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Iglesia connects at buzzer; McQuaid nips East

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Anthony Iglesia (1) takes the inbound pass during the first half of action at East High Friday.
Anthony Iglesia (1) takes the inbound pass during the first half of action at East High Friday.

By PAUL GOTHAM

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Small in stature Anthony Iglesia stood tall again for the McQuaid Jesuit Knights.

Iglesia turned a broken play into a buzzer beater, and McQuaid downed the East High Eagles, 57-54 in RCAC action Friday night at East High.

The 5-foot-6 point guard drained a 3-pointer as the Knights endured a furious East High rally.

“I told coach I wanted to take the shot,” Iglesia said. “I felt comfortable and I told him it was going to go in.

“Coach wanted us to execute a play, but we got out of it. He told us if nothing goes down then just take the shot.”

Iglesia, who beat Myrtle Beach High earlier in the season with a last-second triple, took the inbound pass from the left side of the floor with 8.1 seconds on the clock and faded right before connecting from 25 feet.

 

“We drew up something else,” explained McQuaid head coach Jack Leasure. “They were in zone. Option really wasn’t there, but he’s made that same shot for a game winner this year already. As soon as he let go, we all said ‘that’s in.’”

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After watching a 13-point advantage disappear in the game’s final six minutes, Conor Dalton delivered a pair of game-changing plays when he calmly sank three free throws with 34.8 on the clock to tie the game at 54. The senior guard then created a tie up on an inbound to get McQuaid possession for the game winner.

“My team set me up in such a good situation,” Dalton explained. “They were doing everything down the stretch, and I was out with foul trouble. I felt I had to make it up to them for all they had been doing to set me up for that moment.”

Dalton then applied his volleyball skills on the hardwood.

“I was denying him the ball and he kinda got a little separation, but the toss was high,” Dalton said. “I was able to track it a little bit in my head. I play volleyball, so I’m used to having to track the ball. I was able to reach up at the peak and just tie him up at the end there. Luckily I was able to get up there and tie him up.”

 

McQuaid looked in command when freshman Kobe Long hit his fourth trey of the night to give the Knights a 51-38 advantage midway through the fourth quarter.

East, though, flexed its muscles from there and the Eagles’ 2-2-1 three-quarter court press forced six turnovers over the next nine possessions.

“They did a good job of getting back in the game,” Leasure stated. “They made it their kind of game.”

Zion Morrison sparked the run with a pair of free throws. Windell Lucas followed with a rebound and putback. Morrison cut the deficit to one with two more from the charity stripe, and Javar Collier drove baseline to give East its first lead with 1:05 remaining in the game.

John Segarra pushed the margin to three with a drive from the wing and finish in traffic.

 

“We didn’t do too well of taking care of the ball late,” Iglesia said. “When things just broke down then we concentrated on the next play and put the last play behind us.”

McQuaid established the post early going into Cam Wilson on the first possession of the game. Front court mate Tyler Cyrus scored the next seven, and Wilson’s tap in gave McQuaid an 11-0 advantage.

 

But both Cyrus and Wilson were on the bench with two fouls during the second quarter. East took advantage. With the 6-foot-9 Wilson on the bench, the Knights lacked a safety valve in the middle of the floor to beat the press.

Lucas and Morrison combined for 13 as East outscored the Knights by five in the second quarter.

“When we got to our spots, it was easy,” Leasure said of attacking the press. “When we didn’t get to our spots, we drifted and didn’t come back to it  then we gave it away. We’re still learning. We made plays when had to. We just had some really good individual plays down the stretch.”

The teams went into the locker room with McQuaid leading 27-25.

 

Segarra fed Morrison for a layup to knot the game at 27 on the first possession of the second half, but a Wilson tap in, and Iglesia three gave McQuaid  a 32-28 edge.

Long closed the stanza with a triple for a 45-38 McQuaid advantage.

“They were playing zone,” the freshman explained. “They left the back corner open, so I decided to move form corner to corner. They never knew where I was. ‘Ant’ kept finding me. ‘TC’ kept finding me. I started off really slow, but I started finding my rhythm and started making shots.”

 

McQuaid hit just three field goals in the fourth quarter – all from behind the arc.

“We’ve been talking about with a young group trying to manage those situations as best we can,” Leasure said of the fourth quarter. “We tried to get a timeout once. After that we couldn’t really take another one. It was just coming down to trusting what we focused on with these guys. About staying tough, in a tough situation and staying together. Focus on the things you can control. They did a great job of that.

“That’s really what it comes down to. They were just tough in a tough situation. That’s what basketball is. Just keeps coming back to how are you going to respond. You can’t control the whole game. They did a good job of responding and staying mentally tough.”

Long was the only Knight in double figures with 18. Wilson finished with 11 rebounds and 12 blocks.

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Cyrus took three charges in the game. It was Cyrus who fed Dalton for the three-point attempt with 34.8 remaining. McQuaid improved to 8-5. The Knights host NE Douglass next Wednesday.

Morrison led all scorers with 25. The senior guard’s layup late in the first quarter was the 1,000th point of his career. Lucas added 16 points. The loss snapped a seven-game win streak for East (10-3). East hosts Strong Vincent (PA) on Saturday. An 8pm tip is scheduled.

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