Churchville-Chili made just four-of-nine free throws over the final 45 seconds, but two field goals from senior forward Cam Shipley prior to that gave the Saints a five point lead on their way to a 53-47 victory over tenth-seed Eastridge in the first round of the Class A1 Section V boys basketball playoffs.
“This was a grinder, half-court game and, at the end, we were able to jump on some loose balls and that was big,” Saints head coach Tim Miller said, whose team is peaking at the right time with four consecutive wins. “Survive and advance.”
Senior guard Isaiah Lewis hit on three drives to the basket and Shipley had two baskets to help the Saints to a 12-2 run to open the second quarter to extend their lead to 11 points.
A three-pointer made it 27-20 Saints at halftime.
Churchville-Chili managed just three field goals and three free throws over the entire third quarter to allow Eastridge to cut the lead to just one point after 24 minutes.
But Lewis opened the fourth with a lay-up, Williams hit a trey with a defender in his face and Lewis followed with baskets on consecutive trips to take the Saints lead back to seven.
That dwindled to just one point again before Shipley converted a perfect bounce pass from Kyle McCane underneath and followed by knocking down a tough, turnaround jumper to make it 49-44 with 1:07 remaining.
Then the free-throw parade, but the Saints defense held the Lancers to just one three-pointer down the stretch.
Lewis led C-C with 23 points while Shipley finished with 14. Williams added 12 as the three accounted for all but four points of their offense.
The seventh-seeded Saints advance to play at #2 Canandaigua in the quarterfinals.
