OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Fredonia guard Ashton Putney shoots a 3-pointer during Tuesday’s game against Allegany-Limestone at Fredonia High School.

Earlier this season, the Fredonia Hillbillies went into Allegany-Limestone’s gym and squeaked out a victory in overtime to celebrate the long bus ride home.

Tuesday night, the Gators returned the favor.

The rematch from a 73-68 overtime win in Fredonia’s favor came Tuesday night at Fredonia High School, where the Hillbillies left their home gym with frustration and disappointment after a bitter defeat in overtime, 58-57, in Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 West boys basketball action.

“To win games, you have got to get stops. We did not do that enough times tonight. That’s a credit to Allegany,” Fredonia head coach Nick Bertrando said.

Less than minute into Tuesday’s contest, Fredonia (9-6, 3-3) led 4-0 on buckets from Malachi Hall and R.J. Koopman. Over the next three minutes, however, Allegany-Limestone (7-9, 2-4) responded with a 9-0 run for a five-point lead.

In basketball, a five-point lead can be gone in the blink of an eye, and there was plenty of blinking from both sides throughout the night. Neither team led by more than five points the entire game, even with four extra minutes added on at the end of regulation.

Allegany-Limestone led 14-13 after the first quarter on a made free throw with 3 seconds left on the clock. After the second quarter, a bucket from Colin Luce in the final minute of play had the Hillbillies ahead 26-24 at the intermission.

Near the halfway point in the third quarter, Fredonia built its biggest lead of the game, with a go-ahead layup by Hall after a mid-air adjustment to lead 31-29, followed by a Koopman 3-pointer with 4:04 left in the period for a 34-29 advantage. The final four minutes of the third quarter only featured two points total between the two teams, with Fredonia ahead 34-31 going to the fourth quarter.

Then in the fourth quarter, the fireworks began.

Over the first half of the fourth quarter, six 3-pointers were made, the sixth coming from Luca Gullo to put Fredonia ahead 45-44. The Hillbillies fell back behind by three points, but Mike Hahn made his lone field goal of the contest count when he drilled a game-tying 3-pointer with 2:39 left in regulation. It was the first time Hahn had a clear open look all night long, as limiting Fredonia’s sharp-shooting senior was clearly a focal point of the Allegany-Limestone game plan. The Gators did not have to worry about the leading scorer of the Hillbillies on the season, Davion White, who missed Tuesday’s game with an ankle injury sustained early in the last Fredonia game.

The Hillbillies answered a go-ahead bucket from the Gators again in the final minute, as Hall found Ashton Putney on a stellar bounce pass in the paint for a game-tying layup. Then, Fredonia got the stop it needed by forcing a shot clock violation with just 2.1 seconds left in regulation. The game then went to overtime.

In the extra period, the contest remained tight. After Allegany-Limestone took a two-point lead on a floater from Carson Kwiatkowski, the Hillbillies were again tasked with answering, with the shot clock turned off, with 27 seconds left on the clock. But on the inbound pass, Hahn overthrew Hall and the Gators recovered the loose ball.

The Hillbillies then had to foul, and twice sent Sean Conroy to the free-throw line. The Allegany-Limestone senior hit all four free throws in the final seconds of the game to close out the victory. Even a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Putney could not erase the deficit.

The loss was the third straight league loss for Fredonia after starting the league year 3-0. After the first loss in league play to Salamanca on the road, Fredonia has now dropped back-to-back home games to Olean and Allegany-Limestone.

Kwiatkowski led Allegany-Limestone with 13 points on Tuesday. Michael Frederick added 12 points, while Conroy had 11 points, including nine points in the fourth quarter and overtime.

Hall led Fredonia with 13 points, filling in for White in the starting lineup. Putney had 11 points, including three 3-pointers and the last-minute, game-tying layup in the fourth quarter. Gullo and Luce had 10 points apiece.

“I thought Malachi Hall really stepped up tonight. I thought Luca Gullo played well tonight, and Colin Luce coming off the bench, who sustained a lower body injury the other day, he stepped up too,” Bertrando said.

The Gators have taken a liking to heading home on long bus rides with a victory in hand. Allegany-Limestone defeated Dunkirk 60-49 last Thursday, also in league play. Up next for Allegany-Limestone is a home meeting with first-place Salamanca on Thursday.

For Fredonia, as much as Bertrando wants it to be just another game on the schedule, the next game for the Hillbillies is Friday night at Dunkirk. The Marauders defeated Southwestern 79-76 in double overtime Tuesday, bringing the two bitter rivals to equal 3-3 league records, tied for second place in CCAA Division 1 West. Fredonia has never lost to Dunkirk under Bertrando.

“There is work to be done,” Bertrando said.

ALLEGANY-LIMESTONE (58)

Brady 2 0 4, Conroy 3 4 11, Forrest 2 1 6, Kwiatkowski 5 1 13, Frederick 5 2 12, GStraub 2 1 5, Strade 3 1 7. Totals 22 10 58.

FREDONIA (57)

Hahn 1 0 3, Gullo 4 0 10, Koopman 3 0 8, Putney 4 0 11, Hall 6 1 13, Lincoln 1 0 2, Luce 4 0 10. Totals 23 1 57.

3-point goals–Conroy, Forrest, Kwiatkowski 2, Hahn, Gullo 2, Koopman 2, Putney 3, Luce 2.

Allegany-Limestone 14 10 7 19 8 — 58

Fredonia 13 13 8 16 7 — 57