Hill School clips Kiski in OT to reach Mercer Invitational final
POTTSTOWN >> The Hill School boys basketball team had a chance to atone for its earlier troubles on defense when Friday afternoon’s 50th Annual Mercer Invitational semifinal went into overtime. And the Blues made the most of that second opportunity with a 78-72 win over Kiski School at Gillison Gym.
Gabe Dorsey scored seven of his game-high 24 points in the extra session and Zach Lezanic came through with four big free throws and two assists down the stretch. The Blues (7-3) will try for their fourth straight title today at 2:30 p.m. against Canterbury School, an 84-64 winner over Peddie School.
“In overtime, the main thing was to defend and rebound,” said Dorsey. “We had a lot of lapses during the game. We thought we had to clean things up to put the game away. And make big plays on offense.”
“I think it was just playing our game, playing our style and keeping them out of the lane,” added Lezanic.
Dorsey started the OT with a 3-point basket from beyond the top of the circle for a 65-62 advantage, broke a 69-all tie with a fastbreak basket off a steal by Lezanic and boosted the margin to 74-69 with his fourth trey of the day off a pass from Lezanic.
“He’s the best shooter on our team,” Lezanic said concerning Dorsey. “I’m looking for him any time he’s open. He’s a real threat.”
The Blues led the majority of the time in a contest that included five lead changes and 14 ties. They were up by as many as seven (22-15) early in the second quarter, but found themselves in a 60-54 hole with 2 1⁄2 minutes to play in regulation. That was mostly due to a 5-point play by Noreon Williams. He made three of four free throws when he was fouled while shooting and The Hill was called for a technical foul and then drove the middle for a basket.
But the hosts came right back with six straight point to tie it on three free throws by Lezanic and a 3-pointer from the left corner by Dorsey off a feed from Lezanic.
“We knew we had plenty of time,” said Dorsey. “We stayed poised and ran our stuff as we do in practice every day. We bended, but we never broke.”
Kiski went back on top on an offensive rebound basket by Williams, but Caleb Dorsey made two at the line with four seconds to go to send the game into overtime.
“It’s another four minutes to compete and play and have a chance to win,” said Lezanic. “All of us love the big stage.”
“We bent, bent, bent, but didn’t break,” said Blues coach Seth Eilberg. “I thought at times we were kind of out-toughed, keeping the ball in the lane and getting on the glass. We want to be the tougher team. Big hats off to Paul Henson. He came off the bench and took a huge charge. That was a big game-winning play. The guys stayed together and really helped each other down the stretch. Zach really makes everyone’s job easier and everybody found a way to make a play when we had to have one.”
Daniel Nixon scored 17 for the Blues and Caleb Dorsey scored 12 and pulled in 12 rebounds. Christopher Moncrief led the Cougars with 15 points and four others scored at least 12.
Now the Blues will try to become the third team to win four straight championships.
“My brother is a senior and we’ve got to get the 4-peat,” said Gabe Dorsey. “We’ve got to close it out for him.”
“It would be special,” Lezanic added.
