Bonifant buzzer beater bests Irish in huge win for Hawks
How long can 1,500-plus people hold their breath? Nineteen seconds may not seem that long, but when the success and failure of a game as intense as the one played between Hiland and St. Vincent-St. Mary (SV-SM) on Saturday, Jan. 21 lies in the balance, 19 seconds can seem like an eternity when trying to hold one’s breath.
All season long Hiland coach Mark Schlabach has wanted to see his team tested under the fires of adversity.
In this game at St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, he got his wish in more ways than one.
Considering the fact that the Hawks have not really been challenged this season in terms of tight games, with their closest being a 10-point win over Malvern earlier this season, taking their game to the home of one LeBron James to take on the defending Div. II State champion Irish was exactly the challenge the Hawks needed.
After falling behind by 14 points early, Hiland clawed its way back in the second half, and, with 19 seconds left to play, found the score tied. When Seger Bonifant drove the lane and made a left-handed lay-up with less than two seconds to play, the Hawks had secured a heart-stopping 67-65 victory.
“I’m tired and I didn’t even play,” said Schlabach with a huge grin following the game.
Going up against a long, athletic and deep Irish team that featured more than enough height to play with Hiland’s big trio of Bonifant, Dylan Kaufman and Neil Gingerich, SV-SM roared out to a 4-0 lead before Hiland’s Kaufman pounded home a vicious dunk. A minute later, Bonifant’s three-pointer spotted Hiland to its first lead at 7-6, then after 6-foot-8 Victor Dorsey scored in a stick-back, Kaufman responded with a lay-up to give Hiland a 9-8 edge. The Irish DJ Blanks, whom Hiland had little success stopping all night, then hit a triple and scored inside, and when Aaron Bushner scored on a runner in the lane to end the first quarter, SV-SM was up 16-9.
Things would only get worse for the Hawks in the second.
Bushner scored on a traditional three-point play, and the two teams traded buckets the next three trips down the floor. But with the Irish up 23-17, they scored the next eight points to forge a 31-17 lead, two of those buckets coming courtesy of Blanks steals.
Kaufman scored inside, Gingerich made a three-point play and Kaufman ended the half with a long triple to make it 34-25 at the intermission.
If the Hawks were intimidated, it didn’t show at all in the second half.
Gingerich completed yet another three point play, Kaufman hit two free throws and Bonifant knocked on in from downtown, and the score was 37-33. Lorenzo Cugini hit a pair of buckets inside, but Hiland responded with four straight Kaufman free throws and another Bonifant triple, and it was 41-40.
Bonifant eventually gave Hiland a short-lived lead at 44-43, but the Irish scored six straight to go back up 49-44. Trailing 51-45, Hiland worked the ball for the last shot of the quarter, and got what they wanted when Jason Miller drove home a three-pointer to make it 51-48 heading into the final stanza.
The Irish took a quick 57-52 advantage, but Bonifant hit yet another huge three-pointer to carve the lead to 57-55 with 4:30 to play.
The teams traded several buckets, and then Kaufman followed a miss with a resounding slam dunk put-back that made it 64-61 with 2:25 to play.
After a SV-SM miss, Miller drove the lane to cut the lead to one at 64-63 with 1:47 left.
Bushner then missed two free throws, and the Hawks took advantage, Gingerich coming up with a huge offensive rebound to keep it alive, before Kaufman scored with 50 seconds to play to make it 65-54 Hiland. Then, with 19 seconds remaining, Dorsey had a chance to put the Irish back up, but could only split a pair of free throws, setting the stage for a thrilling finale.
In one of those slow-motion moments where everything seems to grind to a near halt, the Hawks ran a play for Bonifant, Kaufman finding him on the wing, the senior doing the rest, taking two Irish to the hole, kissing his lay-up off the glass with 1.3 seconds remaining, and Kaufman knocked away the finale inbounds heave, giving the Hawks a gutsy 67-65 victory over the Irish (6-6).
And don’t let the Irish’ 6-6 record fool you. With stellar Div. I opponents like St. Edwards, St. Ignatius, Benedictine and Taft, the record is a tad deceptive. Remember, this is the same program that lost 10 games last year on its way to the Div. II title.
“That was awesome,” said Schlabach. “We were hoping it would be like that. We wanted to be in the game at the end, and we executed the little things that we had to, and our kids really fought. We chipped away and had some gutsy performances, that’s for sure.”
On the road, against a legendary team, the Hawks showed no panic falling behind by 14. Kaufman was the key instigator in the comeback, scoring a large percentage of his game-high 30 points to get the Hawks within striking distance.
But it was a real team effort that would eventually put Hiland two points up on SV-SM.
“Dylan gives us a lot of confidence in a game like that, because he can bring his game up to another level,” said Schlabach of Kaufman. “That’s what he did early on, and he kept us in it.”
As for Bonifant’s heroics, Schlabach said that despite having 30-pointer Kaufman on the floor, the team had Bonifant in mind for this moment, and they stuck to the game plan.
“That was our play, and we work on that in practice,” said Schlabach. “Dylan made a great pass, and they had subbed all of their big guys out, going quicker, so we felt we had a mismatch there.”
Schlabach also said that some of the little things that go unseen in the score box, Miller having only two turnovers against some incredible pressure, Chaise Gerber rebounding from a disastrous first half to play a solid second half, that helped put the Hawks in position to win.
As for the Irish, head coach Dru Joyce said that his team simply didn’t perform when it had to, while Hiland did.
“It’s called maturity,” said Joyce. “We lacked maturity and leadership. You can’t turn the ball over 21 times and expect to win. At the end of the game, it’s about heart, and they showed more heart than we did. We needed to get a stop and we didn’t. They wanted it more. My hat’s off to them. They played a great game and didn’t quit. They came into our house and got a victory.”
All season long Hiland coach Mark Schlabach has wanted to see his team tested under the fires of adversity.
In this game at St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, he got his wish in more ways than one.
Considering the fact that the Hawks have not really been challenged this season in terms of tight games, with their closest being a 10-point win over Malvern earlier this season, taking their game to the home of one LeBron James to take on the defending Div. II State champion Irish was exactly the challenge the Hawks needed.
After falling behind by 14 points early, Hiland clawed its way back in the second half, and, with 19 seconds left to play, found the score tied. When Seger Bonifant drove the lane and made a left-handed lay-up with less than two seconds to play, the Hawks had secured a heart-stopping 67-65 victory.
“I’m tired and I didn’t even play,” said Schlabach with a huge grin following the game.
Going up against a long, athletic and deep Irish team that featured more than enough height to play with Hiland’s big trio of Bonifant, Dylan Kaufman and Neil Gingerich, SV-SM roared out to a 4-0 lead before Hiland’s Kaufman pounded home a vicious dunk. A minute later, Bonifant’s three-pointer spotted Hiland to its first lead at 7-6, then after 6-foot-8 Victor Dorsey scored in a stick-back, Kaufman responded with a lay-up to give Hiland a 9-8 edge. The Irish DJ Blanks, whom Hiland had little success stopping all night, then hit a triple and scored inside, and when Aaron Bushner scored on a runner in the lane to end the first quarter, SV-SM was up 16-9.
Things would only get worse for the Hawks in the second.
Bushner scored on a traditional three-point play, and the two teams traded buckets the next three trips down the floor. But with the Irish up 23-17, they scored the next eight points to forge a 31-17 lead, two of those buckets coming courtesy of Blanks steals.
Kaufman scored inside, Gingerich made a three-point play and Kaufman ended the half with a long triple to make it 34-25 at the intermission.
If the Hawks were intimidated, it didn’t show at all in the second half.
Gingerich completed yet another three point play, Kaufman hit two free throws and Bonifant knocked on in from downtown, and the score was 37-33. Lorenzo Cugini hit a pair of buckets inside, but Hiland responded with four straight Kaufman free throws and another Bonifant triple, and it was 41-40.
Bonifant eventually gave Hiland a short-lived lead at 44-43, but the Irish scored six straight to go back up 49-44. Trailing 51-45, Hiland worked the ball for the last shot of the quarter, and got what they wanted when Jason Miller drove home a three-pointer to make it 51-48 heading into the final stanza.
The Irish took a quick 57-52 advantage, but Bonifant hit yet another huge three-pointer to carve the lead to 57-55 with 4:30 to play.
The teams traded several buckets, and then Kaufman followed a miss with a resounding slam dunk put-back that made it 64-61 with 2:25 to play.
After a SV-SM miss, Miller drove the lane to cut the lead to one at 64-63 with 1:47 left.
Bushner then missed two free throws, and the Hawks took advantage, Gingerich coming up with a huge offensive rebound to keep it alive, before Kaufman scored with 50 seconds to play to make it 65-54 Hiland. Then, with 19 seconds remaining, Dorsey had a chance to put the Irish back up, but could only split a pair of free throws, setting the stage for a thrilling finale.
In one of those slow-motion moments where everything seems to grind to a near halt, the Hawks ran a play for Bonifant, Kaufman finding him on the wing, the senior doing the rest, taking two Irish to the hole, kissing his lay-up off the glass with 1.3 seconds remaining, and Kaufman knocked away the finale inbounds heave, giving the Hawks a gutsy 67-65 victory over the Irish (6-6).
And don’t let the Irish’ 6-6 record fool you. With stellar Div. I opponents like St. Edwards, St. Ignatius, Benedictine and Taft, the record is a tad deceptive. Remember, this is the same program that lost 10 games last year on its way to the Div. II title.
“That was awesome,” said Schlabach. “We were hoping it would be like that. We wanted to be in the game at the end, and we executed the little things that we had to, and our kids really fought. We chipped away and had some gutsy performances, that’s for sure.”
On the road, against a legendary team, the Hawks showed no panic falling behind by 14. Kaufman was the key instigator in the comeback, scoring a large percentage of his game-high 30 points to get the Hawks within striking distance.
But it was a real team effort that would eventually put Hiland two points up on SV-SM.
“Dylan gives us a lot of confidence in a game like that, because he can bring his game up to another level,” said Schlabach of Kaufman. “That’s what he did early on, and he kept us in it.”
As for Bonifant’s heroics, Schlabach said that despite having 30-pointer Kaufman on the floor, the team had Bonifant in mind for this moment, and they stuck to the game plan.
“That was our play, and we work on that in practice,” said Schlabach. “Dylan made a great pass, and they had subbed all of their big guys out, going quicker, so we felt we had a mismatch there.”
Schlabach also said that some of the little things that go unseen in the score box, Miller having only two turnovers against some incredible pressure, Chaise Gerber rebounding from a disastrous first half to play a solid second half, that helped put the Hawks in position to win.
As for the Irish, head coach Dru Joyce said that his team simply didn’t perform when it had to, while Hiland did.
“It’s called maturity,” said Joyce. “We lacked maturity and leadership. You can’t turn the ball over 21 times and expect to win. At the end of the game, it’s about heart, and they showed more heart than we did. We needed to get a stop and we didn’t. They wanted it more. My hat’s off to them. They played a great game and didn’t quit. They came into our house and got a victory.”
Published: January 21, 2012
