Cougars end season with 62-53 playoff loss to Shawnee

Yesterday, the Cougars ended their season in a hard fought battle to Shawnee. With the loss, the Cougar's finish the 2009-2010 season with a 19-8 record.

The Cougars completely controlled the game early on. At the end of the first quarter, East led 12-8. But then, Shawnee really took control of the game in the second quarter, outscoring East by 9 points in the quarter. In the third quarter, Shawnee out scored East 16-9. Throughout the second half, Shawnee rarely missed a shot, and East was having trouble scoring, which allowed Shawnee to take a 12 point lead into the fourth quarter.

At one point in the second half, East fell back as far as 15 points. But then, many things happened that allowed East to make a comeback in the fourth quarter. The Cougars began pressing on defense, and they caused Shawnee to turn the ball over on numerous occasions. East then followed up Shawnee's turnovers with a scoring spree of their own . With about four minutes left, Marc Schlessel ('12) hit a three to reduce Shawnee's lead to 50-44. Then, on East's next possession, Ben Gerstein ('10) hit possibly the most clutch shot of his basketball career. With exactly 3:37 left in the game, Gerstein hit a three pointer from the top of the key, making the score 50-47. The Cougar faithful crowd in Shawnee's gymnasium absolutely erupted when Gerstein hit this shot, and the happiness among all of the East fans was truly a remarkable site.

But on Shawnee's ensuing possession, a Shawnee player was fouled in the act of shooting. The Shawnee player's shot was good, and he converted the free throw, making the score 52-47 with 3:15 left in the game.

On East's next possession, East turned the ball over, and Shawnee went on a fast break. Three Shawnee players were down the court, with only Seth Friedman ('10) protecting East's basket. Friedman was able to block a Shawnee player's shot and recover the ball. Friedman then threw a pass cross court to a wide open Chris Santo ('11) on the right side of the three point line. Santo's three point attempt was no good, however. Following Santo's missed shot, the wheels fell off for East for good. With 2:25 left in the game, Santo fouled out of the game and Shawnee hit foul shot after foul shot, pushing the game out of reach for the Cougars and ending their season with a second round playoff loss. For the second straight year, East lost in the second round of the playoffs.

Final Point breakdown for East in the game:

Seth Friedman : 3 points
Edou Zaken : 2 points
Marc Schlessel : 10 points
Chris Santo : 21 points
Jake Gurkin : 9 points
Jesse Gold : 2 points
Ben Gerstein : 6 points

Please check back tomorrow for some concluding words on East's graduating senior basketball class.