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Going in for a one handed dunk, Versailles sophomore Justin Ahrens
found some resistance
on the way as junior Miles Joiner blocked his
attempt. Chaminade-Julienne won the Versailles
Holiday Tournament,
69-66 on a last second shot in regulation. CNO Photo by Dylan Knoop
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Versailles
falls in final seconds of regulation
Tigers lose last tournament game
By George Starks
VERSAILLES- No team ever wants to lose its own holiday tournament.
In the case of the Versailles Tigers, it was destiny that awaited in
the end.
The fifth annual Versailles Holiday Tournament will be the last for the
Darke County school and it ended in a 69-66 loss to Chaminade- Julienne.
To add insult to injury, it all came down to the final seconds.
With 16.6 seconds remaining in regulation, Versailles sophomore, Justin
Ahrens, calmly sank two foul shots knotting things up at 66-66.
On the ensuing possession, it was sophomore Eric Boykin that did the
game ending damage.
With time quickly running out, Boykin spotted up and unload a three
that found the bottom of the net with 4.3 seconds remaining.
With no timeouts left, the Tigers were declawed on their home court as
time expired.
It was a tough loss but Versailles coach Scott McEldowney was
extremely proud of his team.
“It’s hard to lose any game,” said McEldowney. “I’m extremely proud of
the effort that we showed tonight. I think we accomplished some things
in the second half. We had better ball movement and we tried to run
more of our sets. We didn’t play too quickly. We have some areas we
need to clean up to take us from a pretty good team to a great team.”
Trailing at every break, 20-14, 32-27 and 49-47, The Tigers had fell
into a 10 point hole, 59-49, with 5:56 left in the game.
At that point, McEldowney stopped the action to regroup the troops.
Versailles went on an 8-1 run at that point, closing the gap to three
at 60-57 with 3:36after senior Brett McEldowney hit two from the
charity stripe.
The Tigers would keep it close and would final get their last lead of
the game at 47.6 seconds when McEldowney would drain a trey from deep
in the left corner make it a one point, 65-64 Tiger lead.
“That was a heck of a shot,” said the Tigers coach. “I have to admit, I
was a proud Papa at that point.”
All game long, it was a game of runs as neither team would never really
gain a safe advantage.
“We had our backs against the wall all night,” admitted
McEldowney. “I was happy with our resiliency. We were always able to
comeback, no matter what the score was and our defense would keep us in
the game every step of the way. With a 10 point lead like that, I think
we needed more possessions to with this game.”
If there was one thing that kept the Tigers close ass game, it was foul
shooting.
Versailles hit 20 of 24 from the line, making a difference all night.
“This is something we need to continue to do,” said McEldowney. “We
need to take the ball to the basket strong and draw those shooting
fouls.”
“This was the best tournament we’ve had,” admitted McEldowney.
“The competition was great and my team showed me a lot in the past two
nights.”
Now 8-2, Versailles will host Ft. Loramie on Tuesday.
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