Ardrey, Taconic Boys Top Drury
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The Blue Devils (4-7) overcame an early 8-0 lead to go toe-to-toe all night with Taconic (8-4).
Drury led, 37-35, when Doug Sigsbury took a charge against Ardrey in the lane on Taconic's second possession of the fourth quarter.
But as it turned out, Sigsbury's body slowed down Ardrey much more than the Taconic guard's fourth personal could.
Ardrey had a hand in all 20 of Taconic's fourth-quarter points. He knocked down two 3-pointers, a pull-up from the left wing, a lay-in in transition and five foul shots. Plus, he set up Deinte Sandifer for a bucket in the post and a triple from the corner.
"The guy's a great player," Drury coach Jack Racette said. "We kept the game right where we wanted it. We held them to [57] points. We couldn't get [58]."
Drury's Alex Heck scored 22 points, and Kareen Beckett had eight points and 10 rebounds.
The Blue Devils led by as many as four points in the second half after falling behind early.
They began their comeback when Justin Girard put back an offensive rebound midway through the first quarter to make it 8-2. That ignited a 16-2 Drury run that ended with a Beckett 3-pointer to give the visitors a 16-10 lead at the first break.
It was Drury by two at half-time after Sandifer (nine points) scored in transition at the buzzer to make it 25-23.
The teams then traded runs and leads throughout the second half.
Drury's Nick Trombley (10 points) pulled up at the elbow and hit a shot to put his team ahead 29-25. Taconic went on a 9-2 run.
Heck scored four straight, including a 3 to give Drury a 35-34 lead. Ardrey hit a 3 from 25 feet at the buzzer to make it 37-35, Taconic, after three quarters.
In the fourth, Heck had nine, and Beckett scored five. But Ardrey was the difference, as he often is when Taconic comes out on top.
Sandifer gave his team the lead for good with a three ball courtesy of an Ardrey assist to make it 52-51. After Mike Taylor pulled down a defensive rebound at the other end, Ardrey got to the line and hit both ends of a one-and-one.
Trombley did likewise on Drury's next possession to get the lead back to one, 54-53, with 17.9 on the clock. But Taconic beat Drury's press to get Ardrey a lay-in and a foul. He completed the conventional three-point play to provide the final margin of victory.
For Drury, it was the third loss in a row -- each by 10 points or fewer.
"We're young," Racette said. "We start five juniors. Heck's a junior who's really playing like a freshman because this is his first time in the program. When you have five juniors out there, that's what it looks like.
"We played hard tonight. When you play that hard, usually good things will happen. If we play that hard, we'll win some games. How many, I don't know, but Taconic's a good team."