BINGHAMTON — Jackson Crisman’s off-balance, buzzer-beating three-point basket from the right side gave Cooperstown a 66-64 win over Lyons in the Class C boys basketball semifinals Saturday, March 21, at Visions Veterans Arena.
The play off an inbounds pass with 4.4 seconds left — called Blind Cow — was supposed to go back to the passer, senior guard Miles Nelen, but he was double teamed by the Lions.
“I asked coach, ‘what if they were double teaming him?’” Crisman said. “He said, ‘just turn around and shoot it.’ So, I kind of threw up a prayer. I was aware if the play did not work, I just had to turn around and make something happen.”
“What a shot by Jackson. Great shot,” Cooperstown Coach John Lambert said. “We practice a lot of those last-second things in practice, just to be aware of situational things. They don’t always work, but the kids know the schemes. So, it isn’t ‘where do I go? What do I do?’ They know what to do.”
The win sends Cooperstown to the Class C boys basketball finals for the first time since its state championship in 2019. The Hawkeyes will play defending Class C champion Berne-Knox-Westerlo, the Section II and Northern Region champion, which beat Section I champion North Salem, 100-66, in the other semifinal Saturday.
The championship game will take place at 11:45 a.m., Sunday, March 22, at the Arena in Binghamton.
Crisman’s heroics came on the third play in a row that could have been a dramatic game winner.
Trailing 63-60, Lion guard Steven Lebrecht made a four-point play to give his team the lead. He made a three pointer from the right wing with 8.8 seconds left, drew a foul from Ben Lewis and converted the free throw to put Lyons up, 64-63.
“Chances are, they are going to drive quick to the basket,” Lambert said. “We didn’t want them to get a basket in two or three or four seconds. At the same time, you have to be careful of the kick out. Sure enough, they drove into the middle and they got the kick out. Credit their kid. He made a deep three-point shot. It was a great shot. Ben did contest it. Unfortunately, he ran into him.”
Before that, Cooperstown senior guard Christian Lawson stole the ball near midcourt from Jah’Zyree Smith and sprinted down court for a layup to give the Hawkeyes a 63-60 lead with 15.2 seconds left.
“Christian was a little down on himself. He had turned the ball over five or six times today,” Lambert said. “We always talk about the next play, because you can’t do anything about it. So, we told him, ‘Just focus on the next play.’ He was like, ‘Yes, sir. Yes, sir.’ We just kept telling him ‘Contain, contain.’ At some point, I knew he was going to contain that kid and steal the ball, and he did it with under a minute to go. It was wonderful.”
The late-game swings were emblematic of the entire game, between the Section V and Western Region champion Lions from Lyons, and the Section III and Central Region champion Hawkeyes.
Cooperstown scored the first five points of the game, but Lyons scored the next six.
Cooperstown led after one quarter, 16-12, and at halftime, 28-27, but Lyons led after three quarters, 43-41.
The Lions biggest lead was six points, 34-28, on Jamire Johnson’s basket down low with 5:43 left in the third quarter.
The Hawkeyes biggest lead was six points, 53-47, on Crisman’s three from the top with 5:27 left in the game.
Nelen, the Hawkeye guard who leads the team in scoring, dominated at times with drives, jumpers and passes, but was stifled at times by the Lion defense, with double teams and a constant defender on him full court.
Johnson, the Lion big man, dominated at times with rebounds and cutbacks, but was stifled at times by Cooperstown’s 2-3 zone and double teams under the basket.
“He’s such a good player,” Lambert said. “His hands are soft. He’s got such a good basketball IQ. He moves people around with his lower body, which isn’t really apparent when you are watching the game. He’s just so big and strong.
“We knew we had to take away that first,” he said.
Nelen led all scorers with 26 points for Cooperstown (26-0). Crisman scored 16 points and had eight rebounds. Brody Murdock scored 12 points, including a couple of three-point baskets to erase second-half leads. Lawson scored seven points, all in the fourth quarter, and had three assists. Cooper Coleman scored five points. Lewis had six rebounds and two blocks.
Lyons (24-3) got 18 points and 18 rebounds from Johnson, as well as 13 from LeBrecht, 12 each from Kayvon Butler and Contrell Parker Jr., and nine from Smith.