After trailing by as many as 14 points, the Blind Brook Varsity Basketball Trojans came back to defeat the Valhalla Vikings by a score of 58 to 57 on Tuesday, February 26th. This drama-filled high-intensity victory was the Trojans 16th in a row.
With the Trojans down 14 points with two minutes remaining in the third quarter, head coach Mike Welsh pulled his starters and put in much of his bench. Junior guard Ryan Aiello said this about the brief benching, “We came out of the half and did not play the way we knew we could and Coach taking us out was the wake up call that we needed.” Welsh put the starters back in to the game and the team was immediately energized. This strategic move by Coach Welsh was intended to ignite his players and saved the teams’ game and season. Aiello continued, “It helped us realize that we were playing for our season and each other and we needed to step up.”
This gutsy move by Welsh led to the Trojans getting back into the game. Within the last few minutes there were many lead changes, big plays, and clutch free throws from both sides. With 4.3 seconds remaining Senior Zach Zimmerman hit two free throws to put the Trojans up 58-57. On the next possession the Vikings dribbled down to about the three-point-line and called a time out. Coach Welsh brought in Junior forward Albert Zottola to guard the inbounds pass. With only 1.5 seconds left Zottola deflected the inbounds pass and the Vikings could not even get up a shot attempt.
The team celebrated on the court as the Blind Brook Student Section erupted with cheers. Junior guard Spencer Gordon, who was nearly speechless trying to describe the scene after the final buzzer only had this to say: “Wow!”.
Next, on Friday, March 1st, our Blind Brook Varsity Basketball Trojans will be playing Dobbs Ferry at Pace University at 7:30pm. Come out and support the Trojans on their quest for the sectional title and the Gold Ball!