TRUMBULL — Officially, there was no assist given on Timmond Williams’ incredible, buzzer-beating, off-balance 3-pointer off the backboard that gave Trumbull a thrilling 50-49 boys basketball victory over Ridgefield Thursday.
Unofficially, however, Williams felt there should have been.
“When I let it go and the ball was in the air it wasn’t looking good,” said Williams, who led the Eagles with 19 points. “But while it was in the air I asked God to please let it hit off the backboard, and it did.”
Williams’ bank-shot from about 23-feet out kept Trumbull undefeated (6-0, 3-0 FCIAC) and also gave the senior forward 1,000 career points.
“Timmond struggled all night, he just couldn’t find any rhythm,” Trumbull coach Buddy Bray said. “All shooters have nights like this. But he is a talented kid and came off a screen and just banked it in.”
@WilliamsTimmond reached 1,000 career points, hit the game-winner, and gave @TrumbullAthlet1 a thrilling 50-49 victory over Ridgefield! @TrumbullHS @THSBlackHole @fciac #ctbb
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The shot ruined what was a outstanding fourth quarter effort by Ridgefield (4-2, 2-1). The Tigers, who trailed 34-30 entering the final eight minutes, went on a 12-2 run behind to the shooting of James St. Pierre, who made three treys in the opening two minutes of the period to give Ridgefield a 42-36 lead. St. Pierre led Ridgefield with 25 points; 17 in the second half and 12 in the final quarter.
“We knew we had to get the ball to James,” McClellan said.
It felt like the game was going to come down to St. Pierre vs. Williams, and for all but the final shot it looked like St. Pierre won. But Williams shook off a bad shooting night (6 for 23) to got the last laugh.
“(St. Pierre) took over in the fourth quarter for sure,” Williams said. “But we got the last shot.”
The Tigers led 49-45 with 27 seconds remaining, but couldn’t put the Eagles away.
“We didn’t finish like we should have,” Ridgefield coach Andrew McClellan said. “We played as well as we could play in the second half. Yeah, they got a little lucky, but they made one more play than we did.”
The Tigers missed the front end of 1-and-1s twice in those final 27 seconds. Still, when Trumbull got the ball trailing 49-47 with 14 seconds remaining, Ridgefield still had three fouls to give.
Earlier in the quarter it was Trumbull that had to foul four times just to get to the 1-and-1. But then Ridgefield missed three out of four from the line to give the Eagles a chance.
So, after three Ridgefield fouls there were 4.7 seconds remaining with the Eagles inbounding near center court. Williams took the inbounds pass and with everyone inside the gym knowing he was going to take the final shot, he somehow got the ball off while being double-teamed.
You know who took over from there.
Quentar Taylor added 14 points for Trumbull while Chris Brown and Mileeq Green each had eight rebounds.
Chris Knachel had 10 rebounds for Ridgefield.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Ridgefield’s James St. Pierre had 25 points but it was the 3-pointer by Timmond Williams (19 points) at the buzzer that won it.
QUOTABLE
“Ridgefield played at the (deliberate) pace they wanted to and executed their game plan perfectly” — Trumbull coach Buddy Bray
TRUMBULL 50, RIDGEFIELD 49
RIDGEFIELD (49)
Luke McGarrity 2 2-2 7; Chris Knachel 3 0-0 7; Cameron Andry 0 0-0 0; Matt Misurelli 0 0-0 0; James St. Pierre 8 4-7 25; John Briody 0 0-0 0; Derek Szpakowski 3 0-3 6; Matt DeLuca 0 1-2 1; Ryan Garson 0 1-2 1; Wes Carpenter 0 0-0 0; Nick Hall 1 0-0 2; Yohann Britto 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17-45 8-15 49
TRUMBULL (50)
Mileeq Green 2 0-0 5; Quentar Taylor 6 0-0 14; Even Gutowski 2 2-3 6; Chris Brown 2 0-0 4; Timmond Williams 6 4-5 19; Jack Therriault 1 0-0 2; John Paul Fromageot 0 0-0 0; Isaiah Johnson 0 0-0 0; Andrew Cutter 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19-52 6-8 50
RIDGEFIELD 12 7 13 19 — 49
TRUMBULL 13 12 9 16 — 50
Halftime: T 25-19. 3-pointers: R — St. Pierre 5, McGarrity, Knachel. T — Williams 3, Taylor 2, Green. Records: R 4-2, 2-1 FCIAC, T 6-0, 3-0
