Half-court stunner: Mooney’s Marlowe beats Fitch at buzzer

The Falcons rallied down the stretch before coming up short, 47-44.

By TOM WILLIAMS

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

YOUNGSTOWN — Sometimes to make practices fun, Mooney senior basketball player Tim Marlowe tries a few long-range shots.

That practice paid off Saturday night when Marlowe launched an attempt from just over the center-court line at the buzzer.

With Mooney and Fitch tied 44-44, the ball hit the backboard then the rim before falling through the net, stunning the Falcons, the Cardinals and just about every spectator in the gym who was expecting overtime.

The one person who wasn’t quite as surprised at the final basket in the Cardinals’ 47-44 victory was Michael Gemma, who inbounded the ball with 3.6 seconds remaining and had a great view of Marlowe’s heroics.

Asked if he thought the ball looked true while in flight, Gemma said, “I honestly did. It was dead-on — it was just whether it got the bounce or not. Still, I was pretty surprised — it was a half-court shot.”

Two seasons ago as a junior varsity player, Marlowe made a three-quarter court shot against Harding.

“Sometimes in practice, we’ll be messing around shooting half-courters, so we definitely have a little practice at them,” Marlowe said. “As soon as I let it go, I felt good — it was right on line.

“It banked in — I was hoping the rim would give me a nice roll,” Marlowe said.

That the Falcons were even in the game at the end was a tribute to two huge comebacks. Early on, the Falcons trailed 15-4 before executing a 9-0 run to end the first half.

In the fourth quarter, L.J. Sutton’s dunk gave the Cardinals a 37-30 advantage with about two minutes to go.

“We’ve got to do better things when we’re leading by seven points,” said Mooney coach Steve Leslie, who credited the Falcons for “playing hard. All year they have played hard.”

Powered by Jon Stockman’s 11 points in the fourth quarter and John Williams’ seven, the Falcons tied the game when Williams grabbed a rebound and scored from underneath with 3.6 seconds to go.

“Fitch came to play,” said Marlowe, who added that Friday’s 59-55 win over Ursuline drained the Cardinals. “We’re thankful that we got out of the weekend with two Ws.”

Gemma admitted a little fatigue.

“Coming off a big game last night, we were tired,” Gemma said. “We thought we had it closed out, but they did a good job of fighting back. We had to dig down pretty deep to get a win.”

Just after Marlowe’s basket, Fitch assistant coach Burt Stellers shrugged his shoulders and told head coach Roger Day “great shot.” Day nodded.

“Our kids played hard and maybe didn’t deserve that,” Day said, “but he made a helluva shot.

“We didn’t start very well — I think we scored two points in the first 12 minutes,” Day said. “We were pretty resilient, made a little run there in the second quarter. It was a good brawl.

“Our kids kept battling, never quit,” Day said. “Stock made a great shot to tie it [at 42-42] and Johnny Williams did a good job on the boards at the end.”

Leslie said the final play was to get the ball to Sutton, but the Falcons had him covered.

“Gemma did a super job of making the adjustment,” Leslie said.

Gemma and Ronnie Martino led the Cardinals with 13 points each. Marlowe had 10 while Sutton had eight.

For the Falcons (2-13), Stockman and Williams each scored 15 while Jon Ballard had nine.

williams@vindy.com