Irish hold off Tigers late comeback bid

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Lyndonville’s Nathan Hydock puts up a shot against Notre Dame defender Keith Szczepanski during the Tigers narrow Genesee Region League loss to the host Irish this evening.

A big fourth quarter rally fell just short as Lyndonville dropped a narrow 69-67 decision to host Notre Dame this evening in a Genesee Region League boys basketball game.

Trailing by 12, 60-48, early in the final period, Lyndonville came storming back.

The Tigers put together a clutch 19-6 scoring burst to rally into the lead at 67-66 on a three-point play by Nathan Hydock with 43 second s to go.

Hydock, in fact, spearheaded that huge Tigers comeback big as he scored 14 of the 19 points including three jumpers, a pair of three point plays and a pair of free throws. The uprising also included a three by Zach Johnson and a layup by Nathan Poler.

Gabe MacDonald drives in for a layup for Notre Dame.

However, the Tigers were unable to build on their slender one point lead at the free throw line and the Irish answered back with what proved to be the game winning three-point basket by Spencer Misiti with 16 second to go. That put Notre Dame back on top to stay at 69-67 as Lyndonville was unable to score on its last trip up court.

Gabe MacDonald scored 19, Zach Cocking 15, Andrew Moore 12, Keith Szczepanski 9, Misiti 8, Colin McCulley 3 and Lucas Calcaro 3 for the Irish.

Poler finished with 19, Hydock 15, Johnson 14, Nathan Dillenbeck 13, Russell Stephens 4 and Matt Hess 2 for the Tigers.

Notre Dame jumped out to a 16-11 lead at the end of the opening quarter and upped the advantage to 10, 29-19, midway through the second period after a 7-0 run on a rebound bucket and jumper by Moore and a three-point play by MacDonald.

Lyndonville though battled back putting together a 15-2 run to rally into  34-31 lead.  Back-to-back threes by Johnson and Dillenbeck ignited that uprising which also included two baskets by Poler and another three by Johnson.

Notre Dame though answered back with back-to-back threes by Cocking and Calarco to regain a 37-34 lead at the half.

The Irish then outscored the Tigers 20-12 in the third period, including three baskets by both Moore and MacDonald, to increase the advantage to 11, 57-46, at the three-quarter mark.

A three by Misiti upped the Irish lead to 12, 60-48, early in the final stanza. That set the stage for the big Hydock led Tigers rally which came up just short.

Lyndonville is now 10-2 in the league and 15-2 overall while Notre Dame is 7-5 in the league.

Needing one win to clock up the G-R Division II title, Lyndonville will close out the league campaign by hosting Wheatland-Chili at 5 p.m. Saturday in a makeup game and Kendall at 7 p.m. Monday.

Lyndonville’s Zach Johnson blocks a shot attempt by Notre Dame’s Andrew Moore.