Old Lyme - There was less than a minute left in Thursday's boys' basketball game between Old Lyme and Valley Regional. It was tied and both teams had chances to win.

It was, in other words, just another night in the Shoreline Conference.

Chris Jean-Pierre made two free throws with 2.4 seconds left to give Valley a 56-54 win over the Wildcats in a topsy-turvy game.

"It was going to be anyone's game late," Old Lyme coach Kirk Kaczor said. "We'll go back and look at things we could've done differently. … We didn't do enough to win."

Wildcats junior Matt Watts-St. Germain made a 3-pointer with 52 seconds left to tie the game at 54. Classmate Drake Gavin followed with a steal and was fouled with 19.9 seconds remaining.

Gavin missed both free throws. The Warriors called timeout and were then forced to improvise after Old Lyme disrupted their planned play.

Jean-Pierre took matters into his own hands by driving the lane and was fouled. He finished with a game-high 17 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.

"It was mayhem," Jean-Pierre said. "I looked up (and saw the clock) and thought, 'I have to go to the basket.'

"Thankfully I hit my two free throws. I really wasn't shooting free throws well (he missed three of his previous seven).

Kaczor said: "I would like to change the way we defended that last set."

Gavin scored 16 and Watts-St. Germain added 11 points for Old Lyme (9-3, 7-3). Liam Corrigan added six rebounds.

The win gave Valley (10-2, 9-1) a slight edge in the Shoreline standings. Hyde (7-3, 7-2) is second.

Old Lyme, Coginchaug (8-3 overall) and Cromwell (8-4) are all 7-3 in the league.

Kaczor said the Shoreline hasn't had this kind of parity since 2002.

"We were the fifth seed and Morgan was the sixth seed (in the conference final)," Kaczor said. "I still think Valley is at the top of the list. I think there's a lot of teams that have gotten a lot better. A lot of teams have some skill players and run some different things offensively and defensively. We have a lot of good players and coaches."

Jean-Pierre said: "This year has been crazy. … Every team is very hungry for the Shoreline title."

Valley made three consecutive 3-pointers to start the second quarter and opened a 27-16 lead.

Wildcats reserve George Ball (nine points) scored five straight points, followed by a Watts-St. Germain 3-pointer, to push their team ahead 43-36 with less than two minutes left in the third quarter.

The teams swapped the lead four times in the final five minutes.

Valley used a 20-12 rebounding edge in the second half to its advantage. Eleven of those rebounds were offensive, including Hunter Linfesty's putback that gave the Warriors a 54-51 lead with a minute left.

"It hasn't been a problem," Kaczor said about his team's rebounding. "It was tonight. … The way they shot the ball in the first half, it forced us to extend the defense a little more than we would've liked. You lose some of your rebounding. It also felt like tonight we were a step slower at times."

n.griffen@theday.com

Twitter: @MetalNED