BOYS BASKETBALL: Longwood's season ends in heartbreak again

BY Joe Werkmeister | SPORTS EDITOR

Staring straight into the face of the behemoth, the Longwood Lions weren't about to back down, weren't to be intimidated, weren't going to allow a fastbreak dunk exhibition.

A team that all season played second fiddle to the star-studded Half Hollow Hills West Colts, the Lions -- minus their second best player in Tajric Boggs -- strutted onto the court at Farmingdale State University Wednesday night in front of an astounding crowd of nearly 4,000 fully expecting to win.

They would come tantalizingly close.

A 9-0 run with just over three minutes to play by the Colts -- a team with perhaps four Division I-caliber players -- that began with a Tobias Harris 3-pointer propelled Hills West to a 77-69 win and championship. For the second straight year Longwood fell one win shy of the Class AA county title.

The Lions put more than a scare into the undefeated Colts, ranked 21st in the nation by USA Today, who improved to 22-0 and will be the heavy favorites to win the Class AA state title.

A 3-pointer by Longwood senior Darien Davis gave the Lions a 51-48 lead with 1:14 left in the third quarter. The Lions (19-3) would not trail until the University of Tennessee-bound Harris drained a 3-pointer from the top of the arch with 3:32 left in the fourth quarter. A minute and a half later Harris' younger brother Tyler swished another trey from the corner that proved to be a backbreaker.

The deafening roar of the standing-room only crowd gave way to an even louder silence inside the locker room afterward. For more than a hour the Lions sat in disbelief, in tears, unable to comprehend how they could have come so far to fall just so short.

"Every time we take the court we feel we're the better team," said Longwood coach Dennis Terry. "Always when you take the court you have pride."

A game that had been eagerly awaited since early in the season more than lived up to the hype. The two best teams on Long Island were never separated by more than five points until the final minute. The game featured 19 lead changes and 13 ties.

"These kids gave it all they had," Terry said. "In life if you give it your very best, no matter what it is, and your best isn't good enough, then so what."

They were words hard to understand for the players in the immediate aftermath of what would have been the greatest win in Longwood basketball history, perhaps even in the entire school's history, given the drama of everything that surrounded it.

The Lions put on a show all season and it didn't stop on the biggest stage.

The Lions showed no fear against the Colts, aggressively attacking the basket and driving right at taller defenders inside. While the Lions had more than a usual number of shots blocked, their aggressiveness never wavered. Longwood 's guards penetrated the defense nearly every time they tried, often making acrobatic shots in traffic or dishing the ball to an open shooter.

Davis scored a game-high 22 points for Longwood to end one of the best individual seasons in school history. After his 3-pointer put Longwood ahead 51-48, Gerald Holmes put back an offensive rebound 30 seconds later that gave Longwood its largest lead of the game.

But the Colts fought back with a 5-0 run to tie the game early in the fourth quarter.

Longwood senior Chris Green hit a 3-pointer to regain the lead for the Lions. With just under six minutes left Holmes hit a 3-pointer that gave Longwood a 61-57 advantage.

The Lions could never push the lead any higher and had several attempts on 3-pointers that would have made it a seven-point lead. With the Colts always in striking distance, one final surge at the end was enough for the win.

"Basketball goes in flows," Terry said. "If this game would have gone another 10 minutes it would have came back to us eventually. We caught the tail-end of the flow when they were on the up and we were on the down."

Tobias Harris would finish with a game-high 25 points, 14 of which came in the fourth quarter. Tavon Sledge, an electrifying junior point guard, scored 24 points. The Lions were willing to give Sledge a jumpshot, figuring that was his one weakness. But he came though with a brilliant shooting performance. In the first half alone he shot 8-of-11 for 18 points. Tobias Harris had only four field goal attempts in the first half.

As Hills West advances to face Harborfields Saturday in the overall county championship game and the winner of Uniondale-Baldwin for the L.I. title March 13, the Lions will be left pondering what could have been.

joew@northshoresun.com