By Ed Piper
Two teams with very different records (Canyon Hills 0-5, 8-14 overall and La Jolla 2-3, 15-7 overall) seemed very evenly matched up Fri., Jan. 31, on Senior Night in the Big Gym.
Coach Paul Baranowski's Vikings were playing again without big Lance Braga (knee), and maybe that helped even up things inside.
But guards contested, and defenses pressured, and the lead only reached 12 (by La Jolla with 2:25 left in the third quarter) before a large, spirited crowd for both sides.
More often than that, guards Leo Hawkinson (10 points) and Brody Sessa (12) led an attack that met an equally resistant one on the Rattlers' side, with Canyon Hills sharing the lead (early in the second quarter).
6'5" Quentin Goff for the Rattlers was on his game (baskets inside, trailing 20-15, 20-19, and 25-21).
The fourth quarter was crunch time, as La Jolla's lead dwindled from five to one.
"We had to play a lot of defense," said Sessa. "It was one of our best defensive games."
With 3:23 left, the Vikings led by one after Goff scored on a layup. Baranowski called a timeout at 2:58.
No one scored in nervous time until 49 seconds left, when Hawkinson--living the dream--hit a three from the right baseline to go up, 41-37, and give the hosts breathing room. A week before, at home against Coronado, Leo hit the winning three with 0.7 seconds remaining.
Canyon Hills' Gabe Orila scored inside with 27 seconds on the clock. 41-39. Coach Brady Sirota called a timeout.
To stop the clock, the Rattlers fouled Eyal Amsalem, playing on his Senior Night, with 19 seconds left. He hit the first free throw in a bonus (five team fouls) situation.
Canyon Hills called another full timeout, down 42-39.
Amsalem then missed the second free throw, Canyon Hills rebounded, La Jolla stole the ball... But then the refs said Sirota had arranged for a timeout if the shot missed. They ruled that the Rattlers kept the ball.
And not a single second elapsed off the clock. How does that happen?
After the timeout, Canyon Hills advanced the ball to the front court and called another timeout. 13 seconds on the clock.
With 10 seconds remaining, Orila threw up a long three as a kind of shove, not shot form. The ball bounced in and out.
Gaining the rebound, La Jolla called timeout with seven seconds left. The Vikes had to inbound the ball near the Rattler basket.
Eyal got grabbed again. He missed the first free throw, made the second for a four-point lead, and the game was over, as long as La Jolla didn't foul on a made three. Neither happened (a three or a foul)--game over.
At 3-3, the Vikings have a fighting chance to go into the playoffs in two weeks well.
Jeremy Cromwell, a senior playing his last regular-season home game, made two threes in the early going. He came into the game after a few seconds at the start, as Baranowski realized he wasn't in the game and he was a senior.
"I was feeling pretty good in the first quarter," said the 6-foot wing. "After that, I didn't get many shots."
Asked about the wild ending, Cromwell said, "It was stressful."
Sessa: "We just needed to stay calm and be disciplined."
Said Hawkinson regarding no elapsed time coming off the clock at 19 seconds, "I think the coach had arranged beforehand for a timeout."
"It was very definitely a low-scoring game," said the 5'8" guard. "They had two bigs. (We didn't.) We did a great job on defense.
"They played zone, so we had to" work with that to get shot opportunities.
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