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Frank Burlison | High School Basketball | College Basketball

Etiwanda edges Damien in Baseline battle Tuesday

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LA VERNE, Ca. – The Etiwanda High boys’ basketball team extended its winning streak to 18 Tuesday night with its Baseline League victory over host Damien Spartans.

But none of those first 17 wins came nearly as hard-fought as did the 69-67 overtime decision over the Spartans.

In improving to 22-1 overall (and 5-0 in league), Coach David Kleckner’s crew had to overcome:

*A sterling performance by Damien’s Northern Arizona-bound Cameron Shelton, who scored 24 points with five rebounds, seven assists and two seals;

*A tremendous effort by Spartans’ freshman Malik Thomas, who scored all 13 of his points after intermission, including four free throws in the four-minute extra stanza;

*An uncharacteristic display of careless passing and ball-handling after intermission. After committing just two turnovers in the first half, the Eagles didn’t react well when the Spartans extended their half-court defense with more pressure and traps. They coughed the all up 13 times in the second half, albeit just once in overtime;

*And a 3-pointer from the right wing from the left-handed Shelton that gave the Spartans an ever-so-brief two-point advantage with 13 seconds to go in regulation.

Another left-handed senior, Dylan Gaines, answered Shelton’s shot by taking an inbound pass and sprinting on the dribble all the way to the glass, laying his tying shot in off the backboard with Damien getting awarded a timeout with 1.4 seconds to go.

After a timeout by Etiwanda and another by  Thomas to prevent a five-second call, the ball was inbounded to Shelton, who took one dribble and fired from approximately 47-feet away on to have the ball go wide right of the rim at the buzzer.

The Eagles controlled the center jump to start OT and Gaines scored another couple of less-stressful hoops, sandwiched around the missed front end of and 1-and-1 free-throw attempt by Damien.

After the second of those layups, Shelton was called for an offensive foul while trying to drive by defender Elijah Harkless and, at the other end, senior forward Kessler Edwards (who finished with 24 points and nine rebounds) scored on a floater a second before the shot clock expired.

Shelton scored his 23rd and 24th points on a stick-back to get his team to within four points but then was whistled for his fifth and disqualifying foul with 1:55 to go on a reach, with Gaines pushing his team’s advantage back to six points with two free throws.

With Thomas now serving as the team’s de facto “point guard” minus Shelton, the freshman dribble penetrated and fired a pass to the left wing where freshman Dirk Helaire launched and converted a 3 with 1:43 remaining.

Harkless turned the ball over and compounded the miscue by almost immediately fouling Thomas, who hit two free throws to get Damien to within 65-64 with 1:32 to play.

Harkless missed an attempt from behind the arc as the shot clock was about to expire but Edwards snatched the rebounds and, with 53 tics to go in OT, followed in a Gaines’ missed attempt.

But he fouled Thomas almost immediately and the freshman calmly dropped in both free throws to get his team to within a point with 45.5 seconds remaining.

The Spartans opted to play out the possession without fouling intentionally and it nearly paid off.

But the left-handed Krystian Wilson just beat the shot block buzzer with a right-handed floater for a three-point advantage.

After another Damien timeout, sophomore Austin Cook was able to find Thomas on the left side behind the arc.

The ball dipped in ever-so-deeply into the net the rim before bounding out.

Spartans’ senior Eric Hancik was fouled while grabbing the miss with 1.5 seconds to go and Damien called another timeout.

The Spartans’ strategy coming back onto the floor was obvious.

Hancik dropped in the first free throw and missed the second intentionally but Edwards (PICTURED) was able to secure the ball with two hands and the buzzer almost immediately sounded.

Etiwanda took another big step not only to a Baseline League crown but a very high seed in the CIF Southern Section’s Open Division field.

The Spartans (19-4 overall and 3-2 in league) remain in the picture for spot in the Open field or a very high seed in the Division I bracket despite seeing their league crown hopes take a major hit with the loss.

“I knew we were going to have a battle coming in here,” said Kleckner, whose team captured the Platinum Division championship in the second The Classic at Damien on Dec. 30.

“Coach (Mike) LeDuc’s team is so sound and has so many shooters and runs great offense. And we knew they would play so hard and with so much pride.”

Kleckner made no effort to soft-sell his frustration at his team’s second-half rash of turnovers but was more eager to praise the Pepperdine-bound Edwards, who is playing himself into strong contention for not only Baseline League but Southern Section Player of the Year honors.

“Kessler is having an outstanding senior year as a defender, rebounder and scorers,” he said. “He’s so level-headed and always plays so hard.”

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