Basketball: Cavalier Boys Drop First Game of Season

The South Carroll boys basketball team’s undefeated season came to an end Tuesday night, as Winters Mill beat them at the buzzer, 67-65.

The Cavaliers spent most the game fighting to stay in the game. The Falcons would get leads of eight points, but couldn’t put the visitors away. The home team led by six with 1:45 left in the contest.

"They hit seven 3-pointers in the first half and we were only down two," said South Carroll coach Doug Goff. "If you had told me somebody was going to make seven 3-pointers in a half, I would say you were down 15, but to our credit, we did some other good things and fought back and had a chance to win." 

Ryan McTavish hit a basket to make it 64-60. Winters Mill’s Evan Horn went to the foul line and sunk one of two shots to make the score 65-60. South Carroll’s Jeff Martin sunk both ends of a intentional foul with 46 seconds left and the Cavaliers got the ball back.

The got it in the hands of Ryan McTavish, who hit a three-pointer with 38 seconds left.

"We wanted to make sure we got the last shot. I give Brian a lot of credit, he didn’t quit on the play," said Falcon coach David Herman.

After a time-out, Winters Mill played for the last shot. Brian Martin hit a layup off a missed shot and the buzzer sounded as the ball went thought the basket.

"This is what’s high school basketball is all about. They are a great team. You can tell their undefeated. They don’t expect to lose. 20 hit’s those shots down the stretch and all that kind of stuff," said Herman.

South Carroll is 12-1 in the county and 18-1 overall. Winters Mill is 11-2 in the county and 13-5 overall. South Carroll can win the county outright with a victory Friday night at Liberty.

As what he told the team after the game, Goff said, "I told them it was a great game and it was something they should be proud to be a part of. They put themselves in a spot to contend for the county championship right here today and keep an undefeated season on. That takes a lot of hard work to get to this point. I thought we gave the effort we needed to do to try to get it done. They hit more shots than we did today. I give them credit."

Ryan McTavish exploded for 29 points in the game. His brother Gavin had 13 and Dan Mullen had 10 for the Cavaliers in double figures. Also scoring was Eric Hunsberger with with, Jeff Martin, three and Ryan Tate, two.

Martin had 18 to lead the Falcons, while Craig Bowen had 17; Robby Jenkins, 16; Evan Horn, 13; Ricky Miller, two and JT Sands, one.

"When you are 18-0 you get everybody’s best shot. This team in particular, we had a tight game with them when we played them at home. They were gearing for us the whole time and we were gearing for them. It just so happened we had the lead in the county coming in. Before the season even started we knew it was going to come down probably to this game to play for the county championship. Fortunately for us we put ourselves in a situation were we still have a chance to win the county outright on Friday. So that goes to our hard work over the year,’’ said Goff.

South Carroll took the junior varsity game 38-30. Tyler Alcid and Philip Breno led the Cavaliers with 10 points each. Other Cavaliers’ scoring were John Quinn, eight; Ryan Gibson, four and Kyle MacIvor, Stephen Walker and Matthew Dee with two points each.