Men fall on desperation 3-pointer in OT
Toolbox
By Tom Haley STAFF WRITER - Published: November 18, 2009
CASTLETON — New England College’s junior guard Andrew MacDonald once won a high school game with a 3-pointer back in Hanson, Mass., but it was nothing like this.
MacDonald was on the bench all night and found himself on the floor at the end of the overtime in Tuesday night’s game against Castleton State College. Time was running out when he put up a desperation heave. It was off line, but found the backboard in just the right place and caromed into the basket to give the Pilgrims’ an 86-85 victory.
“I thought it was deep,” MacDonald said. “I couldn’t see what happened because I was on the ground. I didn’t realize it went in at first. When I did, it felt great.”
Charlie Mason has had had many memorable game in CSC’s Glenbrook Gym, both as the head man at New England the past eight years and at Johnson State before that. But this one might be at the top of the list.
The Spartans were in command most of the night. They had a 38-32 halftime lead and appeared ready to cruise home when Derrick Faragon scored on a backdoor layup to stretch the margin to 50-39.
But each time the Spartans threatened to run away, the Pilgrims had an answer. Spencer Marzouk answered Faragon’s bucket with one of his five 3-pointers.
NEC’s Shane Hennessey muscled inside for the hoop that made it 78-78, sending the game into overtime.
The overtime offered more swings and plenty of drama. Marzouk hit a 3 to put the Pilgrims up 81-80, but West Rutland’s Greg Hughes drilled a 3-pointer for Castleton to put them back on top.
Jared Paul’s two free throws cushioned Castleton’s lead to 85-81.
But the Spartans never scored again.
Eric Lenahan made two pressure-packed free throws with 1:02 remaining and that set the stage for MacDonald’s heroics. There was 1.6 seconds left after MacDonald made his shot, but Castleton was unable to get any kind of look at the hoop.
Faragon led the Spartans with 15 points. Hughes and Paul added 13 each and Kevin Eisenberg 12. Rutland’s Mark Comstock had a big game in his debut with seven points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
NEC’s Joe Faragher led all scores with 22 points and he had double-digit help from Marzouk (19), Hennessey (14) and Rafael Salado (11).
The Pilgrims outrebounded the Spartans 41-32.
First-year coach Paul Culpo gushed about his team’s potential to light up the board with 3-pointers during the preseason and they showed plenty of that until they went dry late in the game. They finished 8 of 18 behind the arc, with Hughes and Seth Harrington making two 3s apiece.
Culpo’s second game as the Spartans’ head man will be a homecoming. Castleton is headed to Hartwick College’s tournament this weekend where Culpo had been the head coach for the past six seasons. Their first-round foe will be MCLA.
tom.haley@rutlandherald.com
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