By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — I’zick Reaves led four in double figures with 19 points, and Greece Athena erased a halftime deficit to go on and defeat Penfield, 75-72 in triple overtime, Tuesday night at Gates Chili High School.
With the win, Athena (21-2) advances to the New York State Class AA quarterfinals.
Trailing by nine with less than three minutes remaining in regulation, Reaves went on a personal 8-0 run to pull the Trojans within one at 53-52.
“He’s our guy that’s going to make that play,” Athena head coach Mike Setzer said when asked about the senior guard’s ability to deliver when the Trojans need it. “He’s supposed to make the play.”
Reaves hit two of his five 3-pointers on the night in the sequence and finished a layup in traffic.
“I believe in myself, but these guys on the floor believe in me more and that allows me to do the things I do,” Reaves said of his teammates. “It’s amazing, honestly.”
VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM JENNIFER LAEMLEIN.
Reaves set the stage for teammate Ne’Sean Fowlks who sent the game into overtime with a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“We drew up a play at the end, and I said ‘We’re going to make a bucket here. We’re going to win this game in overtime,'” Setzer said.
Coming out of a timeout with eight seconds remaining. Russell Ellis took the inbound and drove the ball along the right side of the floor. Ellis pushed the ball across half-court before he released a pass to Fowlks in the corner to force the first extra session.
“We put two shooters in the corners,” Setzer said. “We had our fastest guy with the ball, and we let him make the decision. The other thing is we trailed the play with I’zick. We really had weapons in all places on the court.”
Fowlks didn’t hesitate when he stepped into the shot.
“I told Russell, ‘You make the call. If you get head and shoulders past, go ahead and do it.’ They (Penfield) got a deflection. That actually helped us because it made the defense react to the deflection. Then Ne’Sean’s wide open.
“I just felt like eventually we were going to wear them down, and it worked. We had a couple balls bounce our way at the end.”
The Trojans came out of halftime down 12, scored the first six points of the third quarter and pulled with five at 32-27 in less than a minute and a half of action.
“Our goal was to make them call the first timeout (of the third quarter),” Setzer said. “Let’s cut the lead in half in the first couple of minutes and make them call the first timeout. We did exactly that.”
But at the 4:09 mark of the third, Penfield’s lead was back to nine.
Athena rallied again. Reaves hit from distance. Ellis grabbed a defensive board and went the length of the floor for a layup. Fowlks followed with a bucket to make it a two-point game at 40-38.
Again, Penfield responded.
Jackson Green and Patrick Emling scored back-to-back buckets to close the third. Jake McCarthy scored off an inbound play midway through the fourth. Green finished a runner and with 2:27 remaining, the Patriots had a 53-44 lead.
“These kids they just don’t give up,” Setzer said. “They refuse to quit. They told me this. They said ‘Coach, there’s not a lead big too big for us.’ And they’re right.”
Athena didn’t take a lead until Ellis converted a pair of free throws with 2:40 remaining in the second overtime.
Setzer credited his athletic director, Tony Lipani for words of inspiration during halftime.
“I didn’t know he was in there,” Setzer said of the scene in the locker room. “I asked if the coaches had anything to add, and all of a sudden I hear this voice over my shoulder, and Mr. Lipani comes in and pumps the boys up. He’s an old football coach. He knows how to do it.”
“That fired us up,” Reaves said. “We came out with a chip on our shoulder, and you guys saw what happened in the second half.”
Reaves finished with 19 points, eight rebounds, three assists and four steals. Dominic LaMar had 19 points and nine rebounds. Fowlks and Ellis both scored 13. I’zayah Reaves accounted for nine points and Travis Mack had six.
Penfield (20-4) handed Athena its first loss of the season when Jason Ellis’s squad took a 71-57 decision on January 28th.
“They’re so good,” Setzer said of Penfield. “They run such great stuff. They’re huge. I can’t say enough good things about Emling. He’s so good. That kid is a problem. He’s a matchup nightmare.
“Ellis runs a great program. They were ready for us, but it’s hard to stick with our speed. It is. If we play like that, it’s hard to stay with us.”
The Patriots looked ready to repeat when Emling scored seven, and Christian Zarzycki had six in the first quarter as part of a 17-9 lead.
“They’re a tough team,” Ellis said of Athena. “They have a lot of seniors on that team. Muscled us a little bit down the stretch. We had ‘em. We had them multiple times.”
Green led Penfield with 21 points. Zarzycki added 15. Emling and McCarthy scored 13 apiece. Michael Moxley (7) and CJ Johnson (3) rounded out the scoring.
“This is the most special group that’s ever come through Penfield,” Ellis said. “There’s no doubt about it. Everybody can see it. Athena’s got how many championships? That’s a decorated program. We went toe-to-toe, and we beat them once. We’d love to replay them. Hopefully, we play them next year because I can promise you one thing: We’re back. We’re coming back. Write it down, mark it down. I’ll be here. We’re going even further next year.”
Athena will face Health Sciences of Section VI in the New York State Class AA Far West Regional. A noon tip-off is scheduled Saturday at Rush-Henrietta High School.
Athena will be making its sixth trip to the state quarterfinals and first since 2015.
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