Newark of Section V defeated the Hillbillies 66-58 in overtime in the Class B Far West Regional boys basketball game at Gates Chili High School on Saturday afternoon.

Fredonia senior Ethan Fry, who said he was “heartbroken” after the loss to end his career, took pride in the success his team had in his final season.

“This was an amazing run. I couldn’t have asked for a better season with this group of guys. Senior year, it was incredible,” Fry said. “We re-wrote the history books at Fredonia. The way it ended was rough, but we went out the only way we knew how, emptying the tank.”

Down eight points going into the fourth quarter, Fredonia (19-8) drilled six 3-pointers in the quarter to wind up with a three-point lead with four seconds left. Ashton Putney hit a game-tying and a go-ahead 3-pointer in the period, and Mike Hahn hit three 3-pointers, including what — at the time — appeared to be the game winner.

Fredonia’s Ashton Putney made four 3-pointers, including this one during the fourth quarter, in Saturday’s Class B Far West Regional. P-J photo by Christian Storms

Fredonia senior Jay Hawk said, “It shows that no matter how much we go down by … we’re going to fight to the very end. That’s not just this team, that’s Fredonia as a whole, and tradition doesn’t graduate.”

Fredonia head coach Nick Bertrando added, “That’s us. The ‘bend-but-don’t-break’ mentality. We came in here at halftime and said, ‘However this thing goes, for the next 16 minutes, you’re going to get Fredonia basketball.’ … For these guys to battle back … I think it says a lot about our guys.”

But then, after Newark (21-4) advanced the ball to half-court and called a timeout, the ball was inbounded on a cross-court pass that was nearly thrown out of bounds. The ball appeared to be saved by a Newark player, sending the ball out to the middle of the court with the final 3.4 seconds set to expire. Hawk caught the ball and threw it down the court, which would have sent Fredonia to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association final four in Glens Falls.

But none of that was what the officials called.

Instead, an inadvertent whistle was called when the ball was saved from out of bounds. The call gave Newark another chance to tie the game, and once the Reds were given the opportunity, they delivered. A 3-pointer by leading scorer Brayden Steve as the final buzzer sounded sent the game to overtime, tied at 54-all.

“The bottom line is — and this is something we preach with our guys every single day — we don’t point fingers, we point thumbs. It comes back to us. The game is not defined on one play,” said Bertrando. “I’m not going to put it on anybody. … You’ve just got to play the hand that you’re dealt.”

Newark ended the extra period with a 12-4 advantage to earn the trip to the North Country.

“At the end of the year, there is only one team that doesn’t lose,” Bertrando said.

The loss put an end to Fredonia’s six-game postseason winning streak, which featured five straight upsets, including a 3-seed, a 2-seed, and two 1-seeds.

“When playoffs started, we were a 10-seed. We saw no one was talking about us. The motto was to prove us right, not to prove others wrong, that we could make this run. We wanted to go as far in the playoffs as we possibly could,” said Hawk.

Fry finished with a team-high 18 points, including his 1,000th career point, which came on a breakaway layup in the second quarter. After the game, Fry called the accomplishment “bittersweet.”

The Hillbillies needed a stellar fourth quarter to be in position to head to Glens Falls because of yet another poor offensive first quarter. Fredonia followed a slow start against Lewiston-Porter on Tuesday in the Class B Crossover at Buffalo State with another slow start on Saturday. Just like Tuesday, Fredonia only managed six points in the opening quarter and found itself trailing most of the way.

The Hillbillies were trailing by 11 points with just over a second remaining in the first half, but a buzzer-beater by Putney from the corner cut Fredonia’s deficit to eight points at the break. That same eight-point deficit remained after an even third quarter, 11-11.

But all postseason, Fredonia did something special at every turn, and the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game was no different. Within a two-minute stretch near the start of the period, Fredonia hit a trio of 3-pointers, first by Hahn, then by Hawk, and finally by Putney to even the score at 40-40 with 6:02 left in the game. Putney then hit another 3-pointer with 3:43 left to give Fredonia its first lead, 46-45.

“Everyone was firing on all cylinders,” Fry said. “Mike Hahn was hitting shots, Putney was hitting shots … everyone was hitting shots. These underclassmen, they were stepping up and hitting crucial shots.”

After a Raeshawn Howard dunk put Newark back on top, the Hillbillies answered with another 3-pointer to re-claim the lead, as Hahn drilled his second shot of the quarter with 2:57 left in regulation for a 49-47 Fredonia lead. But it turned out to not even be the biggest shot Hahn hit in the game, as he lined up a go-ahead 3-pointer from the corner opposite his bench and hit it with 4.2 seconds remaining. The shot was one blow of the whistle away from sending the Hillbillies to Glens Falls.

“I knew we had it in us,” Bertrando said. “It was like a heavyweight fight, just going back and forth, swing for swing, until the bell ended.”

Instead, Steve hit the biggest shot of the game – a shot as close to half-court as it was the 3-point line – after Hawk soared past him in an attempt to block it.

Newark’s bench players ran onto the court to celebrate as the game was sent to overtime. The celebration continued throughout the extra period, as the Reds held a slight advantage for the first half of overtime, but dominated the final two minutes.

“On the defensive end, we let (Steve) have a good look at the end of the game. He splashed it, sent it to overtime, and they handled business in overtime. Props to them,” Fry said.

When asked why Fredonia chose not to foul in the inbound pass, Bertrando said, “We said we wanted to win it, we didn’t want to keep extending the game. We knew we needed one stop, we know who they were going to go to, (it was) just a lapse in communication.”

Steve led all scorers with 25 points, Kellen Foster had 21, while Howard had 17 points. A fourth-quarter 3-pointer by Dayeon Wright represented the only points from the Reds outside of their top three scorers.

Hahn and Putney each finished with 12 points on four 3-pointers apiece. Davi White had 8 points and 12 rebounds, while Hawk had 7 points and a team-high 13 rebounds. Fry added seven rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a block. Hahn also had four rebounds, two assists, and two steals.

“Everybody did what they needed to do on this team,” Bertrando said. “At the end of the day, I’m extremely proud of our success and what these guys were able to do this year – a magical ride.”

The loss marked the end of the career for five Fredonia seniors: Fry, Hawk, Keegan Whitfield, Sal Tabone, and Mike Riddle.

“Day one, I came into practice and pledged I was going to give it my all. Everyone else did the same exact thing,” said Hawk. “I’m just proud of everyone, every single guy that was a part of the run. Everyone stepped up in a different way.”

“If that just doesn’t epitomize who he is … I don’t know what else does,” Bertrando said.

A visibly emotional Bertrando choked up when speaking about his seniors after the game.

“To be honest with you, I know we lost, but the extra four minutes was just another four minutes with these guys,” Bertrando said. “The grit, the toughness, the determination, I told them I’m glad that people got to see it. Everyone who was in attendance, they got a treat to a hell of a basketball game and a testament to who we strive to be.”