Certain spring traditions warm your heart and delight the psyche.
Lilacs blooming, the chorus of birds singing and the Queensbury unified basketball team winning its annual home assembly game.
The Blue Gym crowd’s reaction registered on the Richter scale when Samuel Shettlewood deposited the game-winning layup with five seconds to give the Spartans a dramatic 52-50 victory over Granville.
There were five ties and five lead changes inside the final five minutes, capped by Shettlewood’s second act of heroism against the Golden Horde this season.
Trailing 27-14 at the half, Granville outscored the hosts 16-8 in the third period to reduce its deficit to five points heading into the final stanza.
Early in the fourth frame, Cole Zarczynski avoided heavy pressure and dished to Olivia Affinito, who drilled a deep two-pointer from the right wing to give Queensbury a 37-30 advantage. Affinito knocked down her first career 3-pointer a minute later, but Brady Stewart’s layup capped a 12-3 spurt to give the Golden Horde a 42-40 lead with 4:33 showing on the clock.
Over the next two-and-a-half minutes, Declan Nason, Bruce Cook and Shettlewood all converted on game-tying shots for the Spartans, while Dominick Imbimbo and Alexis Alger authored answers for Granville.
Shettlewood, who netted six of his eight points in the fourth quarter, made it 48-46 in favor of QHS with 2:05 left, then Liam Collins was successful in the paint to increase the Spartans’ lead to four points with ninety seconds remaining.
However, Granville refused to quit. Stewart notched 12 of his game-high 22 points in the fourth quarter, including four inside the final minute to draw the Golden Horde even at 50-all with 38 ticks left.
Several Spartan shots fell short before a time out was called with 12.2 seconds on the scoreboard. As expected, head coach Annette Carpenter drew up the perfect plan. Then, for the second time in nearly two weeks, Shettlewood delivered a last-second dagger against Granville and bedlam ensued.
Zarczynski hit each of his first four shots and scored all 10 of his points in the opening half for QHS (5-2), which won its third straight overall and seventh out of eight at home. Chloe Harris also provided 10 points, Declan Nason supplied seven, including his second career trifecta, and Collins added six. Jon Condon had two points for the second straight game and Bruce Cook posted all four of his points after intermission.
Devin Montbriand pumped in 14 points, while both Alger and Imbimbo provided six for Granville.
On Thursday, Queensbury travels to Granville for a Gold Division postseason semifinal matchup at 4:15 p.m.
Score by quarters: Granville 8-6-16-20=50, Q 12-15-8-17=52.
Click here to see photos of the game.