FREDERICK, Md.--The Hood College men's basketball team (9-5, 2-4 CAC) dropped a heartbreaking 63-61 Capital Athletic Conference decision at the buzzer to the visiting York College (Pa.) Spartans (8-7, 3-3 CAC) Wednesday evening at BB&T Arena.
The Spartans scored four points in the final second to escape with the dramatic victory. Hood owned a 61-57 edge with 28 seconds left in regulation after Cameron Cook knocked down a pair of foul shots. YCP's Julian Watson got a layup to fall on the Spartans' next possession, which only burned seven seconds off the clock. After both teams traded timeouts, York came up with a huge steal off the Blazers' full-court inbounds pass and Mo Oursler laid it in for the Spartans with just 0.7 seconds left to knot the score at 61-61.
The Blazers were unsuccessful on their second attempt to inbound the ball under the York basket as Trey Quinn's pass sailed untouched out of bounds, giving possession back to the Spartans without any time running off the clock. York called timeout to set up the game-winning play, which went through the player who had the hot hand all night, Paul Kouvaris. The lanky senior forward corralled the inbounds pass from Oursler under the basket and just beat the buzzer with a layup to complete the improbable comeback for the guests.
After York opened up a 17-6 advantage midway through the opening half, the Blazers caught fire late in the period and had the momentum swinging their way heading into the locker room. Jordan Diggs provided a huge spark off the bench, knocking down three straight buckets, including a pair of treys, to give the Blazers life. Hood scored the final seven points of the first half to grab a 33-31 lead at the break, highlighted by an Adrien Straughn trey off a pass by Quinn in the closing seconds.
The lead changed hands nine times in the second half. Hood enjoyed its largest lead of the night, 45-38, after Justin Stone caused a Spartan turnover and Cook buried a three in transition at the 11:27 mark. York outscored the Blazers 12-2 over the next 6:12 to regain a 50-47 lead capped by two free throws by Kouvaris.
Stone snared another steal and finished a fast-break layup at the 3:14 mark to put Hood up two, but that bucket would be Hood's last field goal down the stretch (56-54) as the Spartans had the final say with the last-second heroics.
Lavar Rich paced the Blazer offense with 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting while Stone and Cook finished with nine apiece. Kouvaris led all scorers with 20 points and nine boards.
The setback halted Hood's season-long five-game win streak and was Hood's first defeat of 2012.
The Blazers have the weekend off before returning to BB&T Arena Monday to host their final nonconference opponent of the season, the Delaware Valley College Aggies, at 6 p.m.