By Ed Piper
La Jolla began the fourth quarter Fri., Jan. 24 with a 12-point lead, 44-32.
That lead quickly eroded until, in the final minute, the Vikings led 54-50 when guard Leo Hawkinson was called for traveling.
Coronado came on with a mad, furious rush. La Jolla forward Carson Diehl fouled out just before that. Viking starting center Lance Braga was already on the bench in street clothes, having not dressed out for the game.
At 45.0 seconds, Islander freshman Ah'mahn Oliver sank a pair of free throws. 54-52.
Viking Jake Riney, who had sat all night, scored on a layup at 38.6, La Jolla's first basket in nearly two minutes. 56-52.
At 32.3, teammate and Hawkinson near-look-alike Cole Hein fouled out. Oliver, not looking like a ninth-grader, scored, then missed the free throw for the old-school three-point play. 56-54.
In the tension, the home table had failed to turn the clock on, so referees adjusted it to 23.0 seconds.
Coronado got the ball back. The clock ran down to 8.9 seconds when Derick Ritter, another freshman, hit on a shove shot from behind the arc for the upstart Islanders. Three points. The visitors led, 57-56, going ahead for the first time since the first quarter.
It looked like Coach Paul Baranowski and La Jolla's hopes were dead. Another loss in league, after winning their first 10 games of the season, would sink them to 1-3 and pretty much kill any hopes they had in the City League.
The clock ran down to 8.0 seconds when Baranowski called for a timeout and huddled his players.
Hawkinson, the blur of energy left on the floor with four subs, got the ball before half court.
"Win," he said he was thinking. He crossed half court with five seconds remaining.
Incredibly, he got to the lane and put up a shot. It went right through the net with .7 seconds left.
The clock ran out, La Jolla surviving, 58-57.
"It's the shot you practice growing up," the 5'8" guard said. "I hit that shot from 17 feet everyday in practice."
He allowed as how he hasn't hit a shot like that before in his high school career.
Leo's mother agreed that he's fun to watch. "He's always been like that," she said after she came over to the team bench after the game.
"First, he played soccer when he was young. He was good.
"Then he tried basketball. It was like, 'This is what it's going to be.' Jack (his dad) became the coach at the rec center."
She said her son has always thought in terms of the game like an analyst, when a reporter commented that his remarks after games are always spot-on.
The Vikings survive to fight another day, at 2-3 in the City League. Coronado drops to where La Jolla would have been, at 1-4.
Earlier, late in the second quarter, the black-and-red led, 25-12, on Brody Sessa's score after a loose ball with 3:09 left. Then Hein scored on an extended Euro-step layup for a 15-point lead, 27-12.
It looked like the hosts might run away with the game, with Coronado looking pretty ragged. But with the three-pointer in the modern game, no one is ever out of a contest.
Coach Anthony Ott's team scored on a three by Ritter and closed the first half trailing, 27-15.
Starting the second half, Ritter sank two free throws, and now Coronado only trailed by 10, 27-17.
Hawkinson was called for three early fouls and sat out most of the second quarter. He hit a three, then another bucket with 4:39 left in the third period, and La Jolla had built its advantage to 18 points, 38-16. It looked like they were going to run away with the game.
The gap shortly began to shrink, requiring Hawkinson's heroics on the last shot.
Carson Diehl, particularly, showed how far he has come in the past month. He showed a lighter, more adept touch around the basket, and blocked shots.
Diehl finished with 12 points, eight rebounds, and two blocks. Sessa led the Vikings with 19 points, nine rebounds, and three steals. Hawkinson finished up with 15 breakneck points, six assists, and one steal.
Especially with Braga out, Eyal Amsalem and Seigo Lavinsky saw extended playing time. Lavinsky starred with 7 rebounds and two steals.
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Ed Piper, Jr.'s career highlights include covering the Pan Am Games in Mexico City in 1975 and the coming of the first pro soccer franchise to Santa Barbara in 1977. He studied journalism at California State University, Chico. He has reported on and photographed close to 30 sports teams at La Jolla High over the past decade for his website, The Pipeline, as well as athletics at Bishop's, University City, and La Jolla Country Day School for the La Jolla Village News bi-weekly, following a short stint at the La Jolla Light.
"Lalo" ("Ed" in Spanish) photographed the Vikings' boys basketball Division 3 CIF championship teams throughout their back-to-back title runs in 2007-08 and 2008-09.
His wife and he make up one of the few households in their homeowners association that doesn't have a dog. However, as a teenager, his family did have a dog his father named Sebastian Cabot after the TV star of the same name. (Look it up.)
Piper, Jr. lost the only election he ever ran in, for student body president of his elementary school, 373-145. His opponent was present in the room while ballots were being tabulated in a total breach of ethics.
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