RallyNorth.net

Tue, Feb 26, 2008 07:00 PM @ Ipswich

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Playoff Game Division 3 North - Round 1
Watertown	11	15	14	12	52
Ipswich	12	18	2	19	51

Buzzer beater can't save Ipswich girls from tourney loss

Tuesday, February, 26 By Bill Kipouras
Staff writer

IPSWICH | At one moment there was an incredulous celebration, a mob scene on the floor of the Ipswich High basketball gym.

Moments later, the devastation of finding out that the Tigers had suffered a horrible loss to Watertown, 52-51, in a Division 3 North first round playoff game that will live through the ages in this Cape Ann community.

Ipswich, powered by the amazing Amber Smith (34 points on 14-of-24 shooting, plus 20 rebounds and two blocks), had not one, but two sensational situations where it appeared they'd win it in the dying seconds.

Lyndsay French, a 5-foot-7 senior, electrified the partisan crowd with a 3-pointer that would have put Ipswich ahead, 54-52, with 9.4 seconds left. But the shot was nullified by a timeout called by Ipswich coach Mandy Zegarowski, leading to a controversy.

The clock read <3/10ths> of a second remaining, Ipswich with the ball when it was time to inbounds it.

Zegarowski's bid to have time put back on the clock was denied by the three officials. At least four of five seconds passed after the timeout before the clock was stopped to acknowledge the stoppage.

Wouldn't you know that when play resumed, Ipswich got the ball to Smith on the baseline | and Smith hit the shot. The crowd went wild.

Several minutes later, the three officials determined that Smith didn't get the shot off before the buzzer and that Watertown the winner.

"None of the three officials said they saw the time run off. What do we have three officials for?" said Zegarowski. "Even our timekeeper, Tom Heaver, thought French's basket was good, but the officials said it didn't count.

"You know, I was yelling for the timeout and the officials couldn't hear me. Do you think I'd call a timeout with three-tenths of a second left (otherwise)?"

Smith's baseliner was a correct call. It was explained by an official that the only way to score with 0.3 left was on a tap. The clock begins to run on instant contact, so it was impossible to score otherwise.

"If they had restored the time we had coming on the timeout we wouldn't have been left with 0.3," said Zegarowski, who was unaware of the tap rule.

The Ipswich coach said a post-game call was made to region tournament director Tony Romano, who said he would consult tourney administrator Larry McIntire for a consultation.

"We have it all on videotape (the clock running)," Zegarowski said.

Amazingly, neither Zegarowski nor Smith felt this was the most depressing loss they had encountered.

"Two years we lost a tournament game at Winthrop on a halfcourt shot at the buzzer," Smith said, fighting back tears. "That's up there, then would come this game.

"I felt I got my shot (before the buzzer), but the refs didn't think so. It's no fair, the way it is. I caught and shot it."

Ipswich (18-4) had a 30-26 halftime lead and got outscored 14-2 in the third, trailing at one stage by 10 points.

"We had good looks | Amber had nine shots, all makeable | and the ball wouldn't fall for us," Zegarowski said. "We kind of fell apart. We didn't take care of the basketball."

"We only scored two points in the third quarter," Smith lamented.

Smith went on a tear in the fourth as Ipswich rallied twice from eight points down. But as great as she was, Watertown got a monster game from African-born sophomore Brittany Obi-Tabot, who had 28 points and made clutch shot after clutch shot.

Obi-Tabot, the third leading scorer in the Middlesex League, was pressure personified. She had 12 points at the break and added 16 as the go-to-person after the break.

Amber was 6-for-6 on the line to round out a terrific performance that was two points short of her career high against Winthrop. Ipswich also helped itself at the stripe, where it was 9-for-10.

"We needed more from the others," Zegarowski said. French couldn't believe her three pointer didn't count. "It was just had to believe we lost this game," she said.