Lancers narrowly miss state final
By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR
Kennedy Catholic proved to be tough in the semifinals, coming within a heartbeat of a win and the state championship game.
The Lancers did sink what would have been the winning shot -- right after the final buzzer.
JFK had possession of the ball trailing O'Dea by a 61-60 score, and worked it to Keannu Royster through a frenzy.
Royster took a shot with time running out, only to have it partially blocked by O'Dea's Race Porter.
The deflected ball went to Matthew Sasonoff of the Lancers just to the right of the basket and he quickly popped it into the net.
But the shot was waved off by the nearest official as coming too late and it was the Fighting Irish who came away with the victory.
"We were one tenth of a second late or we would have won the game," said Kennedy head coach Don Hoffman. "The kids played hard. Both teams played their guts out."
O'Dea head coach Jason Kerr agreed.
"You had two teams out there battling," he said. "The Kennedy kids played their tails off. They kept coming at you. They never gave up."