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."

The Lancers closed the gap to the 61-60 margin on a two-point basket by Sasonoff with 17.6 seconds on the clock, with Kennedy opting not to try for a 3-pointer to tie it.

The Lancers then fouled O'Dea's Ryan McAloon with 16.0 seconds remaining.

McAloon took two shots -- missing both to give Kennedy its chance at the end.

"They were giving us the path to the basket," Hoffman said of the strategy of only going for two points and then fouling. "We got them to miss. The miss broke in our favor. It was a scramble drive that last possession, but we almost got it."
Sasonoff swished in a game-high 26 points for the Lancers, but season leading scorer Emilio Mancol was held to only six points with none in the first half.

James Jolly scored 10 points to go with nine rebounds. Royster added nine points and Jared Thurber eight. Simon Harris chipped in one.

Kennedy shot only 23-for-57 from the field including an icy 3-for-15 from 3-point range. The Lancers were 11-for-17 from the free throw line.
Michael Carter led O'Dea with 20 points and Noah Williams tossed in 10.
The Fighting Irish were 20-for-50 from the field including 2-for-8 from 3-point range. They made 19 out of 27 free throw attempts.

"It was a game where you just hope you get the last positive and the other team gets the last negative," said O'Dea's coach Kerr of the back-and-forth affair.