Andrew Kostecka’s buzzer-beater sends Clarksburg past Quince Orchard
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Version 0 of 1. Three seconds remained when Dallas Marshall rebounded the errant free throw, and if Clarksburg had a timeout, the Coyotes might’ve taken it. But they didn’t have any. So with the game tied, Marshall put the ball in the hands of their best player, and let him go to work. Andrew Kostecka took the pass and then crossed over a Quince Orchard defender en route to the three-point line. With time expiring, the senior fired from above the arc, and the ball went through the net, giving the Coyotes a 59-56 victory Thursday in Clarksburg. “It was the first game-winner of my life,” said the 6-foot-4 Kostecka, who was mobbed by teammates after beating the buzzer. “It’s the greatest feeling in my life.” Kostecka, a Loyola (Md.) commit, had missed the last three weeks with a left ankle injury. He made his presence felt immediately with a dunk, but the first quarter belonged to Matthew Kelly and the Cougars. The junior guard drilled three threes in the opening frame, the last of which was a high-arcing shot over Kostecka that gave Quince Orchard a 17-9 lead. The Coyotes (8-4, 1-3, Montgomery 4A/3A West) erased a double-digit deficit in the second quarter thanks to a three-point barrage led by Ian Krishnan. The junior scored a team-high 22 points, camping out in the corners and hitting six shots from beyond the arc, including three in the third quarter. “That’s my favorite spot. I was feeling it today and my teammates were getting me the ball,” Krishnan said. Quince Orchard (11-2, 3-1) clawed back from a 44-36 deficit and Kelly (16 points) tied the game at 53 with his fourth three-pointer. That set the stage for a wild, back-and-forth final two minutes, where both teams hit clutch shots against aggressive defenses. A dunk from Kostecka put the Coyotes ahead and Jeffrey McInnis split a pair from the foul line to extend their lead to three in the final minute. In the closing seconds, Quince Orchard junior John Fierstein (17 points) took an inbounds pass and hit a game-tying three-pointer while drawing a foul. But he didn’t complete the four-point play. His foul shot bounced off the rim, leaving just enough time for Kostecka to get down the floor, sink the three and snap the Cougars’ nine-game winning streak. “It’s just, first game back, you never know what to expect,” said Kostecka, who scored eight of his 14 points in the fourth quarter. “But I’m proud of the way I played.” |