It was all out in front of them. Sophomore guard Noah Ihezue just hit a clutch three-point shot to tie up the ballgame at 85-all after a late surge of production from an individual standpoint and for the team.
Then, madness ensued.
In a season marked by a good number of highs for the team and some truly unfortunate sequences, another one was added to the vault on Wednesday. After an intentional timeout to advance the ball, the Mustangs initially contested the outside shot from senior guard Tate Landis to force the miss.
He had been a thorn in their side as far as this game is concerned, leading all scorers with 37 points. Seeing him miss that shot had to have provided some initial relief, but what happened next brought on absolute shock.
A different York player, Ethan Glass, placed two feet in the lane and tried to beat the buzzer on a quick push rebound towards the rim. As the clock was nearing triple zeros, this shot ended up going in.
Somehow, someway, after yet another strong battle to work themselves back into the game, the Mustangs lost 87-85 against York College at the buzzer on Wednesday in front of a home crowd that remained stunned even after the call was confirmed on the court.
It all ties back to the idea of maintaining steady play across a full game, something that the team is still trying to navigate through even in the late stretch.
The game was close for most of the way, especially as the first half ended with a score of 50-43. Given how traditional schemes are usually enforced in college basketball, it’s always interesting when one can reach this kind of mark in a game this early. The reasoning for it became evident at the start of the second period.
No game is going to always center down to this, but the threat of the three-point shot opened up everything for York. Plain and simple. Stevenson’s coverage off the screens intended for shot creation was not as direct as needed to make a given shooter uncomfortable, and even off-platform shots were reigned in at will by the opponents.
They were able to get their way here for a while, and that opened up for some movement with players being able to take Mustang defenders off the dribble for uncontested shots down low.
The general confusion peaked on a 17-4 run yielded to York that lasted up until there were 7 minutes left in the half. While they started to turn the tides on occasion with guarding the perimeter, the interior punishment coincided with a sequence of sloppy possessions in a row that led to some fast break slams, accounting for a few of their 14 points off turnovers.
The Mustangs stormed back with a booming run of their own, and it started off with a pair of free throws from sophomore guard Noah Ihezue. Simple points at the line are a key ingredient to any potential comeback in a game, and they took off mightily from there. They were not only able to punish those set defenses, as the Mustangs put together 57-67-71 shooting splits on the night, but were also able to work to their strength as Ihezue had a consecutive streak of fastbreak conversions after a York timeout seemingly called to stop the bleeding.
“[Ihezue] was unbelievable. He changed the game,” Coach Jack Bors said. “They were starting to get into a rhythm offensively, and he took it upon himself [on] both ends of the floor to bring us back into that game.”
It was relentless, as a beautiful offense from junior guard Kole Beaman and a pair of crucial free throws from senior guard Myles Jackson brought it within one before Ihezue cashed in the face-up shot that ended a 24-5 run in the Mustangs’ favor.
With every play keeping the crowd engaged, you could tell that the momentum was in full swing, and the atmosphere in the stands was raucous to say the least.
“I just told the guys in the locker room, that last seven minutes was incredible, to be honest,” Bors said. “Guys weren’t even caught up in the score, we just kept playing. We’ve had four or five of the games now kind of not shake our way, but that’s part of the experience.”
There are a lot of things that could be nitpicked despite this effort on the court. The story of this season, especially in the second half has come down to this. ‘If a few different looks roll a different way’ or ‘if we tweaked this element sooner’, and so on.
The room for growth is there, but it naturally sucks whenever you are on the losing end of something like the aforementioned game-winning shot.
As they search for answers on how to adjust, they will face off against Messiah Saturday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m. in the Owings Mills Gym.
