LJ b BB 55, Christian 66 - OT

By Ed Piper

For a time there, you felt the magic.

The magic was there when La Jolla guard Behzad Hashemi skied to intercept a half-court inbounds pass from Christian's Kobe Sanders, then drove the distance to bank in a difficult shot on the fly with 2.4 seconds left in regulation to tie the game.

It was there earlier when the Vikings fought back from a 13-point deficit to tie, then build a five-point lead over 6'7" NAU-commit Jackson Larsen and the Patriots late in the third quarter.

But in overtime, the hosts quickly built a 10-point lead, and La Jolla's hopes were dashed. Christian won going away, 66-55. One Viking, distraught, declined to answer a reporter's questions.

Others, too, surely felt the disappointment after coming back so strongly, overcoming earlier errors, then dropping their eighth loss in the Western League against only three wins--none over teams above them in the standings, whether fourth-place Christian, Cathedral Catholic, or powerhouses Mission Bay and St. Augustine.

In a scattered but hard-fought performance, the Vikings got a spark from, alternately, forward Christian Gamboa, Max Raulston and Jacob Duffy, then finally Behzad.

Gamboa, the sophomore forward, showed his determined steeliness in making his way to the basket for two tough scores inside in the second quarter despite the presence of twin towers Larsen and 6'9" Pat Roberts (not to be confused with evangelist Pat Robertson--this at an evangelical institution).

Next, Raulston, who was hopping all game, and Duffy, the set-shot specialist, bucketed three scores each in the third period, with Jacob positing a three-pointer from the right angle.

Then Hashemi's acrobatic shot to tie at 52-52. This came against opposition, which included the referees failing to grant Coach Paul Baranowski the 0.8 second that elapsed before the home timekeeper stopped the clock at 8.1 after a previous Behzad basket to bring the Vikings within two at 52-50. Yet they reset the clock 2.4 seconds for Christian after the game-tying shot, giving the Pats a chance in regulation.

Hashemi finished with 18 points, Raulston 12, the only Vikings in double figures.

Sanders, named after the Lakers star, led all scorers with 23 points. Larsen, headed to Flagstaff next year, had 20.

"At the end, we moved the ball and scored some baskets," said Jackson outside his team's locker room. "We knew what we could do."

"Once we got down, we knew we needed to execute," said Sanders, a tall guard at 6'5". "In overtime, we got stops on defense, keeping our man in front of us."

Regarding his effective points from long range, Kobe said, "My teammates found me in good spots."