One night after losing on a shot in the closing seconds, Aberdeen Roncalli won on a last-second three-pointer by Zach Andera. The senior's basket produced a 48-47 non-conference victory over Elk Point-Jefferson during the final night of the Cavalier Winter Basketball Classic at Roncalli Gym Friday night.
"It's nice to be on the other end of that," said Roncalli coach Todd Neuendorf. "It's nice to be on the end of winning at the buzzer."
Interestingly enough, the final play of the game was designed for Kory Schwan. However, the ball went straight to Andera instead.
"I was suppose to go up and set a screen," Andera explained of the final play. "Schwanny is a great shooter and everyone knows that. They switched two-three guys on him."
Before the play unfolded, Andera told teammate Kendal Deutsch to look for him if Schwan was covered.
"I just set up and Deutsch threw a great pass to me," Andera said.
Neuendorf said his team works on that exact situation in practice.
"We have Zach set the screen and it is for Schwanny," Neuendorf said. "If you're playing a good team they'll always run to the shooter. Zach is our second option."
Unlike it's loss to St. Thomas More on Thursday in which Roncalli led most of the way, this time the Cavaliers trailed nearly the entire game against EPJ. The visitors were behind only twice in the contest, once at 16-14 and another at 45-42.
The Huskies then scored five straight points, all by Andrew Flynn to take a two-point lead with eight seconds left.
Roncalli called timeout with 2.3 seconds left to set up the game-winner.
"I'm really proud of how we played. We're really grown a lot over this first month," said EPJ coach Cole Knippling. "This is a tough place to come play. They battled all the way to the end. I liked our execution. I like what we did. Just a bummer that that has to be an 'L' in the column."
Neuendorf could feel his coaching counterpart's pain, especially since he experienced the same feeling the night before.
"That's the part of coaching that drives coaches nuts and gives you ulcers," Neuendorf said. "They were at such a high and then 2.3 seconds later they're at the ultimate low. (Thursday) night it was six seconds for us. We were at a high and six seconds later you're at an ultimate low."
Schwan led Roncalli with 16 points and Brayden McNeary followed with 10.
Andera finished with nine points, eight rebounds and his first game-winning shot since fourth grade.
"I thought it was short right away," Andera said of his three-pointer, "but whatever works, I guess."
Brock Zeller led all scorers with 26 points for the Huskies. The senior was a force inside and on the perimeter.
"The Zeller kid is a tough guard," Neuendorf said. "He's really handy."
Bryce Kelly contributed 10 points and 11 rebounds for EPJ.
Roncalli, 5-1, will not have much time to celebrate its victory. The Cavaliers head to Parkston where they will face Mount Vernon-Plankinton at about 8:30 tonight.
It will mark the third game in three days for Roncalli.
When asked about having fresh legs for the contest, Andera responded, "We're young guys. We should be able to have our legs. It's simulating the state tournament. You play three games in three days there."
Neuendorf said MVP's tallest starter is six foot and the squad likes to take teams off the dribble and drive to the basket.
"We won't full court and we're not going to get up and deny as hard," Neuendorf said. "We're going to back off and let them look at the rim a little bit and see if they'll shoot it."
ELK POINT-JEFFERSON: Adam Shanks 1 0-0 2, Bryce Kelly 4 2-2 10, Blake Donnelly 0 2-2 2, Brock Zeller 10 5-7 26, Andrew Flynn 2 0-0 5, Jordan Brandon 1 0-0 2. Totals 18-47 9-11 47.
ABERDEEN RONCALLI: Brayden McNeary 3 2-5 10, Zach Andera 3 2-5 9, Dominic King 2 0-0 4, Kendal Deutsch 2 0-0 6, Kory Schwan 6 2-2 16, Nolan Schlosser 0 1-2 1, Lucas Lorenz 1 0-1 2. Totals 17-45 7-15 48.
Elk Point-Jefferson (1-4) 10 23 37 47
Aberdeen Roncalli (5-1) 6 17 32 48
3-point field goals - Zeller, Flynn, McNeary 2, Andera, Deutsch 2, Schwan 2. Total fouls - Elk Point-Jefferson 17; Aberdeen Roncalli 14. Rebounds - Elk Point-Jefferson 32 (Kelly 11); Aberdeen Roncalli 31 (Andera 8). Turnovers - Elk Point-Jefferson 13; Aberdeen Roncalli 11. Assists - Elk Point-Jefferson 8 (Donnelly 4); Aberdeen Roncalli 14 (Deutsch 4). Blocked Shots - Elk Point-Jefferson 3 (Flynn 2); Aberdeen Roncalli 5 (King 3). Steals - Elk Point-Jefferson 7 (Donnelly 3); Aberdeen Roncalli 4. Officials - Jay Kusler, Dave Planteen and Paul Rozell. JV Game - Aberdeen Roncalli 56-52.