Mohonasen’s Robert Tedesco hit only three shots from the field in Saturday’s Section II, Class A quarterfinal boys basketball game against Scotia-Glenville, but two of them were the biggest shots of the game.
Tedesco drained a game-tying three-pointer with more than a minute left in the fourth quarter and hit another three with 1:17 left in overtime to lift the fourth-seeded Mighty Warriors past the fifth-seeded Tartans 52-47 at University at Albany’s SEFCU Arena.
We noticed they didn’t get a hand in our faces when we took our threes, so when I caught the ball, I knew I had to shoot it, said Tedesco.
Scotia-Glenville (13-7) had a 43-34 lead in the fourth quarter before Mohonasen (11-9) went on a 10-3 run to tie the game.
`We just stopped attacking,` said Scotia-Glenville coach James Giammattei. `We started playing tentatively in the fourth quarter, and that was the difference.`
Cameron Couball ` who had mainly been a non factor through the first three quarters ` put the Mighty Warriors on his back during their fourth quarter run. The senior guard drove for a layup and was fouled on the play. Couball then drained the free throw to complete a three-point play that pulled Mohonasen within five points.
Couball drove past 6-foot, 10-inch junior center Jim Janson ` who had four fouls at that point ` for another layup to get the Mighty Warriors within three points. Then, he stole the ball and converted a fast break layup off a give-and-go with Tedesco that trimmed Scotia-Glenville’s lead to 45-44 with 2:05 left.
`He woke up,` Mohonasen coach Ken Dagostino said of Couball, who scored seven of his 13 points during a two-minute span of the fourth quarter. `He must have thought it was a fourth quarter game.`
Pete Lindsay gave Scotia-Glenville a little breathing room when he drove for a layup, but it was short lived as Tedesco hit his game-tying three-pointer. Both teams had trouble establishing their offenses in the four-minute overtime. Scotia-Glenville turned the ball over on its first three possessions, and Mohonasen kept missing three-pointers before Tedesco made good on the Mighty Warriors’ fourth try from behind the arc.
`The (winning) three was good, but it takes five to win,` said Tedesco.
`He hit them when he needed to,` said Giammattei. `He’s a feisty kid.`
Jordan Macejka led all scorers with 20 points for Mohonasen, which advances to Friday’s semifinal against top-seeded Albany Academy at the Glens Falls Civic Center.
`I think they’re very good and very well coached, but it’s nothing that we can’t handle,` said Dagostino.
Joseph Ferrari had 10 points, while Janson, Nick Alescio and Jeff Stopera all chipped in nine points for Scotia-Glenville, which lost four of its last five games.“