Cyclones post great comeback for title hair-raising experience: Watertown coach said he’d shave his head if they won

Watertown High School boys basketball coach Jeff Britton will be losing his hair today. Gladly.

All because his Cyclones produced one of the great comebacks in school history Monday night to secure their latest Frontier League championship.

Trailing by 16 points with just under seven minutes left against top-seeded Indian River, WHS rode the hot hand of all-time scoring leader Dustin Pond to an improbable 69-64 comeback win in the “A” Division title game at Jefferson Community College.

Pond scored 19 of his 29 points in the final quarter as No. 2 WHS (9-8) advanced to Friday’s A/B championship game. The Cyclones will play South Jefferson, which squandered a big lead and barely held off General Brown 43-40 in the “B” Division title game.

Watertown 69, Indian River 64

Britton told his team he would shave his head if the Cyclones knocked off the top-seeded Warriors. But for 25 minutes, it looked like Britton would save his hair as WHS trailed 49-33 following two Quincell Rahmings free throws with 6:59 left in the game.

That’s when Britton went to the full-court press, and the Cyclones were immediately rejuvenated. Indian River mishandled the ball repeatedly against the WHS pressure, and the Cyclones took advantage to not only get back in the game, but eventually tie the score with a minute left and then win the game in the final 25 seconds.

Pond, the 6-foot-5 senior who last week became the school’s all-time leading scorer, had been held in check through three quarters, scoring just 10 points. But the “A” Division MVP took over in the final 6 ½ minutes, scoring 19 points, including 17 in a row in one fantastic three-minute stretch.

And when Pond cooled down, several of his teammates made big plays to help WHS come all the way back.

Junior Willie Scott (10 points) hit a big 3-pointer to bring WHS within eight points.

Sophomore Ernest Dauda (10) scored inside twice, and junior Mason Phillips also converted a driving hoop to cut the deficit to 63-59 with 1:48 to play.

Following two more Indian River turnovers, Phillips stepped up and drained a 3-pointer to tie the game at 63-all as the clock neared a minute.

“I had a good look and I didn’t hesitate,” said Phillips, who finished with 13 points. “Once we focused on what we needed to do, and then started executing, we got back in the game.”

Indian River (15-2), which led 30-18 at halftime, turned the ball over again at the one-minute mark. Pond missed a 3-pointer and a follow shot on Watertown’s next possession. But Dauda found himself with the rebound on the baseline and sunk a 10-footer to give WHS a 65-63 lead with 43.5-seconds to go.

“Dustin, obviously, got us going, but it was everybody at the end making big plays and shots,” said Britton. “The key was we not only turned them over, but got points on all of the turnovers.”

Stanley Kelly missed a jumper on Indian River’s next possession, Pond grabbed the miss, was fouled and hit two free throws to make it 67-63 at the 25.9-second mark.

Pond missed the front end of a 1-and-1 on with 12 seconds left, and Rayshan-Shakur Clark drove for an Indian River lay-up with six seconds to go.

Following an Indian River timeout, Scott was fouled and he coolly sank both free throws with 4.3-seconds to go to ice the victory.

“Once we got our second wind, things just started clicking,” said Pond. “That dunk (following a steal) kind of got me going and we just played so hard that final quarter.”

Britton said the press was so effective because “our rotations were excellent, and we really attacked their ball handlers.”

Indian River coach Tim Callahan said his club was caught in the “perfect storm. We put people in wrong spots handling the ball, we stopped attacking and then we missed some lay-ups. We basically froze on everything. It was kind of a reverse of our last game (when WHS blew a 19-points halftime lead).”

Rahmings scored 19 points before fouling out in the final minute. Darrius Bryant scored 18 points and Clark 15 for Indian River, which plays General Brown in the A/B/ consolation on Friday.

South Jefferson 43, General brown 40

Like Indian River, the top-seeded Spartans raced out to a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter only to watch the Lions mount a fierce comeback.

But General Brown could not complete the rally as senior Ryan Clark hit a pair of big free throws in the final seconds to help South Jefferson hold on.

“We really haven’t had an offensive drought like that all year,” said South Jefferson coach Fred Piche, whose club led 42-27 with 5:50 left in the game. “Once we stopped attacking, we let them back in the game.”

Joe Simoneau hit a pair of 3-pointers to bring General Brown (10-7) to within 42-40 with 1:42 to play. But the Lions didn’t score again, turning the ball over twice in the final minute with a chance to tie.

“We just missed too many easy shots, especially in the first half,” said General Brown coach Brian Nortz. “But as I told the kids, we held them to 43 points after they scored 68 on us the last time. Most times, that would be good enough to win.”

Jordan Schloop came off the bench to score 12 big points for South Jefferson (15-2), while Matt Bero added 11 points and “B” Division MVP Tom Bassett added 10 points for the Spartans.

“We kept our cool just enough at the end,” said Clark. “When they pressed, we got in too much of a rush and didn’t run our offense very well.”

Josh O’Hearn led General Brown with 17 points..