Junior guard Carter Mullen’s three-point basket with 43 seconds to play broke a 49-49 tie, and Batavia High went on to defeat Attica, 56-52, in a battle of Blue Devils to win the 42nd annual Batavia Lions Club Pete Arras Memorial Basketball Tournament Large School bracket on Friday night at Genesee Community College.
The stage was set for Mullen's heroics when senior Joey Marranco hit a three-point shot with 1:45 left on the clock, giving Batavia a 49-44 lead. Attica's Jack Janes responded with a three-point shot and then followed a missed shot with a layup to knot the score at 49-49.
After Mullen's big bucket, which was launched near the sideline in front of the Batavia bench, Attica turned the ball over with 30 seconds left. That led to a free throw by junior forward Justin Smith. Attica made another errant pass at the 18-second mark, giving the ball back to Batavia.
Mullen then made a foul shot to make it 54-49 before Janes swished another three-pointer to cut the lead to two with eight seconds remaining.
Marranco was fouled with six seconds left and sank both free throws to secure the victory for Batavia, now 4-3, heading into some tough Monroe County League competition.
Attica led 13-11 after the first quarter, but Batavia rallied to take a 23-19 lead into the locker room. Batavia led 40-33 after three quarters as Smith scored six of his game-high 16 points on his way to being named the tournament MVP.
He was joined on the all-tournament team by Mullen (14 points), Attica’s Cole Harding (12 points) and Clayton Bezon (13 points), Le Roy’s Merritt Holly Jr. and Royalton-Hartland’s Dan Aquilina.
Marranco finished with nine points, and Estavon Lovett added eight for Batavia, while Carter Gorski had 11 and Janes 10 for Attica, now 6-2.
Batavia Coach Buddy Brasky credited Lovett for “doing a great defensive job” on the 6-foot-4 Harding.
“That was one of the keys to the game,” he said. “Secondly, I thought we executed our offense pretty good. Carter Mullen’s three there at the end was a huge shot. They’re a good team; we’re a good team. It was just a real competitive game.”
Attica Coach Rob Crowley said his team was tentative in the first half and missed several open shots.
“I felt we played well defensively in the first half, but we sort of hurt ourselves on offense. We held on to the ball a little too long and missed several opportunities,” he said. “It looked like we were tense because the ball wasn’t going in, and we forced it a bit. We obviously played much better in the second half.
“But it’s not like Batavia’s a bad team. I knew this would be a toss-up game, and I think if we played 10 times, we’d each win five.”
In the Large School bracket consolation game, Le Roy turned back Roy-Hart, 64-45, using an 18-0 run in the third quarter to break the game open. Holly Jr. scored 28 points and grabbed 16 rebounds, and Matthew Hockey added 13 points to lead the Knights.
See also: Alexander Trojans captures Lions Club tournament Small School crown, 61-49 over Notre Dame
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Photos by Steve Ognibene
