ATHOL — Innovation Academy saved its best for the fourth quarter against Athol in the opening round of the MIAA Div. 5 state tournament on Tuesday.
The No. 29 Bears led 43-31 heading into the final eight minutes but the visiting No. 36 Hawks stormed back in the fourth, ultimately taking the lead with 39 seconds to go off a Connor McNamara triple. Athol’s Colby Goodwin got to the rim and tied the game at 56 with 12 seconds to play and Innovation failed to get a shot off on the other end, leading to overtime.
In the extra four minutes, Athol led by one with seven seconds to play. Connor Mahony went to the line and made one-of-two, putting the Bears ahead 60-58.
The Hawks took the ball down the court and found Lansana Kaimachiande on the wing. The junior’s shot — which came just a step in from the out of bounds line — hit nothing but twine as the buzzer sounded, knocking Athol out of the state tournament with a 61-60 victory at Mallet Gymnasium.
“We had missed layups and we missed opportunities,” Bears coach Brian Patria said. “Those are the things we practice all the time and it comes down to the little things. We took them to overtime and it was a game that came down to that last shot.”
Innovation Academy (15-6) cut the Athol (10-11) lead to single digits for the first time since the first quarter early in the fourth. Following four straight points from Hawk Derrick Twum, the Bears held a 48-42 lead midway through the frame.
Athol ended up making a small run offensively, boosted by a 3 from Beau Manning to go ahead 54-46 with three minutes to play. Innovation then scored seven straight to fall behind by one, 54-53, with one minute to play.
“I knew they were going to make some adjustments to our 3-2 defense,” Patria said. “We adapted to that a little bit by putting pressure on their point guard. They made adjustments in the second half. Defensively, they got down to business and put pressure on us. It was a stalemate on offense.”
Neither team scored for the first two minutes of overtime, with a Vinny Gordon free throw putting the Bears up, 57-56. With one minute to play, Angel Castillo got the ball off a steal and made the layup, putting Athol up 59-56. McNamara came down and made a midrange jumper to cut the lead to 59-58.
Both teams swapped possessions without points before Mahony’s free throw and Kaimachiande’s buzzer beater.
Athol opened up a 9-2 lead early. Conall Tontodonato scored a two and Connor Mahony sank a 3 to give the Bears the early 5-0 lead. Jayden Ogbeide put Innovation Academy on the board but Manning and Jet Castillo each got to the rim for two for Athol.
Tontodonato, Goodwin and Mahony all scored for the Bears to close out the quarter, giving Athol a 16-7 lead after eight minutes.
The Bears defense continued to clamp down the Hawks in the second quarter. Innovation Academy had no problem letting it fly from 3, but converted just one shot from downtown in the first half.
On offense Athol continued to break down the Hawk zone, getting the ball on the baseline and creating plays out of it. Goodwin scored a pair of baskets, Tontodonato converted an and-one and scored twice more at the rim and Mahony made a pair from the free throw line to give the Bears a 29-16 lead at the half.
Athol was able to keep Innovation Academy at arm’s length in the third quarter. Twum did his best to get the Hawks back in the game, scoring eight of Innovation’s 15 points in the frame but the Bears countered after each Hawk basket to hold onto a 43-31 lead going into the final quarter of play.
Manning scored six points for the Bears in the third while Vinny Gordon had four points.
Despite the loss, Patria feels there’s a lot of positives to take from the season.
“Getting here was one of my goals,” Patria said. “We wanted to build character and basketball skills and we’ve done that. These kids played with high morale, their character has changed and they’re coachable. We got to play in a great atmosphere tonight.”