Troy’s Sylvester hits game-winner as Colts pay back Ferndale
BY JAKE LOURIM
STUDENT CORRESPONDENT
j.lourim@comcast.net
TROY— The last time Troy played Ferndale, Larry Sylvester didn’t even have a uniform.
So it must have surprised everyone when Sylvester sat the first 27 minutes, went in with
five minutes left, hit the game-winning 3-pointer, and strode off with his team carrying a
share of the league lead.
Not even Sylvester saw that one coming.
“Absolutely not, no way,” he said. “I didn’t even think I was going in tonight.”
Sylvester and junior James Young rallied Troy to tie the league race in the OAA White Division at Ferndale Friday, 62-59.
Sylvester, a senior, found himself open in the corner with 53 seconds left and knocked
down “the biggest shot of my life.” As the shooter himself said, it didn’t even look like it was going in.
“He’s a tremendous success story, and nobody deserves it more than him,” Troy coach Gary Fralick said. “Great kid, perseverance is second to none, and his shot is awfully good.”
Once the practice-player-turned-hero got the lead, Young did the rest.
Ferndale drove into the lane on the ensuing possession, but Young made sure it didn’t get much further, poking the ball away and taking it himself for a dunk at the other end.
“I saw him lose it a little bit, and I poked it,” Young said. “It was risky, because I could have fouled him.”
Ferndale immediately came down and hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to one, then sent Young to the line. In the clutch again, Young knocked in both.
Asked what was going through his mind, Young said, “Honestly, nothing. That was the
biggest thing.”
“He’s just got no fear,” Fralick said. “He’s got so much ability, so much great know-how.”
Ferndale got one more open shot, but it rimmed out, and Young snatched the rebound and threw it up in the air.
It was time to celebrate.
Indeed, the Colts did, mobbing each other at half-court before shaking hands with the
Ferndale players with whom they are now tied atop the league standings.
After Troy took an 11-point lead to the break, Ferndale poured in four 3-pointers in a 22-point third quarter. Suddenly, Troy found itself in another battle with the Eagles. That got a raucous hometown crowd fired up, only to be stunned when Troy stole the victory.
It was junior Joe Leonard who had the hot hand early, hitting his first four 3-pointers and
totaling five triples and 19 points in the first half.
“When you hit a couple in a row,” Leonard said, “that rim just gets huge and you just want to keep shooting.”
Leonard eventually cooled off, and nobody was a second scorer to Young. So with five minutes left, Fralick pointed his finger at Sylvester for the first time all night and sent him to the scorers’ table.
It only took one shot for Sylvester to leave his mark on Ferndale.
“I was glad that I got the chance to go in,” he said, “because I felt like my shot was on
today.”
Nobody expected it, but it sure was spot-on.
Category: Featured Articles, High School, High School (M-Z), Prep Wraps
