East Syracuse-Minoa stepped onto the court at Visions Veterans FCU Arena seemingly unbothered by the sea of green and loud cheers from the Seton Catholic Central supporters that filled the arena.
Seton got off to a red-hot start, but East Syracuse rallied in the second half. Ultimately, Seton prevailed with a 65-60 win in the state regional finals.
Freshman guard Angelo O’Connor sank a 3-pointer from deep corner — the first of several made threes throughout the night — to put up the first points in the Saints’ 12-0 run in the first quarter.
Seton’s slew of defensive rebounds and unrelenting defense kept East Syracuse-Minoa scoreless until senior guard Anthony Bryant fought his way to the Spartans’ first bucket.
East Syracuse-Minoa curbed any offensive fluidity for Seton from the back court, forcing the Saints to adjust to the Spartans’ high-court pressure.
Two 3-point shots from O’Connor and senior Allan Eagles each forced East Syracuse-Minoa to take their second timeout within five minutes of the first quarter. Capitalizing on the heat of the moment and shot connections from behind the arc, senior guard Brian Dempsey hit another 3-pointer coming out of the timeout, which sent the arena into an uproar and put the score at 26-10 in favor of Seton to end the first quarter.
East Syracuse-Minoa held Seton to a mere nine-point second quarter despite the Saints making yet another three to start the second. Several tussles for defensive rebounds from Eagles limited East Syracuse-Minoa’s opportunities for second-chance shots, ultimately putting the Spartans at a 35-19 deficit to crawl back from heading into the second half.
…and crawl back they did.
Bryant had his best quarter of the night in the third, scoring 10 of the Spartans’ 20 points in the quarter. Along with shots beginning to connect with ease for East Syracuse, the team’s defense became tighter and its offensive rebounding more aggressive. The Spartans pulled the deficit to 51-39 to end the third quarter.
The Spartans’ 22-point fourth quarter told an entirely different story of East Syracuse basketball than the first half did. The Spartans capitalized on second-chance shots and took advantage of the Saints’ stiff zone defense to cut the deficit to 61-58 with just 20 seconds left.
“I thought we were really focused and energetic, and then we built the big lead,” Saints head coach Tommy Dempsey said. “But then to give East Syracuse credit, they just kept plugging away, and then they caught fire, and next thing you know, we were hanging out for dear life.”
The arena went into yet another uproar– one with undertones of worry– as momentary relief from senior guard Liam Kozel’s put Seton ahead by five, but was immediately met by a quick layup from Bryant to put the Spartans at another 3-point deficit, the score at 63-60 with less than 20 seconds left.
The Saints, who were outscored 22-14 in the fourth, managed to close out the game after two clutch free throws from senior Connor Morris put the final score at 65-60.
“(East Syracuse) is a great team; they never left the game, they kept giving their fight all day,” Dempsey said regarding the team’s decisive victory. “But we just have the confidence, and we have five guys on our team that can score 20 points on any given day.”
Brian Dempsey led Seton with 21 points and four 3-pointers, and was followed by Liam Kozel, who had 15 points in the victory. Allan Eages contributed with 14 points, 4 assists, and led the team in offensive and defensive rebounds for a total of 15.
Anthony Bryant led East Syracuse-Minoa with 22 points and 7 rebounds, while Robert Clifford and Ezra Wilson-Hefti contributed 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Up Next: Seton (21-1) will take on Section 5’s Penfield (23-1) in the semifinals at 10 a.m. on March 20 at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton. No. 2-ranked Seton and No. 1-ranked Penfield will meet in the playoffs for the first time in each program’s history.
This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Seton Catholic staves off East Syracuse in state regional finals
Reporting by Aniya Sumner, Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin / Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
