By Kim J. Harmon

Sure, Joe Bowen may have been quiet in the first half of the Rising Stars Summer Basketball League championship game between St. John’s and UMass on Friday night at Treadwell Park, but he made plenty of noise in the second half.

Eight points – four of those coming off putbacks inside the final minute of play – helped lift UMass to a thrilling 39-37 win over St. John’s.

The Johnnies were trailing by four points when Katie Condon drained a fallaway jumper to cut the deficit to two with less than two minutes to play. A moment later, Bowen was putting the first shot back to tie the score, 37-37, and then – with the refs counting down the final seconds – Bowen grabbed a miss by Condon (a long shot that nearly fell) and popped it in for the win.

The shot capped a dramatic fourth quarter and another fine season for the Rising Stars Summer Basketball League.

The league was beset by terrible weather this summer, forcing one postponement after another. Even last Friday, the early forecast called for scattered showers – and some thunderstorms – but the rain held off long enough for the game to go on.

And, wow, what a game.

First the Johnnies jumped out to an early 9-2 lead thanks to two buckets from Condon and one each from Tucker Kass and Eric MacKnight. Then UMass rallied right back, going on a 10-0 run (highlighted by baskets from Mike Tibbets, Mike Kennedy and Darcy Fiscella) to take a 12-9 lead in the waning moments of the first half.

As if that wasn’t enough, St. John’s went on its own 10-0 tear (fueled by a pair of baskets from PJ Cochrane and a basket each from Bowen, Kass and Jaime Bertilson) to take a 19-12 lead in the early stages of the third quarter.

And the Johnnies kept control of that lead … at least for a little while. Fiscella canned a pair of free throws to inch the Minutemen closer, but Kass chipped in a bucket to keep the lead at seven. Then it was Meg Anderson popping in a basket for the ‘Men, Kass and Cochrane canning one each for the Johnnies, and then Fiscella popping in another for the ‘Men.

When Bowen drained a shot at the mid-quarter changeover, the Johnnies had their largest lead of the game at 27-18.

But once the substitutions were made, Tibbets scored six consecutive points (on a foul shot, a putback, and then a three-point play resulting from a basket earned on a drive down the lane) and brought the ‘Men to within three, 27-24. Cochrane rolled in a baseline drive for the Johnnies and Kennedy popped in a pair of free throws for the ‘Men and the lead remained at three, 29-26, at the close of the third quarter.

But at the start of the fourth, the Minutemen took charge … briefly.

An 11-2 run (seven points from Tibbets and four from Kennedy) gave the ‘Men a stunning 37-31 lead. The swift turnaround seemed to have little effect on the Johnnies, though, who staged an equally stunning 8-0 rally to close out the game.

Condon’s fallaway jumper was, by far, the sweetest shot of the night but it would have been forgotten had Bowen not found the right position under the basket to put back the final two shots of the game and lift the Johnnies to the win.

Tibbets led all scorers with 19 points while Kennedy chipped in with 11.

Condon finished with 10.

Rain was predicted, but in the end it was a beautiful night for basketball.