Some nights, every shots falls.

Other nights, a last-second buzzer beater just doesn't fall quite right.

The Patriot boys basketball team is off to a fairly respectable 3-3 start this winter season, having most recently split home games with Brentsville District and Heritage.

On Monday night, Patriot came back from a 60-46 deficit at the start of the fourth quarter to tie the Pride 71-71 within the final minute. However, three clutch free throws from Heritage gave Heritage a lead, the last two coming with only four seconds remaining.

A lobbed pass to junior guard E.J. Baltimore in the back right corner of the court threw him too far off balance to sink one more shot after putting up a career-high 29 points already. His last-second desperation buzzer beater sailed too far and Heritage clinched a 74-71 victory.

Even fighting back from a self-created hole after trailing the entire game gave head coach Daniel Nemerow and company a morale boost afterward.

"(It) says something about the character they have," said the coach.

The Dec. 7 match-up against Brentsville proved much more to everyone's liking in Patriot circles. The Pioneer beat arch rival Brentsville 72-55 in a match that featured fewer big men in the post than what Patriot faced against the Pride.

What Heritage effectively managed to do was find was consistent create opportunities for itself. According to Nemerow, Heritage put up 51 shot attempters in the first half alone, allowing the Pride to build a 40-31 halftime lead.

That included two 3-pointers by Owen Patterson, who ended up being one of three visiting players to put up double digits by the end of the night.

Only Baltimore and AJ Cowthran did the same for Patriot, with the latter scoring 12 points.

Ultimately, free throws kept Patriot in the game.

The team hit 18 out of 22 attempts from the line, including 13 out of 14 in the second half. All of those came from Cowthran and Baltimore.

However, it would have required a perfect free throw day in order to win with all else being equal.

Still, Nemerow remarked that his team nearly met its goal of sinking more foul shots than Heritage attempted (19). The goal there, he explained, is to show that his guys are willing to "attack the basket."

"If we keep fighting, we can always come back," said Baltimore, emphasizing his team's need to play defense and hustle on the floor.

Patriot clearly presented itself as much more aggressive in the start of the fourth quarter than the second or third quarters, with Hamed Ghafoori sinking a short jumper in the paint to lead things off. In between Heritage scores, Baltimore hit back to back scores, while Cowthran converted a three-point play.

Later, down by 11 points with 4:20 on the clock, Cowthran drew a foul while shooting in 3-point territory. Under the hush of the home crowd, he swished all three of his foul shots,

Terry Smith then came up with a big steal for Patriot, ran the length of the court and dished the rock off to Quinten Smedley for a baseline bucket along the right side of the paint, bringing the game within 70-64 at the 3:01 mark.

With less than 2:30 to go and one more Heritage point on the board, Baltimore sank another two foul shots. Marcus Farber then lucked out by picking up a loose basket that bounced off a Heritage player's foot and drove it across the court for another lay-up.

Baltimore grabbed another steal and drew an immediate foul. He first freebie swished; his second one clinked off the rim and into Heritage hands.

Yet a turnover gave Patriot another shot and Cowthran converted by drawing a blocking foul in the paint.

Standing at the line, the Patriot cheer section in the stands, colored in red, hushed and raised their fingers, making a fluttering motion to magically guide the ball to its rope-laced destination.

Success.

"Shh!" rose a whispered exclamation from the students.

Fingers danced up and down again.

Cowthran's shot then hit the front of the rim, bounced back and dropped.

Count it.

At 71-71, with 53.7 seconds to go, Heritage broke from its time-out and drew a Patriot foul. Courtland Abbogast made his first attempt but missed his second.

As if to make up for his errant shot, Abbogast played foil to the Pioneers' potential comeback, stealing the ball and drawing a foul.

With Heritage controlling the ball and the clock, all Patriot could do is force another two foul shots on a floater in the paint, both of which the shooter Patterson converted.

The four seconds remaining just didn't allow Patriot to set up enough of a straight forward pass sequence to give Baltimore an each chance from behind the arc, resulting in the miss that sealed the Pride's victory.

"EJ's really a leader for us," said Nemerow, mentioning how the junior "really took control" of the floor in the second half.

"I was pretty mad we were down," said Baltimore.

He explained that his teammates "put me in the right positions" by spreading out the floor and leaving him open for attack the hole, receiving monster screens from up-and-comer Terry Smith.

Both Baltimore and Farber said Smith is the most physical player on the team.

As for what message they could send from such a game, Farber stressed the importance of just being able to "fight to the end."

Added Baltimore, "I want people to say, 'That new school, they're tough, no matter what the score is.'"