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Play-Off Pressure
Coach Steimer challenged the seniors, and the team changed personalities: in the third quarter, they stepped up their defense forcing Lawrence into turnovers and rushed shots, and inexorably nibbled away at the lead as the crowd began to stomp the bleachers. John Haskoor, incited by another Lawrence cheap-shot, helped ignite the rally, reaching season highs in both points (14) and rebounds (12) for a double-double. Owen Ludeman came off the bench to hit both free throws to complete the climb back as Garden City tied it at 46 with 1:08 to go. On the ensuing Lawrence possession, Harry Kutner intercepted a Lawrence pass and the Trojans had the ball with 50 seconds to go. As Coach Steimer screamed "Patience!", Kutner took a pass in front of the Trojans' bench, 8 feet beyond the arc, and drilled the long three to put Garden City in the lead for good. The final was 53-50 as the fans roared at the final buzzer of a remarkable comeback win and a tie for first place.
On Friday, February 9th, Garden City hosted Wantagh with the monkey of having to win still on their backs, and needing to forget the elation of the Lawrence game. Wantagh was a particularly challenging match-up as their offense consisted of the indiscriminate raining of three(s), and the Trojans have had a season-long problem with stopping three-point shooters.
Once again the Trojans came out of the halftime with a different personality, no doubt caused by Coach Steimer's soothing (?) words ringing in their ears, and outscored Wantagh in the third quarter by 7 to grab a 3-point lead. A key factor was Wantagh's switch to a 1-3-1 zone which left Harry Kutner free to hit 3 threes in the run. The Trojans stretched the lead to six (51-45) with just over two minutes to go, but Wantagh stormed back with 7 unanswered points to edge in front 52-51 with 28 seconds left. After a time-out, Garden City had the ball, and Wantagh came out expecting Kutner to shoot outside or feed Finneran low. But as they swung to the top of the key with Kutner who had the ball, they left freshman Matt Montgomery, who already had 2-threes, all alone on the right wing, and he buried a banked 3 pointer with 8 seconds left to regain a 2 point Garden City lead (54-52). Another time out, and Kutner and Montgomery faced up on Wantagh's guards causing a lofted pass to be deflected by Finneran, who as he was falling out-of-bounds tapped it to Kutner. Wantagh fouled Kutner who hit the first free throw for the final margin, 55-52, but missed the second as Finneran sliced through the lane to snatch it and ice the win.
It was Senior Night as Harry Kutner, Rob Finneran, Matt Emmert, Owen Ludeman and John Haskoor were honored in a pre-game ceremony. While their parents stood at center court, each boy presented his mother with a rose, and then received a poster-size game-action photo of himself. The game itself developed slowly, as the Trojans eked out a 15-14 first quarter lead. In the second quarter, Coach Steimer looked to his bench and tapped Matt Emmert and Jeff Fell who helped carry the Trojans out of a cold spell and a three point deficit, to a three point halftime lead. Emmert buried two jumpers from the right wing, and Fell snared several rebounds and scored put-backs, as both joined with Finneran to control the boards at both ends.
Kutner was game - high scorer with 16 and eight assists, followed by Emmert with a season-high 14, Finneran had 12, and Fell contributed 8.
The team, coach and families collectively thanked the fans who have supported the team throughout the season. The play-off game's site, time and opponent will be listed at "GCAthletics.org/winter".
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