West Nottingham Academy's boys basketball team won the Mid-Atlantic Independent League title with an 82-74 victory over Tri-State Christian Academy in a captivating contest Saturday night at North East High. It is the Rams' first league title since 2010. WNA led 23-7 at the end of the first quarter but ultimately had to withstand a furious rally by the Crusaders, who came all the way back to tie the game with two minutes remaining.
After slicing the deficit down to 42-32 by halftime, TSCA still trailed 57-51 entering the fourth quarter. Jacob Falko, who poured in 48 points, scored consecutive buckets to start the final frame and narrow the gap to two. The Crusaders cut the Rams' lead to one on a couple of occasions. Falko hit a driving layup with 6:06 left to make it 60-59. After WNA's Denys Bachurin buried a three-pointer, Ridge Logan knocked down one of his own with 5:16 to play. Lennard Schild made a free throw and the Rams' brilliant point guard Justinas Leganovic connected on a three-pointer to up the margin to 67-62. TSCA wasn't finished. With West Nottingham ahead 71-69, Leganovic fouled out with 2:37 left. Logan scored the tying basket while being fouled, but missed the free throw. It was all Rams after that. Bachurin fed Max Green-Wright for a basket to begin an 11-0 spurt. Tri-State Christian turned the ball over on its next two possessions while Camden Blount hit a pair of free throws and Schild scored to give WNA a 77-71 cushion with 60 seconds left. Leganovic, a junior from Lithuania, led the Rams with 27 points. Blount, a freshman, added 19, and the 6-8 junior Bachurin, a Ukraine native, had 18. Ryan Wilson supplied 14 for TSCA (29-6), which will participate in a tournament in Tennessee this week. WNA ends its season with a record of 19-13 and a promising future. Comments are closed.
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