Live Oak trailed by 10 points early in the fourth quarter against Lynbrook when the boys basketball team made a run.
Erik Ornduff hit three 3s including one with five seconds left to play in regulation as part of a 21-11 run to force the game into overtime.
But the momentum didn’t carry over into the extra period as the Acorns fell 61-58 Tuesday night in their season opener.
“There was a time in the game where it was looking bad. We were losing control; they had a (10)-point lead,” said Live Oak Coach Brett Paolucci. “We just kept on battling back, taking our time, getting some key stops, we got some drives, we got some baskets … and, yeah, I’m totally happy with how they played.”
The shot was set up by even better defense on the other end of the floor as the shot clock didn’t favor Lynbrook who couldn’t just run out the clock while nursing a three-point lead.
The Acorns choked out the Vikings’ shooting lanes and forced them into a bad look that caromed off the rim where Ornduff pulled down the rebound.
Paolucci immediately called timeout with 14 seconds left on the clock and drew up a play to get Ornduff a look to tie the game.
It almost immediately fell apart, but the outcome was exactly what Paolucci wanted.
“We didn’t run what we wanted to run, but we got the ball in the right guy’s hands,” Paolucci said. “We wanted to run something to get Erik the ball and they went with a full-court press. We beat it. We attacked and found Erik open on the wing like I wanted to do and, boy, that’s why I wanted Erik Ornduff out here.”
Ornduff had 11 points and a key rebound in the fourth quarter that gave Live Oak new life in a game where they overcame 19 turnovers and were held to 15 first-half points.
“We’ve got to do a better job handling the ball and not turning it over,” Paolucci said. “That was the key to the game tonight: turnovers. We’ve got to be accountable for every time we have the ball in our end. We cannot turn the ball over.”
Justin Baker led Live Oak in shooting scoring 14 points, including hitting the Acorns’ only field goal in the overtime period.
Baker also finished with 14 rebounds.
He was followed by Josh Carvalho who had 12 points and five rebounds.
Carvalho had eight points in the third quarter to help keep Live Oak within five of Lynbrook.
The Acorns finished off the final quarter of regulation on a 7-0 scoring run helped along by Michael Togliatti tipping in a ball that hit off the rim before Ornduff hit his big 3.
Live Oak and Lynbrook got off to slow starts with the Vikings hitting the first bucket of the frame, but went scoreless for the next five-plus minutes of the quarter.
Meanwhile, Live Oak’s first points came off a pair of free throws until Brandon Balala hit a 3 to give the Acorns a 5-2 lead.
Live Oak fell behind a second time early in the second quarter when Varun Parthasarathy hit a bucket for an early 7-5 lead.
Parthasarathy finished with 15 points along with 15 rebounds.
But shooting from Baker, JR Salvador and Jared Freitas got the Acorns a 15-10 lead when the momentum shifted.
Alexian Lin hit a 3 for the Vikings that sparked a 9-0 run to end the second quarter.
Lynbrook eventually finished its roll on a 16-0 run that finally ended in the third quarter.
Jon Liang led the charge with a pair of 3s on his way to eight points in the quarter. Liang proved to be the one Live Oak couldn’t stop down the stretch, as he hit five 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 27 points.
Despite 16 points in the quarter thanks to Carvalho’s effort, Live Oak trailed by five heading into the fourth quarter.
“I’m happy with how they played. It’s a long season and this is one game,” Paolucci said. “We can’t dwell on it; we just have to get ready for the next one. We can learn from it, but we’re not going to sit here and dwell on it.”
