EXCLUSIVE: Update on time-out controversy

It will be the Vikings of the PSAL who play Stepinac for the Federation Championship on Saturday as South Shore ran out to a quick 24-6 lead and never looked back from there in taking down the Warriors 80-48.

Coming out from the start South Shore head coach Shawn Mark said it was important for his team to make an early statement, wanting to prove that the Vikings deserved to be in Glens Falls competing for a chance to play in the final.

"We wanted to make a statement," Mark stated. "We wanted to get to the last game of the season, that's what we wanted."

That was exactly what they did as it was a complete performance from the start for South Shore while nothing went right for Liverpool as the Warriors the struggled against the Vikings size down low, while also struggling from behind the arc. That combination led the Vikings to maintain the double-digit lead at halftime, with the lead only growing into the second half.

Sekou Sylla '18 proved to be nearly unstoppable around the basket, and with Femi Odukale '19 a scoring machine in the open floor it was all Vikings from start to finish as they easily dispatched of Liverpool 80-48 to advance to Saturday's title game.

The lead grew to as big as 34 in the second half for South Shore who were paced by the 13 points of Odukale, while Sylla had 10 points and 16 rebounds.

A disappointing end to the season for sure for Liverpool whose unbeaten record ended at the hands of the Vikings with Nahjeir Johnson '18 finishing out his high school career with a game high 16 points.

Now moving on to play Stepinac, there was a sense of disappointment that they weren't going to get a chance at redemption from an earlier season loss to Long Island Lutheran but getting to play for the title is most important with Mark explaining why he feels his Vikings will come out and bring all they got in hopes of bringing the championship back to NYC.

"Brooklyn heart," Mark said in closing explaining exactly why he feels his South Shore team has a chance against the Crusaders on Saturday.