Brown’s Basket Provides Stunning Finish
In one of the most remarkable endings in Huntington boys’ basketball history, senior Anthony Brown dropped in a long three-pointer from the left corner at the final buzzer to give the Blue Devils a stunning victory over Kings Park, 51-48 as delirium engulfed Louis D. Giani Gymnasium.
Huntington appeared beaten until guard Matt Duffy was fouled with 3.1 seconds remaining. The senior tied the game from the free throw line and then Kings Park threw the ball out of bounds to set up the final dramatic play and Brown’s heroics.
Kings Park entered the night riding a seven game winning streak, including a victory over rugged Harborfields, which sits atop the League V standings. Huntington had opened the league slate with six consecutive wins before splitting the next four games. The Blue Devils defeated the Kingsmen earlier in the season at Kings Park, 50-47.
Both teams came out playing aggressively and the score seesawed back and forth for the better part of the first quarter before Huntington forced several turnovers and attacked the offensive boards to build a 15-9 advantage by the end of the first quarter. Ted Calligeros led the way with six points in the first eight minutes followed by Duffy’s five points and three assists.
A quick basket by Huntington to open the second quarter gave the team an eight-point lead, but then the Blue Devils turned ice cold while Kings Park went on a 7-0 run to make it a one-point game. The teams battled it out and Huntington headed into halftime clinging to a 23-19 lead.
The potent offense normally displayed by Huntington disappeared early in the third quarter and Kings Park exploited the off-shooting to build a 33-28 lead, relying on aggressive defense and some extreme hustle on both ends of the court. The Blue Devils found themselves trailing 38-34 with eight minutes left to play. Calligeros, after a red hot start, found himself in foul trouble to further complicate matters.
With head coach Mike Schmitz urging his players to “dig deep” the team responded. Brown (15 points) stepped up to fill the void left by Calligeros and took over, dominating the Kingsmen. With some splendid one-on-one moves, Brown made a series of remarkable twisting shots to pull the Blue Devils within striking distance. Teaming up with Brown, Duffy led the way with some crowd-pleasing moves through the lane.
With the shot clock turned off, Huntington found itself trailing by a single point, but holding possession of the ball. Duffy (17 points/five assists) brought the ball up the court, barking out the play. An errant pass from underneath went back out to junior Jeremy Rhodes at the wing and he made a great save to keep the ball in play. Stevens Merilan gained control of the ball and swung it to Duffy for the open 3 pointer that hit off the back rim for a long rebound. Duffy grabbed the loose ball and drove to the basket, throwing up the shot and drawing the foul.
With 3.1 seconds remaining in the game, Duffy made the first free throw attempt to knot the score at 48. The second shot hit the front of the rim and Kings Park grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 1.1 seconds remaining. The Kingsmen then brought the ball inbounds from their back court and the pass went over everyone’s head and out of bounds. Since no players touched the ball, no time came off the clock and Huntington was awarded the ball with the same 1.1 seconds remaining.
With the ball now in the Blue Devils’ front court, Schmitz called his final timeout and drew up the last second play. The play was designed to hit Brown in the corner and it was run to perfection as Kings Park concentrated its efforts on preventing Duffy from gaining control of the inbounds pass.
Rhodes’ pass hit Brown driving to the corner and he lofted up the last second shot with a Kings Park defender in his face. As the buzzer sounded, the high lofting ball hit nothing but net and the Huntington faithful came storming out on the court as the Blue Devils had completed a come-from-behind victory in one of the most stunning finishes in the program’s long history.
Blue Devil Baskets: Calligeros finished with 10 points . . . Freshman John Patron contributed nine points and 13 rebounds . . . The crowd steadily grew during the game with about 400 witnessing the final thrilling sequence . . . News 12 had a camera at the game and a reporter conducted post-game interviews with Brown and Schmitz.
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