BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Health Sciences Department was saying its last prayers in the Class AA2 title game.
Twice.
With the game tied at 59 and the seconds ticking down in overtime, forcing defense, it was Amir Moye who came up with the biggest play of the night, taking the ball from Williamsville East's Mason Evans. He stole it and passed it to Dwayne Thrist. He put the ball in at the buzzer and pushed the Falcons up 61-59 in the section final victory at Buffalo State on Saturday night.
“I knew I had to stop quickly. When he went behind me, I just hugged him a little bit and they didn't notice it, I got the ball and Dwayne finished. ” Moye said. “The game isn't over until it's zero, zero, zero. We fought through adversity and kept coming back.”
Moye led the Falcons with 25 points, and Jacari Lott had 14 points. The winning goal was Thrist's only goal of the game.
Witt set up a basket 1/2 from the free-throw line with 16 seconds left to make it 59-58, and after an offensive rebound and a foul, Moutolis Webster scored 1/2 from the free-throw line with 11 seconds left. I made the decision and scored the winning goal. left.
The theme throughout the day was the health science of thinking about clutch plays. The Falcons had their backs against the wall, leading by two points late in the fourth quarter, and at the end of regulation, trailing by two points, Michael Whitt put the ball in at the buzzer and the game was tied at 53 points in overtime. Brought into battle.
“I try to instill mental toughness in my players to prepare for moments like this so they don't get upset when the going gets tough,” says Health Sciences Coach Ty. Parker said. “I told them to believe in themselves, trust the process and play defense. The key to success is defense and the players did that today. Kudos to them for trusting the process. I am grateful to you.”
The game was a back-and-forth affair from beginning to end, with Health Sciences holding a one- or two-possession lead throughout the first half, but Williamsville East made a quick break just before the end of the first half to take the lead by one point. Point game during break. The Flames defeated the Falcons 13-9 in the third quarter and entered the final game with a three-point lead.
Williamsville East led by as many as five points early in the fourth quarter, but nothing could hold Health Science back.
“The reason we play a tough schedule is because of moments like this,” Parker said. “You don't want to play a bunch of unquotable weak games, you want to play big games, because in the championship it can be anyone's game. Teams make it to the championship for a reason. , that's because the team is good. We know that, we accept that, and this is the type of game we want.”
Evans led Williamsville East with 19 points.
Jamestown moves past Lockport for AA1 title.
Jamestown never trailed with a big win against Lockport in Saturday night's AA1 title game, leading wire-to-wire in Saturday's nightcap with a 69-44 victory.
The Red Raiders led by just five points at the end of the first quarter, and at intermission they made a slight comeback to take an 11-point advantage, but it wasn't until the third quarter that they really pulled away.
Jamestown scored 23 points in the third quarter to Lockport's 10, opening up a 24-point lead at the end of the fourth quarter and going into cruise control in the fourth to win its second section title in three seasons.
“I thought we did a really good job defensively. We got some stops and we didn't give up the offense,” Jamestown coach Bill Miller said. “I feel pretty good when I have ups and downs.”
By winning the section title, Jamestown got revenge for last season's loss to Niagara Falls in the Class AA title game in 2023.
“That's a goal we have every year. We expect to come here, we expect to compete and challenge for a section title. That's one of our goals this year. This is a great accomplishment, and I hope to continue doing so.”
Jamestown was led by Jadian Johnson with 27 points and Dominic Gonzalez added 21 points. Charlie Clough and Mike Griffin each scored 11 points for Lockport.
“We had a lot of momentum going into halftime and we knew we had to keep it up to get the win,” Gonzalez said. “We got off to a hot start, so when it changed in the second half, we knew it was going to be a good game.”
Health Sciences and Jamestown will meet in a Class AA crossover game Tuesday night at Buffalo State University.
Aidan Joly joined the News 4 staff in 2022. He is a graduate of his Canisius University.You can see more of his work here.
