Spartans upset by Red Devils

ADAMS — Having to play without their leading scorer was tough enough for the South Jefferson Spartans.

Replacing all the intangible things junior Tom Bassett does for coach Fred Piche’s club proved even more difficult Tuesday night.

With Bassett missing most of the game due to illness, the No. 2 Spartans saw their season come to an inglorious end with a 62-47 upset loss to No. 15 Vernon-Verona-Sherrill in a Section 3 Class B first-round game

After trailing most of the game, South Jefferson (16-3) took a 44-43 lead on a Jake Worden free throw with 5 minutes, 13 seconds left in the game. But the Spartans managed just three more points, VVS (8-11) scored 13 unanswered points and finished the game on a 19-3 run to move on to the second round.

“Without Tom, we needed everybody else to step up and beat their averages because one man couldn’t take his place,” Piche said. “I thought we played hard enough and we got some really good looks. If Tom is not in there, we don’t have that one guy who can consistently knock down the shots against their zone.”

South Jefferson went just 6-for-28 on 3-pointers, with Ryan Clark hitting three and Zach Zimmerman two. Bassett, who averages nearly 15 points per game, is the team’s best 3-point shooter, and could only heave up a couple of misses from behind the arc during a brief third-quarter appearance and one in the final quarter.

“I felt crummy and my legs were really weak,” Bassett said afterward.

Joe Spinella scored 21 points as VVS, which dropped out of the Tri-Valley League to play as an independent this season, beat the Spartans down the court at the end of the game to pull away.

“We didn’t get back quickly enough and gave them so many easy hoops,” said Clark, who led South Jefferson with 13 points. “When we got even, I thought we had all the momentum. But it went away quickly.”

VVS led 29-24 at halftime, and by as much as eight points in the third quarter before South Jefferson drew within 43-40 on a Zimmerman 3-pointer in the final minute of the third quarter.

And when Zimmerman hit another three from the same spot to start the final period, the Spartans had battled all the way back.

South Jefferson’s defense held VVS without a point for the first three minutes of the final quarter. But the Spartans managed only a Worden free throw during that span.

“We had too many wasted possessions when we could have built a little lead,” Piche said. “Then I think we just got a little tired.”

Spinella hit a deep three to start the Red Devils’ extended run, then made two free throws.

Brett Field (13 points) added a free throw and Jesse Whitmeyer a fast-break hoop to extend the VVS lead to 54-44 with under three minutes remaining.

The VVS run went to 13-0 before Matt Bero finally hit a three for South Jefferson at the 1:20 mark. But it was too little, too late.

“Our weakside rebounding was also poor,” Piche said, “and we gave them a lot of extra shots. If we could have just gotten by this one somehow without Tom, we were set up pretty well to make a run.”