Varsity Cougars defeat Alumni Cougars 61-58 at Homecoming ‘24
1/20/24: The Cottage School Cougars hosted several Alumni Cougars in the always fun and exciting annual Homecoming night. The current Cougars struggled early with the athleticism and talent of Aidan Briggs (2022), Shane Hendrickson (2020), Harris Menetre (2018-who was later inducted into the TCS Hall of Fame for basketball), and Kia Smith (2017), but keeping the contest within striking distance became critical. The physical conditioning of the old champs finally caught up to them late in the fourth frame. The young Cougars took advantage and made a late surge finally tying the game at 48 and eventually won 61-58!
With the score clock at .47 seconds left in regulation, Harris Menetre just tied the game with a baseline floater at 58 apiece. The Varsity Cougars did not panic, broke some full court pressure, moved the ball around the horn and found Maxwell Lagan wide open at the top of the key. He caught the ball with confidence, eyed the rim, and pulled the shot; swish….61-58 Varsity Cougars lead. Coach Richie called a timeout to set up his defense. The Alumni took a quick shot from deep, and Jack Kane snatched the rebound. Once again, no timeout was needed as the young Cougars moved the ball and cut through chasing Alumni. They still had three fouls to give before the bonus so after two, eventually the clock ran out and the Varsity Cougars made a most memorable comeback win over their older Alumni AAC Champs. Coach Suroy added, “It was great to see the team regroup so quickly after last night’s tough loss to MSA. We are proud of them and expect the lesson learned.”
As stated above, the Alumni raced to a quick lead up 14-2 to start. Andrew Dorsey knocked down a three pointer to finally get some comfort for the home team.
Both teams battled back and forth each quarter and by halftime the score read 34-30 Alumni.
The Alumni got going early in the third frame again taking as much as a thirteen-point lead (47-34) before the Varsity Cougars made a run. Once again, they played hard and stayed focused getting back into the game. By the end of the stanza, the Varsity Cougars crawled their way back and found themselves down only four points, 48-44.
Jackson Barnes tied the game at 48 with a sweet two at the 6:30 mark and later a Lagan layup gave the Varsity Cougars their first lead of the game, 56-54 with just 2:41 left. It was short-lived as Kia Smith tied it up again at 56 but Kane converted on a bucket to go back ahead 58-56 before Menetre tied the game.
TCS will take on AASD for the first time this season on Tuesday night at home, looking to get back to the win column in league play.
Game Notes:
Jackson Barnes had one of the most efficient games of his career. Back-to-back games now with zero turnovers, 11 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, and 4 steals!
Maxwell Lagan led the team with 17 points.
Colin Barlow put in a solid performance, going perfect from the floor. He was 5-5 with 10 points. Six of those points came in the critical fourth period. He added 5 rebounds.
Jack Kane scored 8 points, had 7 boards, and 2 assists.
Andrew Dorsey had all 7 of his points in the first half and added 4 rebounds and 3 assists.
Weston Kershner knocked down a three pointer and a free throw for 4 points. He also gathered 4 steals and 3 assists.
Gabe Belden and Davis Bradley were all over the floor trying to hold down the dynamic duo of Briggs and Menetre.
Alumni Cougars:
Harris Menetre scored a game high of 29 points. He also grabbed 5 rebounds and stole 5 balls.
Aidan Briggs was a double-double machine in his career and true to those days, had a double-double tonight. He muscled in 12 points, had 10 boards, and 3 assists.
Kia Smith added 11 points, going perfect from the FT line (5-5). He also added 8 rebounds and 2 steals.
Shane Hendrickson was great on defense and added 6 points. He snatched 7 boards, had 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, and took a charge.
Daniel Felner, Tommy Ingle, Ethan Meneker, Richie Wood, and Alex Yager all added key minutes.