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For: September 09, 2010
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Polar Bears miss out on upset bid in loss to Park
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BYNICK CAMMUSO TIMES WEST VIRGINIAN
FAIRMONT — It may be a sign of how far the Fairmont Senior boys’ basketball team has come in a year or something else entirely, but one thing is true of these Polar Bears: They’re not interested in moral victories.
While the team and coach David Retton could say that it hung with the fifth-ranked team in Class AAA, No. 10 Fairmont Senior took little consolation in Saturday’s 70-69 loss to Wheeling Park at the Woody Williams Armory.
No, not when the Polar Bears led by 11 points in the third period and by six with less than two minutes left. And certainly not when Bubby Goodwin’s two free throws with 4.3 seconds remaining sealed a stunning fourth-quarter comeback.
Wheeling Park (12-1) has won eight straight in the series and hasn’t lost to Fairmont Senior since the mid-1990s.
“We did some really good things for 30 minutes, but we didn’t close out the game,” Retton said. “We thought we had about seven plays down the stretch where we make two out of the seven, we win the game. We made none of the seven plays and that was the difference.”
The difference might have been Goodwin, the Patriots’ standout junior guard. He scored 9 of his team-high 20 points in the fourth quarter and hit two key 3-pointers, the last of which cut Fairmont Senior’s lead to 67-66 with under a minute left.
It was right after the second trey when things got interesting. Bumping up the pressure defense and hounding the passer, Wheeling Park stole the inbounds and converted a Errin Baynes layup to make it 68-67 with 45.3 seconds on the clock.
Fairmont Senior (10-2) responded soon enough on its next possession, getting a clutch layup off glass from Ryan Sevier for a one-point lead with under 10 seconds left.
Down to its last chance, the strategy stayed rather simple for the Patriots — get the ball to Goodwin and get out of the way.
“We decided to not call the timeout and get the ball in Bubby’s hands,” Wheeling Park coach Michael Jebbia said. “He’s going to want to take the shot, there’s no doubt about it. We told him to attack.”
And attack he did, taking the ball, slicing through the crowded lane and drawing a foul with 4.3 seconds remaining.
G oodwin hit the first free throw and wasn’t fazed by the Polar Bears’ timeout before shooting the second, nailing it for a 70-69 lead.
“He’s a great player,” Retton said of Goodwin. “He’s in a stance and at the very last second, he’ll knife though and create a shot for himself. That’s what he did on the layup.”
Fairmont Senior wasn’t able to get a last shot off, as its inbound pass was stolen at midcourt.
“We have an experienced group,” Jebbia said. “They’ve been in these situations before. We just told the kids to keep chipping and see what happens. It was a nice win.”
The Polar Bears got the best of a back-and-forth first half, leading 34-31 at halftime. They extended the lead to 11 late in the third with a stretch which included a four-point play by Ty Garrison and an Andrew Marra steal that he turned into a three-point play.
Garrison led the charge offensively, scoring 16 points and hitting four 3-pointers before intermission. He finished with a game-best 26 points. Sevier added 17, including 10 in the first half, and Marra had eight.
“We missed some bunnies and had a couple things we didn’t do as a team,” Retton said. “We have to learn from it and close out games.”
Fairmont Senior looks to get back on the winning track Wednesday when it hosts North Marion.
WFHS TV NEWS thanks the Times West Virginian for the collaborative partnership since 1999.
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