By By TOM NYHIUS / Niles Daily Star
HARTFORD – Friday night's championship game of the Hartford Holiday Tournament came down to the final seconds to determine its winner. Bangor's basket by Jacorrian Howell with two seconds remaining on the clock iced the win for the Vikings over the Buchanan, 46-44.
The Bucks (4-4) held the lead through nearly three quarters before Bangor grabbed a one-point lead, 33-32 with one minute to play in the third quarter. The Bucks tied the game at 35, on a 3-point basket by Derek Anglero, with three seconds to play of the third quarter.
In the deciding quarter, neither team could gain more than a two-point lead as each team held a slim lead once through the quarter. Clinton Orr tied the game at 44 with 1:35 to play. The Bucks' final possession on the night ended when Anglero was whistled with an offensive foul driving to the basket with eight seconds left on the clock. Bangor worked the ball down low to Howell, who muscled the ball up for the lay up bucket.
Buchanan's Buddy Williams fouled Howell on the shot with two seconds left. Howell missed his charity toss but the Bucks didn't have enough time to get off a shot as time expired and the Vikings (5-1) celebrated the tournament win.
"It was a close ball game. We just came out on the short end unfortunately," Buchanan coach Reid McBeth said. "This should be a good learning experience for our young kids."
Anglero had a big night for the Bucks meshing a varsity career high 20 points, knocking down four 3-pointers during the contest. Brad Burns scored 10 for the Bucks. John Whalen led Bangor with 14 and Howell finished the night with 13.
The Vikings held the edge on the boards pulling down 33 rebounds compared to the Bucks 24. Each team committed 21 turnovers in the game.
Buchanan led by as many as 11 points midway through the second quarter, 19-8, but a 7-0 run by the Vikings erased that to a four point lead with two minutes left before going into the break. Buchanan held a 23-17 lead at the half.
"It was nice to have that lead. All year it seems that we have been playing from behind, so it gave our kids some confidence. Give Bangor credit, they came back with a nice little comeback. A lot of that had to do with rebounding," McBeth said.
Buchanan was hindered in the second half as Marquis Hall, Buddy Williams, and Clinton Orr each picked up their fourth foul in the third quarter, the result was the Vikings controlling the boards and preventing the Bucks from hanging onto the lead and the game.
"We weren't nearly as aggressive going after the ball. We have to learn you can't let the fouls situation control your aggressiveness. You have to be smarter but you still need to be aggressive. We lost that by playing not to foul out of the game," McBeth said.
Buchanan … 44
Bangor … 46
BUCHANAN (44) – Derek Anglero 7 2-2 20, Avery Brown 1 0-0 3, Clinton Orr 2 0-0 4, Matt Sebasty 0 0-0 0, Brad Burns 3 4-5 10, Marquis Hall 2 2-2 6, Evan Cauffman 0 0-0 0, Buddy Williams 0 1-2 1, Totals 15 9-11 44.
BANGOR (46) – Jace Quinn 2 3-5 8, Shiron Williams 4 0-1 8, Jerome Johnson 0 0-0 0, John Whalen 4 5-10 14, Jacorrian Howell 5 2-4 13, Dustin Carr 1 1-2 3, Alec Johnson 0 0-0 0, Totals 16 11-22 46.
Buchanan 9 23 35 44
Bangor 5 17 35 46
Team fouls (fouled out) – Buchanan 18 (Williams), Bangor 11. 3-point shooting – Buchanan 5 (Anglero 4, Brown), Bangor 3 (Quinn, Whalen, Howell)