Miraculous Come from Behind Win for OFA (NEW STORY)

2008 Section 10 Class B Champion Ogdensburg Blue Devils

After an Ogdensburg timeout with 1:25 left in the game and down by 6 points, I heard Gene Bouyer say to his teammates as they walked back onto the court, “We never give up.” The Blue Devils needed every bit of that confident and attitude to pull off one of the biggest comeback wins in Section 10 playoff history. OFA trailed by as many as 14 points with 4:30 left in the game and 10 points with 2:35 remaining. You must give credit to the Potsdam Sandstoners for the effort put forth against a very talented OFA Blue Devil team. The Blue Devils were heavily favored coming into the game after posting 21 and 10 points wins during the regular season. Coach Merna said he was not surprised by the play of Potsdam. “Potsdam had played very well in a late season game at OFA. They led at the half. Giving Steve Kmack eight days to prepare his team, after having played us twice, meant they would be ready to give a great effort.” And a great effort is exactly what Coach Kmack got. Potsdam’s defensive pressure combined with the sharp shooting of Jerry Coleman put the Sandstoners up by 10 at the half 23-13. The defending Class B champions fought back in the 3rd quarter and only trailed by 1 point with 7:10 left to play in the 4th quarter. Jerry Coleman then hit a 3 pointer which started a 13-0 run by the Sandstoners and it looked like it was over for Ogdensburg trailing by the score of 44-30 with 4:30 left to play in the game. I asked coach Merna if at any point in the game he felt like they could not win. He said, “If you don’t believe you can win there is little chance that you will. When you get down double digits with little time left, the thought of losing tries to get into your head and you have to fight to keep it out. I tried to keep coaching. I was very pleased to see the leadership shown from Mike Luckie when I could see those negative thoughts starting to get into our players heads. He refused to give in and I think his play helped re-start our efforts. The whole team, both those on and off the court, put out a lot of energy in those last two minutes.” At the 4:30 mark, the Blue Devils started their charge. The defensive pressure picked up causing numerous Potsdam turnovers and the shots seemed to be just willed in the basket. OFA went on a 15-3 run and pulled to within 2 points with 5.5 seconds remaining. It was at this point that the real magic happened. Potsdam attempted to throw a baseball pass down court. Gene Bouyer timed his jump perfectly and tipped the pass up in the air, grabbed it, laid it up for 2 points and was fouled. Gene made the foul shot and the rest is history. Potsdam had 1 last chance to win the game at the buzzer, but the shot clanked off the front rim. I asked Coach Merna about that last play. He said, “We had been using a player to defend against the long pass. But with 5.5 left we had to gamble and put a man on the ball.“ The gamble certainly paid off. Gene Bouyer led the Blue Devils with 19 points (10 coming in the last 4:00 minutes), 8 rebounds and 3 steals. Mike Luckie had 8 points and 7 rebounds while Jon Garvey added 8 points for OFA. Jerry Coleman led the Sandstoners with 22 points. Freshman Scott Bartenstein had eight points including a big 3 pointer early in the 4th quarter that gave Potsdam their biggest lead of the night 44-30. When the game was over and Coach Merna came out to receive the Section 10 Class B plaque, he said to Section 10 boys basketball Chairman Joe Jubinville, “This is one we didn’t deserve.” Later, I asked him why he said that. “We were outplayed by a better prepared team for most of the game. As good as I felt for our team for making a great comeback, I felt worse for the Potsdam team. I’ve been on the other end of games like that and it hurts to give such a great effort and lose at the last second.” Coach Merna also said, “I’d like to congratulate the Potsdam team on their super improvement over the course of the season. I know the loss hurts now but hopefully they’ll look back on the competition we had this year as some good moments in their high school career.” Coach Merna, you are a class act. Congratulations and best of luck in the playoffs.