ORANGE — Tuesday’s Orange Recreation Association 3 -on-3 basketball league featured several close games, with Harvard and Arizona both winning on free throws while Wisconsin asserted itself over BC. The following is a recap of Tuesday’s action:
Henriette Niyibizi provided Amherst with 16 points to lead her team over Colby, 46-38.
Niyibizi provided a consistent attack for Amherst, which also had Nathan Griffith score 10 points, Issa Nahayo eight points and Gavin Young.
Lian Lopez-Baez had a game-high 18 points for Colby. Lopez-Baez led the charge down the stretch for Colby, scoring eight points within the final 12 minutes of play. With his team down 34-18, he sparked an eight-point run with a layup off the glass.
Colby had a second burst down the stretch, scoring six straight points with less than 10 minutes to go. The run moved Colby within eight at 40-32, but it was the closest Colby came to Amherst’s lead in the final minutes of play.
Amherst held a 28-16 lead midway through the game.
With the game tied at 14, Amherst created a six-point run to move out front, 20-14. The run sparked a 20-4 run for Amherst that gave them a 34-18 lead.
Going back and forth nursing a one-point lead and three-point lead, Yale broke free on the final two possessions of the game to defeat Princeton, 41-34.
Holding a 37-34 lead, Joshua Jenks (six points) netted back-to-back layups for Yale, moving them ahead 41-34. Princeton missed two jumpers on its final two possessions.
Yale took the lead for good when Kyle Notre connected on a layup in the 17th minute to put his team up 20-18. Notre’s layup was part of an eight-point run for Yale, who eventually went up 24-18.
Princeton moved within one on four different occasions during the final minutes, but Yale had an answer each time.
Will Barnes netted layups to move his team out from 29-26 and then 31-28. Notre hit a jumper with five minutes left in the game to put his team up, 35-32.
Barnes had a game-high 18 points for Yale, while Notre contributed 16 points.
The game featured six lead changes and three ties.
Penn gave Harvard a scare as time expired and both teams went into free throws, but Harvard did what was necessary to win on Tuesday, defeating Penn, 38-37.
Harvard held a 37-35 advantage as time expired, sending the game into free throws with the gap between the two teams less than four points.
With six attempts, Gavin Sullivan netted the final two Penn free throws to tie the game at 37.
On his team’s second attempt, Nathan Griffith sunk his attempt to put Harvard up by one for the final of 38-37.
Down 10-2 and later 20-8 to start the game, Penn went on a second-half run to move within two points. The team created a 12-point run to tie the game at 20 with 15 minutes left. Penn eventually took the lead with nine minutes to go on a layup by Sullivan to move ahead 27-26.
The two teams then traded baskets until Paige Gadarowski netted a layup and Obi Eaton turned a defensive rebound into a three-point lead for Penn at 33-30.
Harvard eventually regained the lead at 34-33. With less than five minutes to go, Eaton netted a layup to put Penn up 35-34. Colin Adams netted back-to-back layups for Harvard on their final two possessions to go up 37-35.
Cole Johnson led Harvard with 14 points. He shared the game high with Sullivan, who netted 14 points for Penn. Adams netted nine points for Harvard, while Derek Collins and Nathan Griffiths netted six points apiece.
Eaton netted 10 points for Penn. Cam Gadarowski netted eight.
Wisconsin completed its well-balanced approach against BC on Tuesday, winning 56-42.
Wisconsin worked fast and attacked the rim. It led to 14 points from Micalyn Mailloux, 12 points from Aden Santana, 12 from Aydan Sevigny and eight from Antonio Fernandez.
After playing down by either 10 or 12 points for most of the game, BC made a late surge to pull within six with less than five minutes to go, down 48-42.
BC had left Mailloux unchecked as she netted a jumper to put Wisconsin up 50-42. It led to BC pressuring Wisconsin, who then netted another six points to end the game on an eight-point run.
Wisconsin held Sebastian Shaw, the team’s oldest and tallest player, to 10 points. They held him in check for most of the first half and he scored two points during that span.
It allowed Gavin Sullivan to lead BC with 12 points. He twice nailed back-to-back jumpers, both times to pull his team within six points of the lead.
Wisconsin began the game with a 20-8 lead. BC moved within 10 points on eight different occasions but struggled to move any closer until they moved with six points at two different occasions with less than 15 minutes in the game.
Letting the game go down to the wire, Arizona connected on two final free throws to defeat Duke 57-56.
Arizona held a 55-53 advantage at the end of regulation. Because Arizona’s lead was fewer than four points, the teams went into free throws.
Duke connected on its final three free throws, netting three out of five to pull ahead 56-55. Arizona then missed its first three attempts. On Arizona’s final two attempts, Kyle Notre and Matt Lyesiuk connected to put Arizona back up 57-56.
Lyesiuk scored 14 points during regulation, while Notre netted 13 points. Notre netted the jumper that initially put Arizona up 23-22 with 19:43 left in the game. He then scored on another jumper to put his team up 27-26 and created a 6-0 run for Arizona to go up 49-38.
Duke fought hard for the lead down the stretch, outscoring Arizona 15-4. Duke incorporated everyone into the run as four different players put points on the board during that span. Jayden Softic led the team with six points during that span.
Softic netted 16 points for Duke. Eli Gonzalez also pitched in, with 16. Gonzalez did the heavy lifting from underneath the hoop, netting all of his points from within the paint.
Morgan Softic provided an outside presence for Duke, netting eight points. He connected on a long three to close his team’s deficit to five at 41-36.
Softic’s jumper came after an 8-0 run for Arizona. Down 34-33, Arizona netted four straight layups to move ahead 41-34. Luke Melanson contributed six points during that span and 10 points throughout the game.
Duke led 20-12 at one point, but allowed Arizona to go on a 13-2 run and to take a 25-22 lead. Duke regained a one-point lead on four different occasions, but gave it up for good when Arizona went up 41-34.
Just like the Mahar boys varsity basketball team, Texas used contributions from Charlie Barnes, only this time to defeat Kansas 50-36.
Barnes scored 16 points for Texas, a team and game high. Elias Spenced contributed 14 points in the win, while Hunter Martin scored 12. Will Barnes, brother to Charlie, scored eight points for Texas.
Kansas combated with 14 points from Jakob Carron. Jake Tenney and Lucas Isrow scored eight points each for Kansas.