By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Jordan Jenkins thought about making a pass.
Kyle Crandall considered calling a timeout.
Neither player nor coach followed their gut.
And School of the Arts (SOTA) boys’ basketball benefited.
Jenkins hit a jumper as time expired and the Silverhawks (6-6) defeated Padilla High School at the Franklin Campus (3-8), 50-49 in Rochester City Athletic Conference (RCAC) action Tuesday night from School No. 33.
With 6.1 seconds remaining in the game, Jenkins took an inbound pass from teammate Bennie Laver and went the length of the floor before connecting from inside the free-throw lane.
“I wanted to make a play, a great play for my team,” said Jenkins who finished with eight points, three assists and two steals on the night. “Make or miss, I wanted to make a play for the team. That shows that we’re getting better.”
Coming out of a timeout, Jenkins took a pair of dribbles in the back court. He went to his left before he used a crossover to get create space on a defender. As he reached the lane, Jenkins looked for teammates.
“I saw the right side was open and if I could get to my shot, I could pull it,” he said. “I was thinking about passing the ball, but they played great defense and took away the pass.”
Jenkins let go the shot over the outstretched arms of a Padilla defender.
“That’s a hard-fought win right there,” the senior guard said. “We had to come in and show who SOTA is.”
The winning shot capped a fourth quarter that saw Padilla erase a 14-point deficit and take a lead in the final minute before Jenkins hit his game winner.
“We drew something up,” said Crandall who had a timeout left at the end of the game. “I was hoping whoever brought it up, Jordan or Bruce (Newton), the ball could have been in either one of their hands, that they would read and either attack or we had Zayvier (Little) under the basket. He’s our best finisher. Hoping that we could get a passing lane and get him the ball. Jordan saw that close.
“At that point, it was too late for me to call another timeout. What are you going to do with one second left? You’re not going to get a better shot than what he had. He hit a big shot for us.”
Laver hit a pull-up jumper to close the third quarter and give SOTA a 41-27 lead.
Padilla chipped away at the deficit.
L’Trail St. Fleurant connected on a corner 3-pointer to start the fourth.
Later, Hassan Isgowe hit from deep to make it a 46-38 game with 4:02 left in regulation.
The duo combined again with St. Fleurant scoring from distance and Isgowe hitting in the lane to make it a one-possession game at 46-43 with 2:58 left.
“We’ve really been focused on trying to limit our turnovers,” Crandall said. “We had 18 again today with six in the fourth quarter, so it continues to be a focus. We can’t be up 14 at the end of the third and let the other team take the lead.”
Isgowe tied the game at 48. Isaiah Caruthers converted 1-of-2 free throws with 6.1 seconds remaining to give Padilla a 49-48 edge.
The win capped a stretch in which SOTA has played three games in five days including an overnight trip to Buffalo in which the Silverhawks played Olmsted of Section VI on Sunday.
Participation rules prevented SOTA from practicing on Monday.
“That’s three games in a row without a practice,” Crandall said. “It’s kinda hurt us. We have two practices before our next game. I’ve never been so excited to have two practices in a row.”
Laver grabbed six rebounds and finished with a game-high 18 points. Paul Stevens had nine rebounds, two steals, two assists and three points.
Caruthers led Padilla with 15 points. Isgowe added 13. St. Fleurant added 12.
PADILLA (49)
Isaiah Caruthers 5 1-2 15, Jaquan Gaskin 1 0-0 2, L’Trail St. Fleurant 4 1-2 12, Hassan Isgowe 5 2-5 13, Robert McCullough 1 0-2 3, Sergio Rosario 1 0-0 2, Khyrese Boose 1 0-0 2 TOTALS 18 4-11 — 49
SCHOOL OF THE ARTS (50)
Zayvier Little 2 0-4 4, Jordan Jenkins 3 0-2 8, Bennie Laver 7 0-0 18, Matt Howland 1 0-0 3, Ah-Donn Grant-Duncan 3 0-0 6, Bruce Newton 3 1-3 8, Paul Stevens 1 1-4 3, Henry Hawkinson 0 1-2 1 TOTALS — 20 3-15 — 51
PADILLA — 3 17 7 22 — 49
SOTA 14 21 7 10 — 50
3-point goals: PADILLA 9 (Caruthers 4, St. Fleurant 3, Isgowe 1, McCullough 1); SOTA 8 (Jenkins 2, Laver 4, Howland 1, Newton 1).
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