WEST NEWBURY — With under 10 seconds, Pentucket’s Conor O’Neil got the ball from Jimmy Cleary and saw an opening.
The senior co-captain drove to the hoop and lofted up a shot that bounced on the rim before rolling in and sending Pentucket into a frenzy.
The bucket came with five seconds left and capped a wild comeback that allowed the Sachems to steal a 74-73 win over Newburyport.
It capped an improbable rally from down 12 points with three minutes left and snapped the Clippers’ 13-game win streak.
“I saw a wide-open lane and I was taking it regardless,” said O’Neil. “I knew I was going to get hit, so I had to readjust my shot to get it in.”
Pentucket improved to 10-8 and the Port dropped to 13-3. Newburyport pounded the Sachems, 73-42, on Jan. 27.
To set up the last basket, the Sachems got a huge steal from Spencer Pacy on a Clipper inbounds play.
It wasn’t Pacy’s only highlight of the night.
With three minutes left, Pacy scored five quick points, driving to the basket and drawing a foul then getting another layup to make it 73-66.
He then fed O’Neil for the guard’s first points of the night with a 3-pointer on the next possession to make it 73-69 with 1:28 left.
Pacy finished with 21 points, four boards, four assists and two steals.
“Spencer was huge tonight and I’m very excited for him,” said coach Ed Hickey. “He stepped up and played outstanding.”
From there, the Sachems had to foul four times to get the Clippers to the line, and when the visitors got there, they missed, setting up O’Neil for another triple, making it 73-72 Clippers with 17.6 seconds left before the heroics really ensued.
“Give credit to Pentucket, they made the plays down the stretch,” said Clipper coach Tom L’Italien, the longtime Pentucket baseball coach. “We didn’t defend early, we didn’t defend late and I think that’s probably the disappointing part for us.”
The Sachems started hot in the first quarter, building a 21-14 lead before the Clippers started to chip away.
But even when the Clippers took the lead, the Sachems stuck around, thanks to the effort of Cleary, Jake Dickson, Nathan McGrail and Gus Flaherty.
McGrail had 13 points and eight boards, Cleary had 12 points and five boards and Flaherty had 11 points.
O’Neill had eight and four assists as well.
“It’s feels so good,” said O’Neil. “To lose to them by 30 (in the first meeting) and then coming back and winning at the last second feels amazing.”
Efosa, Cats win showdown
Grace Efosa scored 20 points and Kayle Hobbs added 13 as Whittier won the showdown with Mystic Valley, 61-54, which likely decided the CAC Large title.
Allison Beauchesne added 11 points.
Whittier is unbeaten in the league and it was Mystic’s second CAC loss, the other a 5-point setback to the Cats.
Whittier coach Kevin Bradley said the team hadn’t even practiced or played since Wednesday due to the weather.
Whittier improved to 17-1 and Mystic Valley fell to 13-4.
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