DOYLESTOWN >> There were a bevy of seniors on the floor Tuesday night who could have been the hero of a District 1 Class 6A playoff game between No. 7 seed Central Bucks East and No. 10 seed Boyertown.

Instead, the youngest player in the game made the play of the game, sending his team into the district quarterfinals

Patriots freshman Jacob Cummiskey drove to the hoop, floated in the air and laid in a bucket moments before the final buzzer to give his team a 51-50 win before he was mobbed by his teammates.

FINAL: @cbeasthoops 51, @BashAthletics 50. … Freshman Jacob Cummiskey scores before the buzzer to send CB East onto District 1 quarters. pic.twitter.com/kLnEhh2r2z

— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) March 10, 2021

Cummiskey finished with 10 points and seniors Joe Jackman (13) and Jack Hamilton (11) also hit double figures for CB East (13-3), which advanced to play No. 18 North Penn, a 52-45 winner over No. 2 Conestoga.

For the Bears (10-6), senior Tre Diguglielmo scored 11, senior Aarick Salata 10 and senior David Leh nine.

“I had no idea what the time was,” Cummiskey said. “I was just screaming for my teammate to give it to me. I went up the court. I was open, so I just exploded, found myself in a one-on-one situation and just did my thing.

“Everything just stopped. It was just me and the rim and somehow I threw it in there.”

.@cbeasthoops freshman Jacob Cummiskey after hitting the game-winner in a District 1 win over Boyertown on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/x8w0OV6noA

— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) March 10, 2021

After a Boyertown missed free throw with about seven seconds left, Hamilton drove the ball down the court. Without hesitation the Patriots senior gave the ball up to Cummiskey open on the left wing.

Similar to his crossover, spin and score to put CB East up 49-47 near the two-minute mark, this time Cummiskey picked up steam as he dribbled toward a Bear defender and appeared to be covered before hanging in the air and laying the ball softly off the glass, even as gravity took him toward the ground.

“He dominates in practice,” Hamilton said. “It doesn’t matter what age he is. He’s a freaking good a– basketball player.”

PHOTO GALLERY: District 1-6A Boys Basketball: Boyertown-CB East 3.9.21

Salata had the Bears positioned for a storybook finish of their own prior to Cummiskey’s heroics.

After Cummiskey put the Patriots ahead, Salata scored a drive plus the foul, converting the free throw to give Boyertown a 50-49 lead with 20.2 seconds left.

CB East’s first attempt at a game-winner was no good as Jackman’s drive to the hoop hit off the bottom of the backboard. Salata scrapped on the floor for the rebound, eventually finding Leh.

A foul sent Leh, who scored seven points in the fourth quarter, to the line with seven seconds left for a one-and-one. He missed the front end and the Patriots came storming down the court the other way for the game-winning play.

“It’s tough when you see a kid like (Salata) in tears because he’s given his heart and soul to everything that’s going on,” Boyertown coach Mike Ludwig said. “It’s really hard, but I’m just proud of the way they hung in there today and just kept fighting the entire game.”

Boyertown entered Tuesday’s night’s game without two members of its rotation.

Senior guard Christian Renninger, the team’s second leading scorer, was ruled ineligible for postseason play by the PIAA after transferring to his local high school from Kimberton Waldorf School. Senior forward Chris Kiefer missed the game with an injury sustained in practice.

The Bears fell behind 21-13 in the second quarter and trailed by four at halftime before blitzing the Patriots with nine straight points to go up 29-24 a minute and a half into the third quarter.

Aarick Salata and-one with 20.2 seconds left. 50-49 Boyertown pic.twitter.com/n9hkWT8WIV

— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) March 10, 2021

CB East answered with six straight of its own to retake the lead, which traded hands a number of times the rest of the way.

Jake Kapp scored seven points, including a pair of third-quarter threes for Boyertown. Starting in place of Renninger, Roman Marinello knocked down two 3-pointers, one of which gave the Bears a fourth-quarter lead.

“Obviously we’re down a couple kids and that’s kind of tough, but that’s what we talk about. It’s just the next guy up,” Ludwig said. “Those guys have been trying to make plays all year and today they did, so I’m really proud of all of our guys for the way they played and how hard they fought.”

CB East similarly had many rise to the occasion in Tuesday’s playoff win.

Senior Jason Markowitz and junior Liam Cummiskey both scored six. Cummiskey hit a pair of early threes and Markowitz added another to help the Patriots out to a hot start.

Junior Brett Young knocked down a fourth-quarter three, and senior Brendan Harte’s free throws tied the game 47-47 with 2:53 left following Marinello’s make from deep.

“We’ve just been a 3-point shooting team,” Jacob Cummiskey said. “That’s the best offense we’ve played all year. Everyone was contributing.”

Boyertown is no stranger to District 1 playoff heartbreak, falling to Plymouth-Whitemarsh 59-53 in a home opener last season. Despite a second-straight disappointing finish, the past two seasons were program changing.

Spearheaded by Salata and Diguglielmo, the Bears’ senior group helped a program that finished last in the Liberty Division and below .500 for three straight seasons to new heights during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns, including the most wins in 15 years a season ago.

“They’ve changed the culture of our program, and they’ve changed it into a winning culture,” Ludwig said. “It doesn’t mean you’re going to win every game, but it means you’re going to go out and you’re going to compete every second of every game and more times than not you’re going to come out on top.

“Their last two years have really changed what Boyertown basketball is and I think what people think of Boyertown basketball. I’m real proud of all of them for that.”

Cummiskey is happy for at least one more game with the Patriots’ group of six seniors who left the fate of their season and high school careers in the hands of a freshman Tuesday night.

“They’re a nice group of kids and very good basketball players too,” he said. “I really appreciate them for putting me in that situation because I had confidence in myself.”

CB East had its season end the same way as Boyertown last season, dropping a heartbreaker to North Penn on a buzzer beater three in a state playback game.

Playing in their first district quarterfinal since 2016, the Patriots hope to get revenge on a Knights squad they split the season series with to get into the semifinals.

“This was our expectation coming into the year,” Hamilton said. “We knew we had a good group. Last year, we lost in the playoff to North Penn on a buzzer and I heard they won, so it’s a rematch of last year.”