Senior guard Francisco Ramos, playing
point guard a lot, acquitted himself
well in his second game back
from hand surgery.
(Photo by Ed Piper, Jr.)
By Ed Piper, Jr.
The cardinal sin that La Jolla committed the night before, missing free throws down the stretch, the Vikings atoned for Sat., Feb. 4, in beating host Montgomery, 68-53.
It was a game that didn't matter in the standings, as it was a non-league contest.
But in the bigger picture, it probably did mean more than other games: The Viking-Aztec basketball matchup was the last game of an all-day Coaches vs. Cancer event on the South Bay campus, raising money and awareness through tickets sales, concessions, and reportedly a donation given by participating coaches to the cause.
The Vikings reversed their fortunes at the foul line of the night before--when several players missed key free throws and La Jolla barely survived a Hoover comeback--and, as a result, instead of losing a lead pulled away from host Coach Edward Martin's squad in the closing minutes and won comfortably.
In a remarkable series of inbound plays spanning only 4.6 seconds of elapsed time, Montgomery fouled Viking players five straight times in the backcourt with just less than a minute to play to stop the clock.
Since the Vikings weren't in the bonus yet, only the last foul brought free throws--the others leading to merely taking the ball out again.
It felt a little like the movie "Groundhog Day", when Bill Murray's character repeats the day over and over.
But finally, Charlie Gal sank two free throws with 53.4 on the clock. Quinn Rawdin hit two, while Daniel McColl split a pair.
Sophomore Jacob Duffy, making his varsity debut, obviously had the jitters, missing two free throws. But by then, it didn't matter, with La Jolla leading by 14. Duffy, moved up from the junior varsity with Reed Farley injured, wore number 32 this night. The night before, he wore Farley's inactive number 33 jersey.
Duffy then grabbed his first career rebound and made one of two free throws for the final margin of 68-53.
After an even battle through the first three quarters, La Jolla led only 44-40 early in the fourth stanza. This was before the Aztec foul series and the Vikings' improved free-throwing in crunch time.
Senior Nick Hammel helped key a streak that bulked up the Vikes' lead to 13 in the span of three minutes.
Hammel sank a three, then drove with ferocity to score another hoop to quickly boost the red-black lead to nine.
McColl then took a Rawdin assist inside for a bucket, forcing Martin to call timeout.
Hammel soared for a rebound with authority, then Gal, suffering through one of his lesser performances of the season, scored on a feed from Jacob Ohara.
Montgomery got no closer than nine, at 61-52, just prior to the closing sequence of intentional fouls.
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