Green’s Last-Second 17-Footer Gives Harvard 60-59 Win Over St. Genevieve

After missing 15 shots, Harvard High’s Steve Green wasn’t afraid to shoot one more during the final second of Thursday night’s game against St. Genevieve.

The senior guard took an inbounds pass and hit a 17-footer from the right side at the buzzer, giving the Saracens a 60-59 victory at Harvard.

“Steve came up to me during the timeout and said, ‘Give me another shot. I think I can do it’ ” said Harvard Coach Greg Hilliard, whose team improved to 6-3 overall and 2-0 in the Santa Fe League. “I like to see that in a player.”

St. Genevieve (5-5, 1-1) had done a good job of containing Green earlier in the game and was confident it could stop him again. But the Valiants couldn’t stop Green, even with a special defense set up during a timeout.

“We ran a box and one trying to prevent him from getting the ball,” St. Genevieve Coach Pete Cassidy said after the game. “I can’t believe he made that shot.”

The Saracens trailed for most of the game despite holding a 20-11 first-quarter lead. They were down by two, 28-26, at halftime after making only 3 of 11 shots in the second quarter and missing all four free-throw attempts.

St. Genevieve established a five-point lead early in the third quarter behind the outside shooting of Mike Cassidy and Mark Earhart and the inside shooting of Mike Walker.

St. Genevieve, however, had trouble making free throws in the second half as Harvard fought desperately to regain the lead. The Valiants made 13 of 25 free throws for the game and 0 of 4 during the final minute.

“You know what we’ll be practicing tomorrow,” Cassidy said.

HARVARD--Green 16, Lowe 14, Patton 5, Saferstein 7, Bell 12, Patterson 4, Adams 2.

ST. GENEVIEVE--Aguirre 5, Cassidy 10, Colon 3, Contreras 2, Earhart 12, Martinez 12, Walker 15.