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03/18/2015 12:00 AMThe Huskies' boys' basketball team played Valley Regional twice in the regular season and both games resulted in defeats for Morgan with the second only coming by four points on the road. On March 12, the Huskies hit the road again to take on their Shoreline Conference opponent in the second round of the Class S State Tournament and gave the Warriors all they could handle in dropping a 56-54 decision.
Junior guard Dylan Ketch scored Morgan's final five points-none greater than his game-tying two-pointer with 38.8 seconds left in the game. But the Huskies then gave up a basket to Valley with just under four seconds left and their subsequent desperation heave fell short as upset-minded Morgan lost a two-point heartbreaker in Deep River.
Ketch finished with a game-high 21 points and recorded seven rebounds for 22nd-seeded Morgan, which had previously prevailed at No. 11 Old Saybrook 51-46 in the first round and finished the campaign at 12-10.
Morgan was down 35-26 at the half and 54-47 with 4:05 remaining in the game. Huskies' Head Coach Ken Beeman could recall times in the past where his team might have faltered in those scenarios. This team was different. Instead of falling down, the Huskies picked themselves up and stayed competitive with sixth-seeded conference champion Valley (20-5) through the final seconds.
"This is the environment where, in the past, we would of crumbled. We would of disappeared and lost by 20 at this point," Beeman said. "We got a group of kids that aren't always the smartest basketball players, but man, do they work their butts off. They just compete. Like I said, they're great athletes and they want to win. They've known winning all of their lives and I am just unbelievably proud at the fact that they continue to compete down seven instead of crawling into the hole and saying, 'Valley's got us again.'"
Morgan's only lead came 5:23 into the game, when senior center Jake Teuner scored inside the paint for a 7-6 advantage. The one-point margin lasted just 24 seconds as the Warriors regained the lead after two free throws. The Huskies did force three ties during the contest and held Valley to just 10 points in the third quarter with 11 in the fourth to stay in it. Morgan's best run was a 7-0 spurt down the stretch that saw Teuner score two of his 10 points, which was followed by Ketch netting five straight in 30 seconds to tie the game at 54. During that four-minute surge, junior forward Gabe Eriksen stalled Valley's offense with a steal, two forced turnovers, and a defensive rebound. Eriksen finished with three deuces and a trio of free throws for nine points and also had seven rebounds.
"We switched Gabe onto [Chris] Jean-Pierre for a more physical matchup," said Beeman. "Gabe's a great defender. He's nuts. He was working his butt off defensively and came up with unbelievable steals that got us back into the ballgame."
Huskies' junior guard and co-captain Mike Murray scored six points and grabbed six rebounds in the loss.
"We played tough in every game we went to and I'm really proud of all my teammates and we came together this year," said Murray. "We'll be back."
Chucky Kostek scored all eight of his points in the first half with two treys and one two. Senior guard and co-captain Alan Esposito added two assists. For seniors Teuner, Esposito, Evan Barillaro, and Eric Peterson, this was their final game wearing a Morgan uniform.
"I thought we had an absolute big chance winning and upsetting tonight," said Esposito. "It hurts. Losing always hurts."
Trailing 20-17 in the second quarter, the Huskies had three straight possessions that resulted in a traveling violation. A chance for Valley's prolific offense to extend the lead seemed imminent, however, Morgan stepped up on defense and only gave up two points during that sequence.
The Warriors' then hit a buzzer-beater at the end of the first half that gave them a nine-point lead heading to the break at 35-26. That could have ruined Morgan's commitment to keep fighting, but Beeman was ecstatic with his team's response.
"We needed to put every effort into ignoring that dagger that they hit at the end of the first half-that three-pointer, which to break it down, was a simple shot that was the difference in the ballgame," he said. "We just absolutely had to ignore the crowd that just got back into it and that shot did not determine how we were going to play in the second half. We needed to make sure that they were focused in coming back out here competing as if it were 0 to 0 again. We had some challenges in the third quarters before and this one was not a challenge."
Morgan scored 17 points and limited Valley to just 10 in the third quarter. The Huskies had the final shot in the third, but just missed the mark and trailed by two.
"We competed like it was the opening half and I was super happy for them ignoring that shot at the end and just competing," said Beeman.
Another dicey situation came in the fourth quarter, when Teuner committed his third foul and gave Valley two free throws. Coach Beeman called timeout and told his team to keep playing hard. After that, Morgan allowed just one free throw and played outstanding on both ends of the floor to rally back to a tie -an effort which pleased Coach Beeman, who feels his squad is on the verge of making some serious noise in the Shoreline.
"We come here to compete and this is the penultimate team in the Shoreline. Many, many years, over and over and over again, and you wanna make sure that you're competing with the best and we're doing that. We just haven't come over the hump yet," said Beeman. "Moral victories are great and all, but we're done with moral victories already, and we're going to get over the hump and I think we're pretty close."
Even though Morgan was eliminated from states with the Valley loss, Coach Beeman feels proud to have coached this collection of Huskies thie season.
"I'm super proud to be a part of this group of kids," said Beeman. "My greatest memory isn't usually wins or losses or state tournament berths or Shoreline Tournament berth. It's more of interactions with kids-how can I make them better as players, but for the most part as kids, and I think that I've made those strides."
Previously in the opening round of the Class S State Tournament, the Huskies shook off a 13-day layoff and defeated another conference foe in Old Saybrook, 51-46. Ketch posted 17 points, nine rebounds, three assists, and two steals while Murray scored 17 and brought in seven rebounds. This victory avenged a 58-57 loss to the Rams (13-9) in the regular season.
"Not making the Shoreline Conference Tournament forced us into a 13-day game-less stretch," said Coach Beeman. "Boy, that was a long time, and I appreciate our kids' ability to stay focused and practice hard until we faced Old Saybrook."