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EAST NORRITON – A.J. Picard was a solitary figure on the court, the immense disappointment written on his face, but still, he was reluctant to leave, reluctant to acknowledge the end.
The end had come swiftly and without warning for Picard and his Souderton teammates in Saturday afternoon’s PIAA Class AAAA opening round game against Roman Catholic at Norristown High School.
One second, Rakeem Brookins’ shot for the win clanged harmlessly off the rim, and the next, teammate Kevin Regan’s impossible, off-balance shot from behind the backboard found its way through the net as the buzzer sounded, setting of a jubilant celebration as the Comets earned the heartstopping 55-54 win.
Four one-hundredths of a second.
That was all that separated the Indians from the big win, but it didn’t happen.
Picard recounted those final fateful seconds after Roman called a timeout with nine seconds remaining to design a play for Tulane-bound Brookins.“When I was guarding number five on the wing, I tried to hit the ball and hopefully hit his leg and go out of bounds, but it hit his leg, stayed inbounds and he got it,” the Indians’ senior captain said of his battle with Brookins. “He forced up a shot – I tried to play defense as good as I could.
“When the shot came out and bounced off the rim, I was like, ‘Come on, how much time is left? Buzzer, just go off.’ The guy (Regan) got it and hit this ridiculous shot. I was watching March Madness in college, and I was seeing all those buzzer beaters, and I was like, ‘I hope that isn’t me.’”
It was Picard, and it was the Indians, and the emotions of that moment transcended words.
“I was just like, ‘Are you serious?’ and my head just dropped,” Picard said. “I was like, ‘It can’t end like this. I can’t believe it’s over.’ At the same time, I have to know I gave it my all.”
For 32 grueling minutes, the Indians battled a Comet squad that includes two Division One players in its starting lineup – Brookins and 6-8 Anthony Mayo (Boston University) - and another – 6-7 Junior Fortunat – waiting in the wings.
Souderton took Roman to the last possible second, and it took a miracle finish for the Comets to defeat a decidedly undersized Indian squad.
“Other than a broken play at the end of the game, our guys did everything they had to do to win the game, and they played hard enough to win the game,” coach Perry Engard said. “I’m extremely proud of them.
“Especially in a game like this where you have three officials that decide they’re going to let these guys play – you saw the bleeding guys coming off the floor. Usually when the whistles go away, it does favor the other team, but our guys played physical with them all day. We kept coming, kept coming, kept coming. A different guy kept stepping up. That’s what team basketball is. I couldn’t be prouder of how they played against a team with two D-1’s and a D-2 (player) in college next year.”
Souderton established from the outset that it would not back down to a physically imposing Roman squad, and the Indians led 8-7 after the first quarter. Things began to heat up in the second quarter that saw the Comets outscore the Indians 19-15 to go into halftime with a 26-23 lead, but the Indians battled back.
The tone for the third quarter was established when – on Roman’s first possession – Nate Lewis deflected a ball loss that was picked up by Nate Moyer, who buried an outside jumper at the other end.
It was a 28-28 game after Moyer – who scored a team-high 14 points – connected on one-of-two from the foul line. After a Roman miss, Jeff Bishop – despite being fouled – scored on a tough drive to the hole and then completed the three-point play, putting the Indians on top 31-28.
Roman answered with a 5-0 run to go on top by two, but Anthony Sergio , who had 11 points off the bench, buried a big three. A putback by Bishop gave the Indians a 36-33 lead, and when Sergio sank his second three of the quarter, the Indians led 41-37 heading into the final quarter.
“Kyle (Connolly) was playing sick - he didn’t practice yesterday, but Kyle is a warrior and gave us everything he had,” Engard said. “Serge knew he would get extra minutes.
“We said, ‘Serge, you’re playing better than you have at any point in your career. Have confidence,’ and he did. They all played well.”
The Indians led 44-39 after Picard completed a three-point play, but a dunk by Fortunat sparked an 8-3 Roman run, knotting the score 47-47 midway through the quarter.
Moyer scored on a tough drive over Fortunat to put the Indians back on top, and they still led 52-51 after Picard buried a short jumper at the end of the Comets’ press. After Picard pulled down the rebound of a Roman miss, Moyer buried a pair from the foul line to put the Indians on top 54-51 with 1:22 remaining.
Brookins answered with a pair of foul shots to make it a one-point game at the 1:11 mark, and the Indians spread the floor. An errant pass gave the Comets possession with 35 seconds remaining, and the rest is history.
“You can’t blame any of this on the lack of effort,” said Connolly, who chipped in with eight points. “I think everyone gave everything they had.
“Those last seconds – that’s just how the game goes sometimes. It was obviously a contested shot, but he (Regan) knocked it down. When that first shot didn’t go in, I think everyone got that excitement thinking that was it. I didn’t think there was time for another shot. Obviously, he did get it off, and it went it. That just made it that much more disappointing.”
The Indians closed the book on a memorable season that saw them capture a Continental Conference title and earn a berth in states. Saying good-bye was not easy for the 10 seniors or their coaches.
“It was one of the first times I’ve seen Engard cry after a game at the end of the season because I think he loves this group so much,” Picard said. “I was getting teary-eyed in there because it finally hit me that it was over.
“We all loved each other. We’re family.”
“This is definitely a great memory to have our senior year,” Connolly added. “It was a story telling season. I don’t think it has hit us all yet, but it will eventually. We’re going to miss this a lot.”
Engard couldn’t hide his emotions at the mention of this year’s senior class.
“There were a lot of tears from everybody on the team because it’s the last game we get to spend with each other,” he said. “If there was ever a senior class that I could coach for one more year, it was them.
“The toughest part was saying good bye to them. They just deserved to move on.”
The Indians closed out the season with a 23-5 record.
“I thought we did an amazing job,” Picard said. “It was the best season in a while here, and I thought we made a couple of statements throughout the season and built up this program to be a good program.
“If you get blown out in a game like this, you have got to think to yourself, ‘Wow, did I give it my all?’ The fact that it came down to the last possession and a buzzer beater – there’s not a lot you can do.”
ROMAN CATHOLIC 55, SOUDERTON 54
Roman Catholic 7 19 11 18-55
Souderton 8 15 18 13-54
Roman Catholic (55) – Montana Mayfield 3 2-3 8; Kevin Regan 4 0-0 8; Rakeem Brookins 5 5-8 15; Shafeek Taylor 1 0-0 3; Anthony Mayo 0 2-2 2; Daiquan Walker 2 0-0 4; Junior Fortunat 5 2-3 12; Dennis Regan 0 0-0 0; Britton Lee 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 21 12-17 55.
Souderton (54) – Jeff Bishop 3 1-1 7; Nate Moyer 5 4-6 14; Nate Lewis 0 0-0 0; A.J. Picard 4 3-5 11; Kyle Connolly 3 1-2 8; Anthony Sergio 4 0-0 11; Mark Wonderling 1 1-2 3. TOTALS 20 10-16 54.
3-point goals: Roman – Taylor. Souderton – Sergio 3, Connolly.
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