STEUBENVILLE – The outcome was determined in the final second.

The Catholic Central boys’ basketball team trailed Strasburg by one-point late in the fourth quarter. The Crusaders inbounded the ball and got a shot off. The shot bounced off the rim and after some volleyball action underneath Michael Fabbro tipped the ball into the basket with .4 seconds showing on the scoreboard clock to give Catholic Central the lead.

After some discussion .5 seconds was added to the clock as Fabbro stepped to the free-throw line as a result of being fouled on the play. Fabbro missed the free throw, however, the Tigers were unable to do anything with the ball as the Crusaders pulled out a thrilling 40-39 season-opening victory Saturday night inside the Michael Barber Gymnasium.

“It was a great way to win a game, you better believe it,” Catholic Central (1-0) head coach Don Ogden said. “Strasburg has a new coach this year, and I thought he did a great job with his time management at the end. They had fouls to give, and they used them. We were down one with 6.1 seconds left, and we thought we would try a last-second shot. We missed, but Michael Fabbro was in the right place, he was able to finish and we went up by one.”

Winning a game in the manner the Crusaders did does not happen every night.

“You don’t see that too often,” Ogden said. “Michael did a smart thing. He got an and-1, and instead of making the foul shot, he deliberately missed it. There was a – I don’t know if you want to call it a scrum – after the miss, but time ran off.

“We have got a lot of things to improve on. You expect that after the first game. We have things to work on, but a win is a win. It is a lot better being 1-0 than it is being 0-1.”

On the last play, Catholic Central wanted to get the ball into the hands of Rahim Mitchell and let him create an opportunity.

“We were trying to get the ball to Rahim Mitchell and we wanted to see if he could create something,” Ogden said. “We wanted to spread them out. They had fouls to give, and they were taking them. If they were able to foul us, we might not have been able to get off a shot.

With 6.1 seconds left, we called a timeout. We wanted to set up a last-second shot. We wanted to create some space. We wanted to create some space so that when we threw the ball in, it would be difficult to foul us. We were able to get the shot off, and Michael was in the right spot. He hustled.

“We were down by four, and he hit a 3-pointer to makes us be down by only one. Then, we applied pressure, and it paid off. With 6.1 seconds left, we were down by one. They had fouls to give, and they were giving the fouls.

“I am really proud of the guys. We did not know what to expect. We lost a lot of seniors from last year. We have been trying to find the identity of this team, and this will help. Down the road, if we are in a tight game, we can draw on this and hopefully win the game.”

The Crusaders led 31-29 entering the fourth, however, Strasburg hit two 3-pointers to take a 35-31 lead before a Catholic Central basket made it 35-33 with 5:12 left to play in the game. The visitors regained a four-point lead before the hosts knocked down a 3-pointer to make the score, 37-35, with 1:58 remaining to be played.

The Tigers had the ball and the lead with less than 35 seconds left to play, however, a turnover led to a layup on the other end enabling Catholic Central to retake the lead at 38-37 with 30.4 seconds to still showing on the scoreboard clock.

Strasburg got the ball up the court and called a timeout with 24 seconds left to draw up a play. The play worked as a layup gave the Tigers the lead with 14.4 seconds left to play.

Leading by one and with fouls to give, the boys from Tuscarawas County opted to foul Catholic Central with the last one coming with 6.1 seconds left setting up the thrilling conclusion.

“He went to the line, and we had a foul to give,” Ogden said. “I put our guys on the line. I just wanted to put our guys in a position to go after the ball and not give them a chance for a rebound and not let them get off a final shot.”

Offensively for Catholic Central, Mitchell tallied a team-high 16 points, while Fabbro finished with 13.

For Strasburg (1-1), Ryan Becker recorded a team-high 16 points, while Brody Baughman delivered 12.

“Last year, we went into the game as kind of an unknown,” Ogden said. “It was our first game. They had played Wednesday night, but we were not able to go out and scout them. We based a lot of our scouting and our preparation on what they did last season. The have a new coach this year, but he was on their staff last year. We were hoping they would so some of the stuff they did last year.”

A 3-pointer gave Catholic Central a 7-3 lead, however, Strasburg responded and took the lead following a 3 of its own. The Crusaders battled back and ended the quarter on a run as the hosts built a 16-10 advantage after the first quarter.

The boys in white were hot to end the first, however, they turned ice cold in the second as the Tigers scored the first seven points of the quarter regain the lead at 17-16. The boys from Jefferson County went nearly six minutes without a point before a 3-pointer from the top of the key finally broke the scoring drought with 2:03 left to play before halftime. The Crusaders recorded another 3 – this one a buzzer-beater – to take a 22-17 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The boys in black got off to a good start in the third as they regained the advantage, however, a 3-pointer from the corner enabled the home team to take a 27-23 lead. The boys in black battled back to knot the score at 29 before a basket by Mitchell regained the lead for the Crusaders as they took a two-point lead into the fourth.

“It would have been very disappointing,” Ogden said. “We led for most of the night. In the fourth, they hit some key shots, and they got some key rebounds off of missed shots and they were able to score. We were able to stay close, and we were able to win the game.”

Strasburg opened the season with a 62-50 victory against West Holmes Wednesday night at home.

Catholic Central is scheduled to take on county rival Edison Tuesday night out at the Edison Fieldhouse.

“I told the boys to enjoy this win tonight, and tomorrow we will start to focus on Edison,” Ogden said. “We play Edison Tuesday night. We watched them play last night. They are a good team. They are very experienced. They have a new coach. They are well coached. We are going to have our hands full Tuesday night.”

Strasburg is slated to play Chippewa Tuesday night on the road.

Catholic Central 40, Strasburg 39

Strasburg 10 7 12 10 – 39

Catholic Central 16 6 9 9 – 40

STRASBURG (1-1): Becker 6 2-2 16, Baughman 4 0-0 12, Secrest 0 0-0 0, Pryor 0 0-0 0, Gopp 2 0-0 5, Bonifant 1 0-2 2, Herman 1 2-4 2. TOTALS: 14 4-6 39.

CATHOLIC CENTRAL (1-0): Fabbro 5 0-1 13, Bryan 1 0-0 2, Mitchell 7 0-0 16, Cherepko 2 0-0 4, E. Krivoniak 0 0-0 0, Krupp 2 0-0 5, Hough 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17 0-1 40.

3-POINTERS: Strasburg 7 (Baughman 4, Becker 2, Gopp); Catholic Central 6 (Fabbro 3, Mitchell 2, Krupp)