Trailing Cooperstown 49-48 with 22 seconds remaining in their Section Three Class C-1 semifinal game at James-Dewitt High School Saturday afternoon, Sandy Creek head coach Bill Fowler diagrammed a pick and roll play for his team.

``I isolated my two best players on one side, and the plan was to either take it to the basket, or dish it underneath,’’ Fowler said after the game. ``The third option was to get it to Koby.’’

Koby is Sandy Creek freshman guard Koby Fowler, the son of the head coach, who was left open at the top of the key and calmly swished what proved to be the game-winning shot in a 51-49 victory.

``He didn’t have time to think, and that’s probably a good thing,’’ Bill Fowler said.

Cooperstown senior Jimmy Jennings, who scored a game-high 21 points, capped a Redskins rally from a nine-point fourth quarter deficit, giving Cooperstown its only lead of the second half after rebounding a missed shot and making a five-footer in the lane for a 49-48 lead.

Jennings had a sensational sectional tournament, scoring 51 points in the three games.

After Fowler’s three-pointer, 7th seed Cooperstown had one last possession, and senior guard Zack Sittler hit fellow senior Chris Gentile in the corner, but his contested three-point shot hit the back of the rim as time expired. Gentile (nine points) made three of Cooperstown’s nine three-point shots in the game, including two in the fourth quarter which helped the Redskins rally.

Cooperstown, which finished the season at 13-10, jumped out to a 12-2 first quarter lead and led 16-9 after one quarter against the third seeded Patriots.

But the Redskins were outscored 12-4 in the second quarter, and missed their first eight shots of the second half to fall behind 29-21.

``We kind of regressed in the second and third quarter to the way we played during the regular season,’’ Bertram said. ``We were rushing shots and making bad decisions.’’

Jennings and Gentile each hit three-point shots and Jennings added another basket to pull Cooperstown back to one at 34-33, but Sandy Creek converted a three-point play with 1.8 seconds left for a 37-33 lead after three quarters.

The Patriots (15-7) scored the first five points of the second half to take a 42-33 before Jennings hit a three-pointer to make it 42-36.

Gentile hit three-point shots on consecutive possessions, and Sittler’s three-point shot made it 48-47 with just more than a minute remaining.

After a Sandy Creek traveling violation, Jennings put Cooperstown in front, setting up Fowler’s heroics.

``We got our aggressiveness back in the fourth quarter and played like we wanted it,’’ said Bertram, who will lose nine players to graduation. ``It came down to one play, and they made the shot.’’

Starters Sittler, Jennings, Jason Conklin and Luke Banner, along with sixth man Gentile will all be lost to graduation.

Sophomore center Eric Jederlinic, a midseason call-up from the junior varsity, and junior forward Quinn Snyder will be the only two players back who saw significant playing time this season.

``We’re going to need someone to step up next year,’’ Bertram said. ``It’s up to them how good they want to be, and how much they work in the offseason.’’

Bertram said juniors Luke Tirrell and Chris Gulotta, junior varsity players Brad Ashford, Ryan Davine and Mac Curran, along with Jederlinic and Snyder figure to be his top seven next year.