Sacred Heart boys basketball appeared to have met its match on Saturday night at the 15th annual Spaulding Hoophall Classic inside Blake Arena on the campus of Springfield College.
The Hearts were down 19 as late as the start of the fourth quarter against Foothills Christian from California, yet rallied to tie on a Mustapha Heron 3-pointer. Heron’s foul with four seconds left put Foothills freshman Jaren Nafarrete at the line. Nafarrete drained both free throws, Heron missed from halfcourt, and Foothills walked away with a 82-80 victory.
The stars had big nights for both teams. Heron, headed to Auburn, dropped 31 points and connected on four 3-pointers while UMass-bound Tyrn Flowers tallied 18 points. Raheem Solomon, getting interest from several Division I schools as a sophomore, scored 15 points.
For Foothills, 6-foot-10, UCLA-bound senior T.J. Leaf had a team-high 30 points. Leaf hit two of Foothills’ 15 3-pointers in the contest. Foothills shot a ridiculous 15-of-22 from three-point land on the night. Luis Salgado made 6-of-8 from behind the arc, and teammate Jordan Van Ommering was 4-of-4.
Foothills had a double-digit lead for much of the game, and Sacred Heart trailed 69-50 entering the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Hearts almost pulled off the improbable. Trailing 79-71, Tyrn Flowers canned a 3-pointer. Mustapha Heron followed with one of his own to pull Sacred Heart within two points at 79-77. After Foothills made a foul shot, Heron drained a long 3-pointer to miraculously tie the game at 80.
The fans were going nuts inside Blake Arena, but Foothills had a chance to win. The Hearts made it a little easier for them than it should have been. Heron aggressively went after the ball and fouled Nafarrete, and his two foul shots with four seconds left were the difference.
Heron got one last chance, but his halfcourt shot was wide left.
It’s the first loss for Sacred Heart in its last 41 games. The bottom line, however, is that the Hearts showed that they can compete against a great program from a basketball-rich state such as California.
The madness is far from over for Sacred Heart. On Monday, the Hearts travel to Baruch College in New York for the Big Apple Classic High School Invitational. Sacred Heart plays Long Island Lutheran at about 5:45 p.m.
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