Rochester 101

Best intercity basketball game ever played

By Steve Lange

In the 1968 District Three boys basketball game, Mayo beat John Marshall 61-59. Here’s what made it so amazing: Number of overtimes: 5. Number of fans (at $1.25 per ticket) in attendance at the Mayo Civic Center Auditorium: 4,100.

Number of points scored in the second, three-minute overtime: 0 (JM stalled until the final 13 seconds of the overtime.) Where longtime Post-Bulletin sportswriter Bob Brown ranked this game in the top five local sporting events of his P-B tenure (1966-2004): Third. (Second? John Marshall’s 96-66 win over Spring Valley in the Region One boys basketball semis in 1969. And number one? Pat O’Connor’s boxing win over Duane Horsman in 1969.)