Rich Adeniyi scored six of his nine points in the final 90 seconds to left Seymour to a stunning 56 – 53 victory over the Chargers at Ansonia on Wednesday night.
It seemed like it was Ansonia’s night.
One more victory stood in the way of the Chargers clamping down on the NVL Brass Division title. Ansonia was celebrating senior night and had won 10 of the last 12 games.
However, senior tri-captain Ansonia’s Sheldon Clarke couldn’t play, leaving the Chargers without its leading scorer.
Ansonia forged a ten-point cushion with two minutes to play in the third period. Both teams didn’t break the 20 point mark in the first half, with Ansonia limping to the locker room at the half with a 19 – 14 advantage.
The third period, however, was an up-and-down-the floor frenzy that produced more points than the entire first half. Ansonia outscored Seymour by a 21 – 20 margin to take a 40 – 34 lead into the games final eight minutes.
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“Any time you lose your leading scorer it’s going to have an effect,” said Ansonia head coach Bill LaRovera. “It was typically the same kind of game we played against them the first time, only our shots didn’t fall at the end.”
At the start of the fourth period Eric Parmelee (7 points) and Louis Krohelski (nine points, eight assists) knocked down back-to-back treys giving Seymour its first lead of the game 42 – 40 with 5:33 to play.
Ansonia managed to tie the game twice down the stretch, taking the lead at 48 – 47 on a Julian Sobin (12 points, 15 rebounds) put-back with 2:20 left on the clock.
It came down to which team was going to execute during the final moments.
Seymour’s Rich Adeniyi twice broke ties with strong put-backs. With the game still hanging in the balance, the senior center buried a pair at the free throw line with 29 seconds left on the clock.
Ansonia’s Sobin converted a pair at the charity stripe with six seconds left. Ansonia’s Maurice Brown then unleashed a buzzer beating three — but it was waved off, with the refs saying it was tossed after the buzzer, giving Seymour a 56 – 53 win.
“It’s a good win for us there’s no doubt about that,” said Seymour head coach Joe Carrafiello. “This game decided nothing, it only ties us for the Division lead with two games to play.”
