QUINCY, Mass. - Down 64-60 with 1:04 remaining in regulation, it appeared Taunton’s season was closing in on the end. But Corey Green and Jose Mercado stepped up to extend the game and close out a 74-68 overtime win over Quincy.
Green’s layup came with 35.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter that pulled the Tigers within two. After a defensive stop, Tommy MacLean raced up the floor, found Mercado all alone under the basket with 10 seconds on the clock and his layup sent the game to overtime.
In the extra frame, Taunton jumped out to a 68-64 lead behind two free throws and a basket from Green. Quincy then surged back with four points from the free throw line to tie the score, but that would be all for the Presidents. Green then knocked down two more free throws while Jose Mercado scored the next two baskets, one off of a defensive steal with under a minute to play.
“We’ve been through this before, no reason to wilt,” Taunton head coach Charlie Dacey said of his team’s attitude going into overtime. “You use that over the course of the season so you can pull it out of your hat in a time like this, and we went into that overtime with a bit of confidence.”
Both teams fed off the energy in the building early on in the contest, and that translated into 43 combined points in the opening quarter. Taunton then extended a slim lead to 12 points late in the third quarter before Quincy surged back with a run of their own. Five straight points from Drew Myers pulled the Presidents within one late in the fourth, and following a Green free throw, Myers knocked down a three to take a 60-59 lead. James Lam then extended the lead to three, Green answered with a free throw, and Myers answered right back with two of his own to take a 64-60 lead before Taunton came back to tie it.
“I think we got a little tentative,” Dacey said. “We were trying to switch up our sets a little bit because I thought Quincy was getting used to them, and we just lost our flow. Actually I thought we lost a little bit of confidence too. We just weren’t flowing with the rhythm we had for most of the game.”
Both teams shot well in the game, Quincy at 56 percent and Taunton at 49 percent. Green and the Tigers were efficient from behind the arc, especially early in the contest, and that success was just enough to edge the Presidents.
“We shot pretty well,” Dacey said. “We’re good against zones. Not the way you always want to do it, from the three point line, but we’re pretty good from there.”
Green finished the night with 29 points, five assists and four rebounds. Mercado recorded 20 points and six rebounds while Jessy Machado added 10 points and six rebounds.
“We were okay against their zone,” Dacey said. “Then when they went man-to-man we got a little tentative. Corey Green was not tentative but some of the other guys were tentative. It shows, you’ve got to attack.”
Taunton now advances to the D1 South Semifinal round and will face #1 Mansfield. The Hornets got the better of the Tigers in the season series, a slim 82-73 win in Taunton early in the year followed by a 78-51 victory in Mansfield.