Youth basketball
Syracuse earns title in nail-biter

The championship game of the Amherst Youth Basketball fourth-fifth grade gold bracket division pitted the Syracuse Orange versus the Marquette Golden Eagles at the Clearfield arena. Syracuse squeaked out a 36-34 victory.

The first quarter ended in a 10-10 tie demonstrating two evenly matched teams. David Maher and Jason Cohen slashed to the basket to pour in four points each, Quinn Keenan added a bucket. Patrick Hartigan was extremely effective driving to the baseline and hitting outside jumpers. Joe Brady used his patented moves in the paint to score three points.

The second quarter saw Marquette jump out to a 21-17 lead led by Jeffrey Calderon's stellar seven points. Syracuse stayed in the game with outstanding defense exhibited by James Doyle and Patrick Kelly crashing the boards. Jacob Schoelkopf added a key bucket to keep the game close going into the half. Jonathan Hall played smothering defense for the Golden Eagles.

The second half was a seesaw battle with each team exchanging baskets and many brilliant defensive gems displayed. Colin Greenway played outstanding defense in limiting Joe Brady to nine points. Keenan stepped up his game and poured in a team-high 14 points, earning a share of game MVP honors.

The game came down to the final 15 seconds tied at 34-34. The inbounds play saw Keenan dish off to Cohen who hit a spinning layup jumper. The Golden Eagles just ran out of time.

Ben Scharf played tremendous defense causing numerous turnovers and the fantastic play of Greenway and Maher helped fill the void of a missing Michael Keenehan, who was participating in the state hockey tournament.

A tremendous season was exhibited by Mandella Namaste, Eric Duran, Brady, Calderon, Hall, Patrick Hartigan, Liam Hughes, and Elliot Schulefand as they battled in the title game.