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Constitution puts league heartbreak behind, looks to states

Two-point heartache. The Constitution boys' basketball team knows it all too well. The Generals have lost the last two Public League championships by two points apiece.

Two-point heartache.

The Constitution boys' basketball team knows it all too well. The Generals have lost the last two Public League championships by two points apiece.

Martin Luther King outlasted Ahmad Gilbert and Co., 46-44, last year, when Gilbert's three-pointer fell short at the buzzer.

Imhotep Charter hoisted the trophy last month, when what would have been a game-tying layup by Chad Andrews-Fulton came a moment after the buzzer in a 77-75 loss.

"It's very difficult, because we lost two times in a row by the same [margin]; we lost by two," said Kimar Williams, whose pass set up the layup try.

"It just hurt us and hurt our coaches to lose the same way we did last year."

A playoff run that ended with a PIAA State Class AA title helped ease some of last season's pain.

The journey starts anew Friday night at 7:30, when Constitution (19-8), the top seed from District 12, faces West Shore Academy (22-5) of District 3 in Class A first-round action at Southern.

If the Generals hope to repeat the feat this season, they must first move past their most recent disappointment.

Trailing Imhotep, 77-75, in the Public League finale, Constitution's Youssef Diabate corralled a miss with 5.9 seconds left and gave the ball to Williams, who bolted up the right sideline.

The 6-foot-2 guard darted to the middle, leaving three defenders in his wake. Only Imhotep's 6-foot-6 DeAnte Robinson was left to defend the basket.

Robinson was about two steps below the foul line with Andrews-Fulton alone on the left block.

"I felt like he stepped up, so I made the pass," Williams said.

Unfortunately for the Generals, time clearly expired before Andrews-Fulton made the layup.

"I thought there was more time left on the clock," Williams said. "So, with me going to the basket, I just tried to make a basketball play, but it was too late, though."

Williams has watched video of the final play and talked it over with teammates.

"We all have different opinions," he said. "Some people say I should have shot it, some people say I should have passed."

What does he say?

"Yeah, I think I should have shot the ball."

Williams finished with a game-high 27 points and was undoubtedly the best player on the court for much of the game. Days later, he was named Division A MVP and earned his second consecutive first-team all-league nod from coaches.

Individual accolades, as Gilbert knows, are of little consolation after a last-second loss.

"There's nothing we could really say," said Gilbert, who was Division A MVP last season. "It felt like last year. It felt like we just replayed what happened last year."

Now, the Generals hope to replay last season one more time.

"We just have to bounce back just like how we did last year," Gilbert said. "We have to gather ourselves as a team. We can't stay down. If one person's down, we have to pick him up. It just has to be a team thing."