Frankford boys trip Bartram in triple-OT
During a timeout in the second overtime at Frankford, Pioneers assistant coach Keith Hines nudged the basketball toward a referee, whose comedic retort was illustrative of the game's early action with visiting Bartram.
During a timeout in the second overtime at Frankford, Pioneers assistant coach Keith Hines nudged the basketball toward a referee, whose comedic retort was illustrative of the game's early action with visiting Bartram.
"You might need this," Hines said as he pushed the ball toward the ref.
"Why, nobody's putting it in the basket," the official quipped.
Aesthetically, the offensive output left much to be desired. But the Pioneers still prevailed, earning a hard-fought, 46-41 Public League Liberty Division victory in triple overtime.
Seydou Ndiaye led the Pioneers (10-9, 6-5) with 16 points and eight rebounds, while Jayquan Williams added 11 points, including the go-ahead three-pointer late in the final overtime.
Frankford senior Anthony Rodriguez, who had previously missed the potential game-winning free throw in the second OT, sunk two freebies in the final OT that helped secure the victory.
"We just stayed positive," said Rodriguez, who finished with five points. "We knew we weren't going home without a win. It was exciting. We just had to stay with it. I told my team we weren't losing."
Victory, however, was in doubt with the Braves ahead by two with about five seconds left in the second overtime.
Bartram missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw attempt that was rebounded by Taleek Anderson and passed to Rodriguez near midcourt.
Rodriguez motored toward the rim, got fouled, and made the contested layup to raucous cheers from the modest number of fans in attendance.
But his attempt at the game-winning free throw went awry.
"I was frustrated," he said. "I knew I should have made it. I was very frustrated with myself."
Extreme patience by both teams made points hard to come by in all three overtimes.
In fact, in the first, scoreless four-minute overtime, Bartram won the jump ball and kept possession for nearly the first two minutes, attempting only one shot.
Frankford finally took possession with 2 minutes, 16 seconds left in the frame and also proceeded to patiently probe before hoisting two quality three-point attempts just before time expired.
After dueling filibusters grounded the scoring to a halt, the Pioneers took an early four-point edge in the second overtime only to relinquish it and then fall behind by two after Khyree Lloyd's three from the right wing with about 35 seconds left.
First-year Frankford coach Jamie Ross said he wanted to slow his young team down to prevent miscues that have hurt the Pioneers at times this season.
"We have a lot of guys who this is their first year playing varsity or just haven't played a lot of varsity minutes," Ross said. "This is a win where we almost put everything together. This is a good win for us to build off going into the playoffs."
The Braves (8-10, 7-4) were led by Darnell Ransom's 11 points. Lloyd and Tyrae Green added nine points apiece.
Frankford 8 8 11 5 0 7 7 – 46
Bartram 10 6 7 9 0 7 2 – 41
F: Seydou Ndiaye 16, Mason Dennis 2, Anthony Rodriguez 5, Jayquan Williams 11, James Wilson 4, Francisco Campo 3, Frankie Okpala 5.
B: Tyrae Green 9, Darnell Ransom 11, Khyree Lloyd 9, Javon Flynn 4, Ali Sharif 8.
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