Playoff season began last night as Lancaster traveled to cross town rival Clarence, to face off for a spot at Buffalo State. At the beginning of the game the Legends seemed to want this spot more. They played with a lot of intensity and emotion in the opening quarter. They were applying pressure, forcing turnovers, moving the ball well and hitting their open shots. Lancaster jumped out to a quick 10 point lead and was able to hold Clarence without a field goal for the first 4 minutes of the quarter. Clarence was finally able to hit a couple shots near the end of the quarter to cut into the lead. Lancaster led 17-12 after the first quarter.
In the second quarter Clarence seemed to shake off any nerves they may have had and settled into their game. They began attacking the glass and forcing Lancaster into making some bad passes, until they had tied the game back up. The energy Lancaster seemed to have in the first quarter slowly slipped away as they saw their lead disappear. Clarence was able to get an offensive rebound putback as time expired in the first half to take their first lead of the game 28-26 going into halftime.
The second half turned into a heavy weight fight with neither team wanting to go home. Clarence opened the second half by extending their lead to 8 by hitting a couple three pointers. Lancaster responded with hitting a couple of their own. Every time Clarence hit a shot, Lancaster responded. Every time Lancaster got a big stop on the defensive end, Clarence responded. With each minute that came off the clock you felt the intensity pick up as neither team was ready for their season to end. Senior Joe Harrington showed why he is one of Lancaster's all-time greats in the second half. Despite being doubled every time he touched the ball, Joe hit shot after shot to give Lancaster the lead going into the final quarter 45-43.
Going into the fourth you could tell both teams were drained, and it would come down to who wanted it more. The Lancaster fans, who I believe outnumbered the home team, were there to provide that much needed boost, as they were on their feet cheering for much of the quarter. The players seemed to feed off that energy as they were diving for balls, taking charges and out working Clarence on the boards. This energy led Lancaster to holding a 2-point lead late in the quarter. Again, it was Joe who stepped up and hit some big free throws to extend the lead to 6. A Clarence 3-pointer cut the lead to 3 with only seconds remaining. Junior Matt Mazur only scored 1 point in the game, but it was the biggest. He stood on the free throw line with 3 seconds left and buried the shot to seal the victory for the Legends 56-52.
Joe Harrington had his best performance of the year scoring 27 points and grabbing 6 rebounds. Ryan Corcoran had a double-double, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Noah Kimble scored 6 points while adding 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Channing Francis scored 5 points and dished out 6 assists. Jack Harrington scored 4 points. Jake Sarnowski scored 2 points and Matt Mazur scored 1 big point to cap off the win. The Legends will play in the semi-finals Wednesday at Buffalo State against #1 seed Jamestown. Tipoff is at 5:15!
Photos courtesy of Casey Harrington
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