GENEVA, N.Y.—Junior guard Chris Murphy scored a driving layup off the inbounds pass from sophomore backcourt mate Joe Murphy with 1.9 seconds left to lift Union to a 77-74 victory in a Liberty League Championship Tournament semi-final game over Hobart College at Bristol Gym. The Dutchmen will play Hamilton in Saturday's 4 p.m. title game with the winner earning the league's automatic NCAA tournament berth. The Continentals rallied to defeat Skidmore, 76-75.
Mike Manning's driving layup with 10 seconds on the clock had given the homestanding Statesmen a 74-73 lead prompting Union head coach Bob Montana to call a double time out with 6.9 seconds showing. As Union lined up to take the inbounds pass, Hobart called a time out of its own. On the sidelines Murphy and Montana traded strategy. When play finally continued, Mackey's bounce pass to Murphy resulted in a driving layup that gave the Dutchmen their one-point lead.
Murphy then proceeded to steal Hobart's long inbounds pass and was fouled with 0.4 seconds showing. He calmly converted both free throws to round out the final margin before senior forward Devon Bruce ended the game by picking off Hobart's final pass down court.
"Coach challenged me," explained Murphy after the game. "We changed up how we were positioned after Hobart called its time out and Joe got me the ball down low."
"The ball was always going to Chris," explained Montana about the final series of strategy sessions. "We talked about switching positions after we saw how they (Hobart) lined up their defense. Nothing else changed from the first time out to the third."
For Murphy it was his second game-winning shot of the year. The other, a thre-point basket, came in a non-league win over Middlebury at the Viniar Athletic Center.
"I haven't had a buzzer-beater since since my senior year in high school," said the Dutchmen's point guard, who earlier this year became just the sixth player in Union's long history to surpass 300 assists and came into the game averaging just over six points. "To have two in one year and to have one in a game of this magnitude is every basketball player's dream."
Hobart, which trailed 64-55 after junior guard John Cagianello's jumper with 9:04 to play, went on a 13-3 run over the next 6:17 to capture a 68-67 lead on Mike Mastro's two free throws with 2:35 remaining. Cagianello then hit both ends of a one-and-on to put Union back on top, 69-68, before Flacke's layup with 1:21 left gave Hobart the lead, 72-71.
Murphy's off-balance layup with 56 seconds showing rolled in as Union went back on top, 73-72, before Mastro's layup gave the Statesmen their final points of the game.
The Garnet saw their 42-35 halftime lead quickly evaporate as the Statesmen opened the second 20 minutes by scoring 13 of the half's first 17 points. Joe Flacke's slam dunk gave the hosts a 48-46 lead with 14:59 on the clock. Junior forward Brian Scordato tied the game on Union's next possession and the Dutchmen took the lead, 54-49, on back-to-back three-point field goals by Mackey with 12:11 left. Back-to-back three-pointers by Murphy and Cagianello, the second coming at 9:37, gave the Dutchmen a 62-53 advantage before two free throws by Colby Feane and Cagianello's jumper at 9:04 set the stage for Hobart's rally and Murphy's game-ending heroics.
"I am very pleased with the mental and physical toughness we showed in this game," said Montana. "Everyone really came through and did their jobs under very difficult circumstances. Now we look forward to meeting Hamilton and the possibility of representing our league, our program, and our college in the NCAA tournament."
Union and Hamilton split the regular-season with each team winning on its own court.
Union, which lost both regular-season games to the top-seeded Statesmen (15-10), raced out to a 31-19 lead in the first 10:58 as the Dutchmen connected on eight of their first 10 three-point field goal attempts. Junior forward Brian Scordato, who had 14 points in the opening run, connected on his third tres (in four attempts) with 9:02 showing, and then completed the rare four-point play by sinking the free throw.
Hobart, which called a time out after Scordato's effort, then went on a run of its own, scoring 14 of the game's next 18 points to pull to within two, 35-33, with 2:02 remaining on Joe Flacke's layup. Senior forward Devon Bruce then scored five consecutive points on a three-point field goal and a layup, the second coming with 15 seconds remaining, to give the Dutchmen a 40-33 advantage. Mike Manning knocked down a pair of free throws for the Statesmen before junior point guard Chris Murphy's driving layup at the buzzer helped the Garnet to a 42-35 advantage at the half.
Scordato, who connected on five of his seven overall field goal attempt in the opening 20 minutes, contributed 14 points while Bruce added 11 and Murphy 10. The Dutchmen hit 16 of their 31 field goal attempts (51.6%), including a nine of 16 effort (56.3%) from three-point range.
Murphy and Cagianello each finished with 19 points while Scordato added 16 and Bruce 13.
Union College vs Hobart College 02-25-05 8:10 p.m. at Bristol Gym, Geneva, N.Y. At Bristol Gym, Geneva, N.Y. UNION COLLEGE 77, HOBART COLLEGE 74 UNION COLLEGE (15-11) John Cagianello 7-16 2-2 19; Chris Murphy 7-8 2-2 19; Brian Scordato 6-12 1-1 16; Devon Bruce 5-9 0-2 13; Joe Mackey 3-9 0-0 8; James Rahill 1-2 0-0 2; T.J. Ramey 0-1 0-0 0; Delon McAllister 0-1 0-0 0; Kyle Grimm 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 29-60 5-7 77. HOBART COLLEGE (15-10) Colby Feane 6-14 4-4 19; Mike Manning 7-15 2-2 18; Joe Virgilio 5-11 0-0 13; Joe Flacke 4-9 5-9 13; Mike Mastro 3-3 3-4 9; Adam Frederic 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 26-56 14-19 74. Union College................. 42 35 - 77 Hobart College................ 35 39 - 74 3-point goals-Union College 14-30 (Brian Scordato 3-6; Chris Murphy 3-3; John Cagianello 3-9; Devon Bruce 3-4; Joe Mackey 2-6; Kyle Grimm 0-1; James Rahill 0-1), Hobart College 8-20 (Colby Feane 3-6; Joe Virgilio 3-7; Mike Manning 2-5; Adam Frederic 0-2). Fouled out--Union College-None, Hobart College-None. Rebounds-Union College 27 (Brian Scordato 7), Hobart College 35 (Mike Mastro 14). Assists-Union College 13 (Brian Scordato 4), Hobart College 18 (Mike Mastro 6). Total fouls-Union College 16, Hobart College 12. A-1117 Liberty League Semifinal #2 Union advances to championship game vs. Hamilton, Feb. 26, 4 p.m.