Marauders pull off ‘comeback for the ages’

Boys’ Basketball

Sherburne-Earlville 69, Westmoreland 64

SHERBURNE – Sherburne-Earlville coach Kevin Vibbard called the game, “one for the ages.”

The Marauders made up a 16-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter – and 11 points in the last 3:15 – in a monumumental comeback over Westmorland Thursday. “In my 20 years of Sherburne-Earlville basketball, I haven’t seen a comeback like this in the fourth quarter,” Vibbard said.

Garrett Porack, nearly invisible on the scoring sheet for three quarters, bucketed 19 in the final quarter, and hit the go-ahead layup off a Sean Boise feed with 35 seconds to play. Brett Nelson and Porack had a pair of free throws down the stretch for the final margin. “I told the kids that this is why the game is 32 minutes long,” Vibbard said. “We pressed, and our defense led to good offense. And we really took the ball hard to the basket.”

Westmoreland put 42 points on the board in the first half to lead by 14 points. There was no indication of Sherburne-Earlville resistance in the third quarter as the lead moved to 52-36 entering the fourth.

“In the first half, we gave up too many transition baskets,” Vibbard said. “We turned it over and didn’t get back on defense like we should. Obviously that wasn’t a problem in the fourth quarter.”

Porack finished with 21 points, Caleb Brown scored a season-high 17, Boise had 13, and Nelson netted 10.

The Marauders (5-8) play at Waterville Tuesday.

Westmoreland: Erik Szewczyk, 1 0-0-2; TJ Losowski, 0; Mike Rondenelli, 3 0-0-7; Taylor Brockway, 2 2-2-6; Kyle Eisnor, 5 2-3-13; Jason Colburn, 4 0-0-8; Jason Baren, 5 2-3-16; Stan DeCarlo, 6 0-2-12. Totals; 26 6-10-64.

S-E: Brett Nelson, 3 4-4-10; Caleb Brown, 7 2-4-17; Ken Knickerbocker, 0; Sean Boise, 5 0-0-13; Bill Craine, 0; Garrett Porack, 7 7-7-21; Phil Price, 1 0-0-2; Dan Leet,0 ; Ethan Sconzo, 2 0-1-4; Ryan Collins, 1 0-0-2. Totals: 26 13-16-69.

West. 18 24 10 12–64

S-E 18 10 8 33–69