By Ted Waddell
FALLSBURG — December 28, 2004 – With three seconds left on the game clock and the Fallsburg Comets only down by two points (45-43) and looking for their first win of the season, the home team coach called a time out that wasn’t.
Following the rule book, the referees then tagged the Comets with a technical foul. Instead of having possession under their basket with a glimmer of hope of at least forcing the game into overtime, the Comet players and coaches watched as Tuxedo junior guard Gerry Baumann walked to the other end of the court. Baumann stepped up to the free-throw line and sunk one of two shots to put the Tornadoes of Tuxedo up by three, 46-43.
A spilt second later, Tuxedo’s Bryan Clune was fouled and went two for two at the foul line, effectively icing the Tornadoes’ 48-43 victory in Thursday night’s Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division V game.
Fallsburg (0-6, 0-2 OCIAA) fell behind by a score of 14-13 in the first quarter, but surged back to outscore Tuxedo (2-5, 2-0 OCIAA) 17 to 7 in the second period to take a 30-21 lead into the locker room.
In the third frame, the Comets edged the opposition 10-8. But they watched it slip out of their fingers in the final period, as they were outgunned 19-13.
Fallsburg’s Darius Buckner was his team’s solo double-digit scorer, finishing the night with 20 points.
A trio of Tornadoes reached double digits in the scorebook. Senior center Duane Poiley led the way with 13 points, while senior guard John Beety and senior forward Bryan Clune each netted 11 points.
Stats from the free throw line: Fallsburg 4-of-11 (36 percent); Tuxedo 8-for-19 (42 percent).
“It seems like every time we come up here, it goes down to the wire,” Tuxedo Coach Marco Margotta said. “They put a lot of pressure on us and made some good shots, but we played pretty good defense in the end.”
Margotta credited the play of Clune.
“He had close to 20 rebounds, was big on the boards and made a couple of clutch free throws for us at the end of the game,” said Margotta.
Fallsburg Coach Paul Marsden wasn’t a happy camper about the timeout that wasn’t.
“It was my mistake,” he said. “We could have had the ball under our basket with three seconds left to go… but then they got the free throws and the clock ran out.”
Marsden praised the performance of his “warriors” who were playing with an emergency room’s worth of injuries – Chris Gates with a bum ankle, Harris Seletsky with a bad knee, Dan Frasier limping along on a bruised heel and Dan Friedman, whom Marsden noted “played a nice game on the boards with a bad shoulder.”
“The kids were like warriors,” he said. “They played a nice game, worked hard on offense and defense and for the most part, did what I asked them to.”
“It’s a growing year,” Marsden commented. “If we can build on what we did tonight, we’re going to be OK.”
“We can only go up from here,” he added.