Basketball

One-minute matrix

VanLieu caps off stellar night as Bears stave off fiery Comets

By RICHARD A. ROSS

FALLSBURG, NY - In the House of the Spirits, another celestial battle waged on.

Echoing a storied history, often enacted on this very floor between two teams who have engaged in numerous memorable classics, Fallsburg and Tri-Valley went at each other on January 27 to write the next chapter in their never-ending story.

In an epic display of great high school basketball, impeccable sportsmanship and alternating heroics, this non-league game took on the epic proportions of the grandest of quests.

Watching it reminded one of two unassailable truths: One, among high school sports, basketball is king, at least in winter; and two, great efforts, regardless of their outcome, forge enduring character.

Long after anyone remembers that Tri-Valley won this 72-66 clash, the young men who fought so valiantly will continue to draw strength by having faced up to adversity with everything they possessed. What doesn’t kill us can make us stronger.

For Fallsburg fans, who know what it feels like to see their team vie for a title at Glens Falls and for the Tri-Valley legions, who came to watch their Bears who fell just one game shy of that privilege just a couple of years back, this game had the aura of a championship set-to, despite the fact that neither team is currently setting any worlds on fire.

From the moment the tip went up amid the hue and cry, the pace never slackened in a page turner that held the crowd’s rapt attention right to the end as the 32- minute war came down to a matter of moments.

Staging its best effort in its winless season to date, Fallsburg rode its long-range marksmanship and its unrelenting will to the brink of an inaugural victory as it pulled within one point of Tri-Valley with 1:20 to go, only to see its hopes dashed as Dustin VanLieu reeled off seven of his team’s final eight points to preserve the win for the Bears.

Big moments call for big efforts. Fallsburg got nine three pointers on the night, which included five from Mike Melko and three from Colin Whitaker, the last of which brought his team one point shy of the tie. Stellar play came from Dan Seletsky, who gave his team a 51-50 lead toward the end of the third quarter. He was another warrior in the Comets’ crusade for that elusive holy grail of victory.

The effort was reminiscent of a winning one a year ago when the Comets poured in 10 three-pointers, including a buzzer beater by Randy Gilmore, to defeat Sullivan West in the “Arc Light” epic.

VanLieu’s game-high 26 points, which included a bevy of buckets at crucial times, proved to be the defining difference. Great performances from Andrew Yager and Tim Martin were also key, as Tri-Valley profited from numerous second-chance opportunities wrought by its rebounding edge. Six threes helped the cause with Yager providing three of them to help the Bears stay ahead of the relentlessly surging Comets.

Fallsburg controlled the opening tip and Seletsky raced to the rim as the Comets drew first blood. In a preview of his role as Tri-Valley’s version of “The Answer,” VanLieu tied it up with two from the stripe. Using a quick first step, his drives were key in availing him nine free-throw attempts of which he would convert eight.

Fallsburg stayed ahead, before Tri-Valley went on a 6-0 run helped by a VanLieu three and a Martin put back. Later, Tri-Valley coach Brian Tingley would refer to Martin as the team’s “best rebounder.” Martin scored four points in each of the first two quarters on his way toward a noteworthy 15.

Melko and Yager traded threes before the former hit another to slice the Bears’ seven-point lead to four. Tri-Valley led 18-14 at the end of the first quarter.

Martin and Dan Killian widened the margin back to seven, but a three from Roderick Cash reduced the lead again. Midway through the quarter, the Comets trailed by two several times, as they matched Tri-Valley with 16 points in the frame. VanLieu and Whitaker neutralized each other’s threes and the teams headed to the locker room with the Bears in front 34-30.

Fallsburg inbounded to start the second half and Whitaker cut the lead to one with another trey. Answering back, the Bears scored the next five as the Comets failed to box out. VanLieu got the lead back to seven, but Melko drained another from downtown and the saga continued.

Tri-Valley looked to get some separation, but Whitaker hit another three as the Comets closed it to 48-45. A put back by Robert Favre widened it to five, but a free throw from Dyhu Anthony and Melko’s third long-range missile brought the Comets close at 50-49 before Seletsky’s bucket gave the Comets their only lead since the early part of the first quarter.

That 51-50 edge vanished as the quarter wound down with a free throw by Yager and a final bucket by VanLieu. Tri-Valley led 53-51 heading into the final frame.

The Bears inbounded and Martin promptly scored. Anthony answered and Martin responded again, this time with a three. The Bears now led by five, but Pete Dworetsky’s crew refused to call it quits.

Russell Corley put one back in but the Comets didn’t get back on defense, allowing Dom Baggatta a quick bucket. A VanLieu steal and a deft behind-the-back pass to a scoring Baggatta brought Bears fans to their feet as the lead burgeoned to seven.

Whitaker scored as the midpoint of the quarter approached, but a lackluster pass was picked off, leading to a three by Yager. That afforded Tri-Valley a game-high eight-point lead at 65-57. But with 2:49 remaining, Whitaker dished an assist to Seletsky and then distributed another to Cash. Tri-Valley seemed to lose its composure and turned it over on several sequences. Anthony missed a three but the ball was kicked out to Whitaker, who buried a trey to make it 65-54 with 1:20 to go.

The din was indescribable.

Dworetsky counseled his players to try and step in front of VanLieu to draw a charge, but the slashing guard did what was expected. Driving to the rim, he fired up an underhanded scoop to push the lead to three. Following a Comet miss, he drove and scored again. Anthony’s swiping denial of a Baggatta shot was ruled a foul. Baggatta hit both. Seletsky scored the final bucket with nine seconds left. That final minute had proven to be lethal for the Comets (0-13), who came up on the wrong end of the 72-66 outcome.

Prior to the game, Tingley had expressed his concern about Fallsburg’s long-range shooting. “They were three for 20 at our place and if just three more of those had gone in, it would have been a very close game,” he mused, thinking about his team’s 62-53 victory in Grahamsville.

His fears were well-founded. “They didn’t miss many threes tonight,” he said. “You look at their record and you see they don’t have a win but they’ve been putting up a lot of points against people and just been coming up short so many times. They’re a good team.”

Asked about the late drama, Tingley responded by saying he had advised his team to take care of the ball on its final five possessions and run time off the clock. “But we forced it into the middle and turned it over. We didn’t even get a look at the basket. Fortunately, Dustin’s shots made it a five-point game.”

In addition to VanLieu’s 26, the Bears (9-5) got 17 from Yager and 15 from Martin. On January 30, they downed Eldred 75-38. They took on league rival Tuxedo on February 2.

Though disappointed that another one got away, Dworetsky and his team take solace in how much they’ve improved since their early season 23-point loss to Monticello. Playing without point guard Jason Corley, who rolled his ankle in another winnable game against Port Jervis, the Comets move closer to getting a “W.”

“We played tough against Liberty and here we were right in it until the final seconds,” he noted. “Colin and Melko just kept coming up with big shots. We’ve got seven games left and we’re hoping to do something.” Dworetsky praised his players for staying the course. “No one has walked away,” he said.

A January 30 game against Tuxedo was postponed. The Comets planned to dedicate that game to Melvyn Mednick, who served as a drug and alcohol counselor at Fallsburg Central School from 1981-1998 when he retired. He subsequently served on the board of education from 1999 until his untimely death on January 16.

The Comets still have three league games remaining, including two against John S. Burke and one against James I. O’Neill. They lost to Sullivan West on February 2. Despite the current state of affairs, the final chapters of the Comets’s tale are yet to be written.

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of game photos.