It would’ve been a sleight to Cupid himself if New Albany pulled out Friday’s game at Providence. The Pioneers looked savvier all night, and their once narrow fourth-quarter lead had grown to eight points with only 1:00 left on the clock.
And yet, here came the Bulldogs, looking to steal their little brother’s candy once again, capitalizing on missed free throws and turnovers to close the gap. And here was New Albany sophomore point guard Kaden Stanton, who’d carried his team all night, shaking free of a double-team and getting a clean look from distance for the win.
The shot just missed. The buzzer sounded. Cupid smiled, and the Pioneer student section celebrated the 51-49 victory by storming the court.
“I thought (Providence) played really hard,” New Albany coach Jim Shannon. “They deserved to win. They controlled it from the get-go.”
New Albany (12-8) got off to a quick start and led 9-6. Providence (13-6) answered with a 10-0 run to lead 16-9 after one quarter, then outscored the Dogs 12-5 in the second to lead 28-17 at the half. Austin Grantz and Sterling Huber scored 13 points each for the Pioneers.
New Albany chipped away in the third. Stanton found Trey Hourigan for two baskets early, then scored 10 points himself, including two threes from the right wing that cut the lead to 35-34 at the end of three quarters.
Providence led 41-35 after Huber’s right-corner three and a free throw from Austin Barnett. Hourigan’s basket and a three-point play from Stanton pulled the Dogs to within one, and they had a chance to take the lead after a steal but couldn’t capitalize. Huber hit again from distance after a Providence time out, and two baskets by Grantz stretched the lead to 48-40 with 1:35.
After another Providence time out with 47.3 seconds left, Tucker Biven got a steal and a three-point play for New Albany to make it 49-44. Providence’s Nick Sexton missed the front end of a one-and-one at 41.6, and Stanton followed with a three-point play to cut the lead to 49-47.
Sexton made one-of-two free throws before and Stanton responded with two free throws at 27.2 to make it 50-49. Grantz made one-of-two free throws at 22.8, and after a time out, New Albany held for the last shot and the possible win.
“That’s the look we wanted,” Shannon said. “We wanted him shooting. I said, ‘Do you guys wanna go quick so if we miss, we can foul and have another shot at it? Or do you just want to wait and tie it with a 2 or win it with a 3? Kaden said let’s go for the win. We took a great shot. I’d let him do that 10 more times. It just barely missed. That would’ve been a heroic comeback as bad as we played. … Providence had a lot to do with it.”
Stanton led all scorers with 23 points. Hourigan added nine, Hunter scored eight and Biven had six. Huber finished with 21 points for Providence, Grantz added 20 and Sexton scored six.
New Albany played shorthanded. Freshman Jackson Streander, a regular in the rotation, didn’t dress because of illness, and senior Julien Hunter suffered a leg contusion that kept him on the bench for about the final 10 minutes.
Shannon said the hosts seemed to want the game more.
“Providence is a good team, very well coached. They played hard, they’ve got some nice players. They couldn’t get the Creek, they couldn’t get Jeff, they couldn’t get Floyd, so this was important to them. We, however, didn’t get any of those other three either, so it should’ve been important to us, and I don’t think it was until the second half.
“In the second half I think we decided to try and win a rivalry game, but we couldn’t get there. … I thought we played with a lot of heart in the second half. I told the kids we’re disappointed, we’re not discouraged. If you look at our win mark, it’s not like we’ve just been showing up and kicking butt and taking names.
“Were still young — I don’t want to use that excuse all the time, but we don’t have a lot of guys out there with a lot of experience who understand the ins and outs of basketball. Who to foul, when to foul. We have to keep working on it.”
Providence coach Ryan Miller, a former Pioneer star who’s in his first year at the helm, was ecstatic about beating a larger rival. New Albany has won 31 out of the past 38 meetings between the two schools.
“They’ve got great players, they’re well coached. That’s a team that’s definitely going to compete for a 4A sectional title,” he said. “We were telling their guys their record is a little bit deceptive because they’ve had key players out early on.
“It’s always a big win when you can defeat a great program like New Albany They are they are top tier every year and one of best programs in the state, so we feel fortunate to have played well and to get the win.”
