Bishop Loughlin has been the comeback kids his season and nearly rode the trend to a commanding lead in its division.
Instead just as quickly as the Lions roared their way back into another game, victory slipped away in the final minutes. A put back by Cole Anthony, son of former NBA guard Greg Anthony, with 17 seconds left handed the host Lions a heartbreaking 72-71 loss to Archbishop Molloy in Brooklyn-Queens boys’ basketball on Feb. 2.
Molloy’s Cole Anthony, son of former NBA guard Greg Anthony, sealed the deal with a put-back with 17 ticks left in the match, and the move caught Loughlin off guard, one player said.
“I thought Jordan [Thomas] had it, but Cole, he just jumped up and grabbed it, and he scored,” junior Keith Williams said. “I was shocked.”
The loss puts Loughlin in second place behind the Stanners, who have now won both meetings.
“It’s a very tough loss,” Williams said.
The game was starting to get away from his team after two free throws from Dominick Priolo put Molloy up 68–61 with 2:41 to play in the game. Loughlin responded with a 10-1 run capped by Marquise Nowell stripping Anthony near half court and making a layup with 40 seconds remaining — a move that put his club up 71–69.
The Lions squad (13–4, 9–2) could have sealed the game had it corralled a long rebound of an Anthony jumper on the next possession, but the ball went through two players’ hands — and back to Molloy (16–3, 11–2). Justin Cole drew a foul and made just the one of two free throws. An undeterred Anthony got the rebound, took one dribble, spun and buried a short shot to put Molloy ahead for good.
“It came down to that one possession and the one previous to that,” Loughlin coach Ed Gonzalez said. “We just need to get possession of the basketball. We didn’t need to score. They are going to foul you.”
Loughlin had three good looks in the final 17 seconds. Nowell missed a corner jumper over Molloy center Moses Brown’s outstretched arm, NayShon Kane couldn’t get a 10-foot jumper to go, and Williams missed a put-back at the horn.
“I thought there was one second left, so I just caught it and threw it up,” Williams said. “I missed it unfortunately.”
Anthony scored a game-high 27 points, and Khalid Moore tallied 16 points to torment the Lions for a second time. Williams, who was cramping up most of the fourth quarter, paced Loughlin with 20 points, and Nowell had 15. Idan Tretout added 12.
The team didn’t share the ball enough on offense, said Gonzalez, who hopes his squad will take away the importance of winning small battles from the major loss.
“We won’t make this same mistake down the road,” Gonzalez said. “I told the kids if we have a loss like this I’d rather have it now.”
