NEW HOLLAND - Andre Boggs hit a go-ahead free throw with 16.6 seconds to play, and Coatesville survived McCaskey's last-ditch shot with 0.7 seconds to go in the Red Raiders' 52-51 nip-and-tuck win over the Red Tornado in a PIAA-AAAA first-round game Saturday night at Garden Spot.
But the real action came earlier in the fourth quarter when, during a scrum in front of McCaskey's bench, Coatesville's Leroy Hoggard and McCaskey's Keyon Cowan got tied up jostling for a loose ball.
Bodies flew and it escaladed. Players from Coatesville's bench ran onto the court and got involved. And, because of the overlow crowd, several fans who were standing in the corners emptied onto the floor.
It was an ugly scene.
McCaskey coach Steve Powell said after the game that punches were thrown, and game officials told both coaches that if another fracas had broken out, the game would have be forfeited.
It never got to that point, however there was another scrum after the game outside the gym in Garden Spot's lobby.
Hoggard ended up being ejected and he was escorted out of the gym.
Cowan and another Coatesville player were given technical fouls, which offset, so no free throws were attemped.
Turns out the game came down to free throws.
Boggs hit a pair with 16.6 seconds left, the latter giving Coatesville, the District 1 fifth-seed, a 52-51 lead it would not relinquish. Also in the fourth quarter, the Red Raiders' Chris Jones hit three foul shots and Emmett Hunt, who scored a game-high 16 points, sank a pair of freebies.
McCaskey took a 49-44 lead when Aaron Swinton made a free throw with 2:41 to go. Then things went downhill for the Tornado.
"We had the game in hand," Powell said of McCaskey's seemingly safe 5-point lead. "But we couldn't seal it."
McCaskey, the L-L League Section 1 and league champ, went 4-for-10 at the line in the fourth quarter and just 6-for-18 overall.
"Foul shooting wasn't good for us," Powell said. "But they weren't much better (13-for-27 overall). But the foul shooting really hurt us. And they made their fouls shots at the end of the game and that was big."
The Tornado, which won 25 games in a row heading into the District 3 semifinals, finished its season 26-4 overall.
Coatesville improved to 23-7 overall and will take on District 1 ninth-seed Norristown, which knocked out District 12 champ Roman Catholic 79-66 on Saturday.
The Red Raiders had to dodge one last bullet to advance.
After Boggs' go-ahead free throws, McCaskey had one last possession. Coatesville forced a jump ball with 0.7 ticks remaining, giving the Tornado one last crack.
Cowan took the inbound pass and fired up a runner on the baseline but misfired. And Coatesville survived.
"We still had a chance there at the end," Powell said. "We just couldn't finish. ... We thought this bunch would go farther. We really thought we could win Districts and go deep into States with this group. But like I always say, you have to be lucky and good."
Swinton scored 11 points and Cowan and Sha-Ki Staten added10 points apiece for McCaskey, which needed two more victories this season for Powell to earn his 400th career win; he'll start the 2013-14 season next winter with 398.
Boggs scored 15 points for Coatesville, which out-rebounded McCaskey 47-38.
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