TULLY –– The No. 2 Tully boys basketball team battled with No. 7 Cato-Meridian up until the final horn of regulation and, despite the Black Knights hard fighting effort, came up just short and fell to the Blue Devils 53-48 in the quarterfinals of the Section III Class C tournament Thursday at Tully High School.
It was a back-and-forth, rollercoaster of a game up until the final minute of play. Cato-Meridian led 50-45 with 31.6 seconds left, and the Blue Devils’ Dylan McGetrick increased the lead to six after hitting one of two shots from the free throw line.
Garrett Thompson ended up with the ball in his hands for Tully in a big spot and the senior came through, knocking down a 3-pointer to make it 51-48 with 18 seconds left.
A quick foul from Tully followed, sending Perry Planck IV to the line with a chance to increase the lead for Cato-Meridian. The freshman missed the first, but sunk the second, giving the Blue Devils a two-possession lead with 17 seconds left.
Thompson got the ball again for the Black Knights and with the clock against them and no timeouts, he got two looks at the basket in the final 10 seconds. The first nearly banked in and an offensive rebound gave him one more look that rimmed out. Cato-Meridian was fouled with 0.1 seconds remaining, went to the line and added one more point to seal its win.
Tully trailed by one after the first quarter and struggled to find a groove against a lengthy Cato-Meridian defense that made the Black Knights work all game for tough points.
Cato-Meridian took a 27-22 lead into halftime and after a tough fight from Tully in the third quarter to cut the lead to two, the Blue Devils got a 4-point play right before the buzzer sounded to push the lead to six heading into the fourth.
Tully head coach Ryan Dando saw his team struggle offensively against a scrappy defensive gameplan from the Blue Devils.
“They (Cato-Meridian) have great length and they exploited that,” Dando said. “They took us out of our flow with their length, and we never really got back into one. Every time we opened a door, they took advantage and did a fantastic job of it.”
The Blue Devils’ length didn’t just cause problems on offense for Tully, but it also did on defense.
“I thought we honestly defended them pretty well but they got us inside and anytime we were late and they had open looks, they made the shots,” Dando said. “That was the difference to me. We weren’t able to make those plays down the stretch.”
Despite not getting the result it wanted, Tully didn’t show any signs of quit until the finish. Dando was elated to see such effort from his squad.
“Our guys were gamers and they didn’t want the season to end,” Dando said. “They had a lot of good stuff going and we were playing well. Our seniors didn’t want their careers to end and the younger guys didn’t want to be done playing either.”
Connor Bastedo led Tully’s offense with 20 points. Thompson only scored three points in the first half but finished with 13. Sean Mize and Sam Dando each had six points and Nate Best added two points.
Tully finishes the season with a record of 18-3.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
No. 4 WEEDSPORT 52, No. 5 TULLY 39
Only five Tully players scored as the Black Knights allowed a 20-7 second quarter after being up 9-6 through eight minutes. Tully’s season ends with a 14-7 record.
Anna Congelli paced the Black Knights’ offense with 13 points, Ella Polak pitched in nine points, Desiray Gables netted seven points, Gabby Flatt made two 3-pointers for six points and Gwyn Wilbur had two points.
