GARDINER — The Cony boys basketball team was not dropping to 0-3 — not like this.
The Rams began the season with a disappointing season to Camden Hills before allowing 110 points Tuesday in a loss to Oceanside. Even down for much of the game Thursday against rival Gardiner, losing was not an option for Cony.
The Rams got their way, as they scored the game’s final 14 points to rally past the Tigers, 65-51.
“We just knew we couldn’t lose this one, and we had to come out, pick ourselves up and play like that,” said Cony’s Parker Sergent, who had a game-high 29 points and added eight rebounds. “We’ve put in too much hard work and dedication for that, and we came out here and showed it.”
Parker Morin added 12 points and 10 rebounds for Cony, which also got six points and eight boards from Jordan Benedict. The Rams had trailed for much of the game and even faced a three-point deficit early in the fourth quarter before closing out the contest on a 14-0 run.
Gardiner’s Brayden Elliott started off hot with a pair of early 3-pointers, the second of which came as he crossed over a Cony defender and gave the Tigers (1-2) a 12-7 lead. Yet the Rams answered with an 8-0 run to go ahead 15-12 before Gardiner’s Anthony Rivera made a long 3 as the buzzer sounded to end the first quarter.
The Tigers took the lead three separate times over the first several minutes of the second quarter but failed to pull away. Led by a 10-point quarter from Sergent, Cony (1-2) would make Gardiner pay as it pulled ahead with 1:15 left in the third quarter and took a 44-42 lead into the fourth.
“We really just had to calm down and let the emotions not get the best of us because it was definitely a noisy place to play tonight,” said Cony head coach Isaiah Brathwaite. “I think we did a good job of that; we really limited our mistakes down the stretch, and the guys really started trusting each other.”
Gardiner coach Aaron Toman talks to Zach Kristan during halftime of Thursday’s boys basketball game against Cony in Gardiner. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel
Gardiner retook the lead at 49-46 on a 3-pointer from Brady Peacock, but a triple from Alex Fournier and a layup from Matt Boston put the Rams back in front. Rivera tied it back up at 51, but a nine-point burst from Sergent and a stifling defense that limited the Tigers’ shot selection saw the visitors pull away for the victory.
“I think (Parker) knew he had to put the team on his shoulders, and he’s a real leader, and he did that,” Brathwaite said. “Defensively, the big thing for us was containing Elliott. He gets downhill and does some really good things, and a lot of their energy comes from him. I thought we did a good job containing him.”
Brady Atwater had a team-high 17 points and a game-high 15 rebounds for Gardiner, and Elliott added 16 points (14 in the first half) for the Tigers. Gardiner had a particularly strong night on the glass, outrebounding Cony 43-37 as Cody Dingwell and Zach Kristan added seven boards apiece.
In addition to its strong rebounding, Gardiner also played a relatively clean game as both teams limited themselves to just 11 turnovers. The difference came late as Cony got to the free-throw line five times in the closing minutes while the Tigers simply couldn’t get a shot to fall when it mattered most.
“Looking at the stat sheet, we obviously took care of the ball well and rebounded well, but I think the difference of the game was shot-making and those fouls,” said Gardiner head coach Aaron Toman. “We fouled a lot, and they got a lot of free throws, and we just couldn’t put it in down at the other end.”
As expected in any Cony-Gardiner game, the atmosphere Thursday was electric, with the Tigers’ student section more than 100 strong and the Rams packing their corner of Brigoli Gymnasium. The rowdiness even spilled over at times with a Cony fan ejected at halftime and two Gardiner fans tossed in the fourth quarter.
For Cony, getting a win in that environment was crucial after the way it began the season. Dropping the season opener was a tough start for the Rams, and Tuesday’s 51-point loss in Rockland only compounded matters. Now, they’ll be riding a win when they finally play their first home game next week against Spruce Mountain.
“Losing those first two games the way we did, we really needed this,” Sergent said. “We really had to have this under our belt, especially going home to face Spruce next week. We’ve had three away games to start our season, and we’re feeling pretty good now that we got a win in one of them.”
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