Colonels' late rally foils Bees

Ask most coaches if they start to breathe a little more comfortably with a 12-point lead and just 4:30 remaining against a .500 team, they will probably answer “yes.”

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Brookville coach Chris Young, though, must have known what was coming Monday night when his Bees faced Altavista at home.

“We just didn’t show up tonight,” said Young, after Monday’s 56-50 overtime loss to the Colonels.

Nowhere was that more apparent than in the last half of that fourth quarter. Down 44-34, Mike Poindexter calmly pump-faked a Brookville defender into the air on the left wing and buried a long 3-pointer to cut the lead to 43-37. After an Altavista timeout, Jawaad Douglas stole an errant Bees’ in-bound pass and found Kyle Andrews in the right corner for another 3-pointer.

Seconds later, 6-foot-7 senior Logan Thomas was called for a travel and the Colonels made it a one-possession game on a Nick Ferguson putback with 54 seconds remaining. Thomas turned the ball over again on the next Bees’ possession. He temporarily redeemed himself by forcing a turnover on the other end, but forward Alec Thompson was unable to convert the front end of a one-and-one after an Altavista foul with 29.9 seconds left.

Down two, Jerrell Jordan wormed his way into the paint and hit a tough bank shot with eight seconds left to tie the game at 44 before Thomas or fellow 6-7 senior forward Corby Weiss could reach him. Weiss was unable to convert on the other end.

Brookville’s opening offensive possession of overtime showed no signs of the turnover-riddled fourth quarter when Thomas found Weiss on a high pick-and-roll for an easy two. Brookville seemed in control of the game when Thomas blocked an Altavista layup on the other. However, the 3-point line that had kept the Colonels close throughout the game gave them a one-point lead when Andrews hit another huge trey that gave the Colonels a lead for the first time since the 4:27 mark of the first quarter.

Even down 12 in that fourth quarter, Colonels head coach Mike Cartolaro knew that a little luck from beyond the arc could bring Altavista back.

“We were just trying to hang tough and hope someone can knock down a shot or two. With the three-point line, things can change pretty quick,” said Cartolaro. “The main thing was not quit playing. Just hang tough and hope somebody can hit a shot.”

Although Brookville hung tough after Andrews’ early overtime 3-pointer, Altavista never trailed again in overtime. Nick Ferguson came up huge at the line in overtime, converting all four of his free-throw attempts to hold Thomas and the Bees at bay.

“Defensively and offensively we didn’t show up. They had a lot more heart down the stretch and they took it to us,” said Young.

Despite the Bees’ dominating inside duo of Thomas and Young, the Colonels managed to hold their own on the glass.

“That’s one of our strengths, that we rebound the ball. It’s disappointing that we didn’t have the effort to do that tonight,” said Young.