It was a 30-foot dagger right through the hearts of the
Coudersport Falcons as Villa Maria Academy posted a 60-56 decision
in the first round of the PIAA Class A boys’ playoffs at the
Pitt-Bradford Sport & Fitness Center on Friday.

With Coudy leading 56-55 with 1:44 remaining, Villa’s Cory
Chaffee drilled a long three-pointer from the top of the key and
then the 6-foot senior guard drove home for a layup 53 seconds
later to end the Falcons’ campaign at 24-4.

“It was still a great season,” said Chris Fink, Coudy head
coach. “Our seniors went off on a good note and several had three
or four good years for us. We also got some young guys some
experience, and that will pay off next year and the following
year.”

Coudy seemed to be just a half-step behind District 10’s
second-seeded Victors (20-8) as VMA opened an 8-2 lead with 4:57
left in the first quarter.

Layups by Jake Acker and Ryan Jones cut the Falcons’ deficit to
9-7, but five points by Chaffee sparked a 7-0 Villa run for a 16-9
advantage with 1:48 showing.

David Babcock then drained a trifecta from the left wing and
Acker fed Drew Levavasseur for a layin as the Falcons trailed 18-14
after one.

“They (Victors) were a little quicker than they seemed to be on
film,” Fink admitted. “It took us a little while to get going and
we rushed some shots.”

In the second period Villa opened a 13-point lead (35-22) on a
bomb from the left elbow by Mike Galleher, but Babcock nailed a
three-pointer from the right corner and another from the left wing
to cut the Coudy disparity to 38-28 at the intermission.

“He (Babcock) hit some key outside shots and did a great job
handling the ball,” Fink declared.

District 9’s No. 2 seed still trailed by 10 when a layin by John
Hau and a triple from Babcock pared the Victors’ margin to 40-35
with 5:55 left in the third.

After a pair of Craig Schauble free throws made it 42-35,
Babcock scored three points on a foul shot and a layup, and Blair
Heimel added two more buckets in the paint to knot the affair at
42-all after three.

“Our guys showed some heart coming back in the second half,”
Fink offered.

The contest was knotted at 44-44, 46-46 and then at 50-50 when a
13-foot spinner in the lane by Jones gave the Falcons their first
lead of the night at 52-50 with 3:55 remaining.

“He (Jones) always pulls one out of the bag once a game,” Fink
recalled.

“He’s done an awful lot of scoring for us over the course of
four years. We were trying to get him the ball tonight in the paint
area as much as we could.”

Twenty-seven seconds later a free throw by Jones extended the
Coudy advantage to 53-50, but a three-pointer with 2:30 showing by
Galleher sent VMA back into the lead at 55-54.

Jones converted both ends of a one-and-one to put the Falcons on
the plus side of the scoreboard at 56-55 with 2:11 left, but 30
seconds later Chaffee’s NBA-length prayer was answered and the
Victors were exactly that.

“It was a well-played game that could’ve gone either way,” Fink
noted.

“They (Victors) hit a couple of threes at crunch time and
outlasted us. One was from a guy we weren’t expecting and the other
was from about 29 feet.

We knew their guards had a lot of offensive firepower and we
would have trouble matching up with them.”

Babcock had 20 points, and Jones contributed 18 points and 11
rebounds for the Falcons, who as a team scored 14 points in each of
the four periods.

“We did get away from getting it inside in the last couple of
minutes when we really needed to get it inside,” Fink concluded.
“It was tough to get enough consecutive stops against that team to
maintain a lead.

They just executed a little better down the stretch.”