ETIWANDA, Ca. – Junior guards Camren Pierce and Darryl Jackson made a couple of critical plays down the stretch Wednesday night to help the Etiwanda High basketball team pull out a 58-56 victory over visiting Baseline League foe Damien, 58-56.
It was the 13th consecutive victory for the 24-2 Eagles (No. 7 in the BurlisonOnBasketball Top 25), who can collect their second 10-0 league mark in a row with a regular-season ending win at No. 12 and 15-9 Chino Hills Friday night.
Coach David Kleckner’s team – which joined its crowd in celebrating “Senior Night” for its three seniors as well as the school’s cheer-leading squad members before the tip-off – fell behind by as many as 19 points (31-12) early in the second quarter against the No. 13-ranked Spartans, who fell to 22-5 with their third final-possession league defeat.
Jackson, who came off the bench, and one of those seniors – 6-foot-9 Legend Stamps – helped the Eagles get to within 10 points before Damien sophomore Malik Thomas was fouled just before the first-half buzzer while attempting a 3-pointer.
He swished all three free throws to give him 20 points and his team a 13-point edge going into intermission.
Stamps hit consecutive 3s to start the third quarter and the rally was on in earnest.
Sophomore Jahmai Mashack scored on a drive to give the Eagles their first lead (at 41-40 with 3:46 to go in the quarter) since he hit a mid-range jumper to start the game
Mashack’s two free throws to open the fourth quarter put his team back in front and the lead grew to eight points (at 56-48 with 3:53 remaining) following a 3 by D’Anthony McGowan, another mid-range jumper by Mashack and a steal and layup by junior Brantley Stevenson.
But junior Austin Cook hit a 3 for the Spartans, reserve senior guard Jacob Ortega hit another 3 (off a dish from Cook) just before the shot clock expired.
After a miss by Stevenson, Thomas scored on a drive for this 27th and 28th points to tie the score with 28 seconds to go.
Kleckner didn’t call for a timeout and Pierce (PICTURED), scoring remarkable patience, finally was able to drive to his left off of the ball-screen by Stamps at the free-throw line and converted the layup with his (off) left hand while being fouled by Ifeanyi Okeke with 2.9 seconds to go.
It was Pierce’s only field goal in five attempts.
After Kleckner called a timeout (to set his defense after the free throw), Pierce missed the free throw and the chance to push his team’s lead to three points.
Okeke rebounded and immediately called time out, with the officials putting 2.4 seconds on the game clock.
After consecutive timeouts by Damien Coach Mike LeDuc, reserve Matt Trauscht fired an inbound pass to Thomas, just beyond the far mid-court line.
But Jackson stripped the ball out of Thomas’ hands before he could launch an attempt at a potential game-winning 3.
Mashack led his team with 13 points with Jackson and Stamps (who grabbed eight rebounds) added 12 and 11, respectively.
Sophomore Jo Jo Johnson was the only other Spartan to score in double figures (10).
The CIF Southern Section will announce its playoff brackets Sunday afternoon.
Etiwanda will be one of the eight programs in the Open Division bracket (full disclosure: I’m a member of the Selection Committee) while the Spartans are expected to be a high seed in Division I.
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