Forest Park defense
Patriot's Patrick Fyvie probes the Forest Park defense during the second half.

Forest Park bench the difference in nail-biter over Patriot

Things really didn’t go all that smoothly for #19 Forest Park against visiting Patriot on Tuesday.

First came the fouls, which put several key Bruins in foul trouble early and the Pioneers up 9-2. Then, after Forest Park’s stellar bench play sparked the Bruins to a comfortable 14-point lead late in the third quarter, Patriot whittled the lead down to a single possession with nine seconds left in the game.

After a missed free throw by Bruins center Austin Judy, Patriot even had a chance to win the game. But a driving shot by the Pioneers’ Devon Parrish missed as did center Jordan Robinson’s follow, and the Bruins escaped with a 56-55 victory.

Forest Park coach Mak Dogbatse may not consider the game a shining example of his Bruins playing excellent basketball, but he was just happy to register the win over a gritty Patriot team. Early in the first quarter his leading scorer Judy picked up two quick fouls, as did fellow post player Tommy Wells and wing Myles Crawley.

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Forest Park’s Austin Judy draws the defense and feeds Tommy Wells for the easy basket.

“You never know when your number is going to be called,” Dogbaste said after the game. “Trenton Bean and other guys really showed up in the first half–if we didn’t have him [Bean] we would have been in big trouble.”

After a steal and dunk by the Pioneers’ Miles Middleton gave Patriot the early seven-point lead, Bean (10 points total) and the other Bruins reserves stopped the bleeding. Guard Brian Chittum scored seven points in the first quarter to help Forest Park close the stanza on a 13-2 run. The Pioneers never led again.

All-in-all, Dogbaste got 33 points from his bench on 13-20 shooting from the field. Bean and Chittum weren’t even the only ones to make their impact felt. Junior big man Mansa Collins also had seven points, and when Patriot cut the lead to 41-33 two threes by reserve guard Jackson Johnson squashed the Pioneers’ momentum and made it 47-33. It seemed at that point the game was essentially over.

Nobody told Patriot that, however. The Pioneers continued to attack the rim aggressively and draw fouls on the Bruins. They shot 29 foul shots to Forest Park’s eight, and when Sherman Rivers’ club dialed up the defensive intensity the Bruins suddenly went cold and committed numerous turnovers.

Josh Delaney.
Patriot’s Josh Delaney (14 points) goes around a screen by Jordan Robinson to score.

The Bruins still led 56-51 late in the fourth quarter with the ball. They then missed a shot and were called for over-the-back on the rebound. Junior Jay Villani then calmly drilled two free throws to make it 56-53.

After that the home team was called for a travel, and the Pioneers’ Robinson followed up a miss by teammate Josh Delaney with a put-back to make it 56-55. The Pioneers fouled Judy, who missed the front end of his one-and-one. The home crowd sat in shock, as it looked like Patriot could pull off the incredible comeback upset.

But, the Pioneers could not bring home the victory. Parrish drove the length of the floor and got an okay look at the rim from close, but the shot wouldn’t go. Robinson had a chance at a tough follow as time expired, but that was for naught as well. The Bruins (7-2) had themselves another win, while the Pioneers (3-6) had themselves another hard-fought loss. Video of the final play is below.

Senior guard Justin Solomon led the way for Forest Park with thirteen points and three assists. The Bruins will now be idle until January. For Patriot, senior forward Delaney led all scorers with 14. The Pioneers also received nice contributions from their bench, with Robinson pitching in nine points and Parrish seven. Coach Rivers’ squad will play next in the Bulldog Bash next week.

–Chris Jollay

all stats are unofficial

FOREST PARK FG FT TP RB AST
COLBERT 0-1 0-0 0 0 2
JUDY 3-4 0-1 6 6 3
WELLS 2-6 0-0 4 4 0
SOLOMON 4-13 2-3 13 1 3
CRAWLEY 0-0 0-0 0 2 2
Chittum 2-6 2-2 7 1 3
Johnson 3-3 0-0 9 3 1
Bean 5-6 0-1 10 3 0
Collins 3-3 1-1 7 3 0
Thomas 0-1 0-0 0 0 1
Pitts Jr. 0-1 0-0 0 2 0
TOTALS 22-44 5-8 56 25 15
PATRIOT FG FT TP RB AST
ONWUKA 1-5 8-10 10 4 4
SINGH 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
DELANEY 4-13 5-9 14 5 1
MARSHALL 2-5 0-2 4 2 1
MIDDLETON 2-3 1-4 5 2 0
Fyvie 0-1 0-0 0 0 1
Cook 1-1 0-0 2 1 0
Villani 0-3 2-2 2 3 0
Parrish 3-7 0-0 7 2 1
Watts 1-1 0-0 2 0 0
Robinson 4-7 1-2 9 4 0
TOTALS 18-46 17-29 55 24 8
Forest Park Threes: Johnson 3-3, Solomon 3-9, Chittum 1-4
Patriot Threes: Delaney 1-3, Parrish 1-3, Villani 0-1