NEWPORT BEACH – A couple of shots as the game clock was winding down secured victories for Windward and the host Pacific Christian Tritons Saturday evening during the first BSN Sports Boys Basketball Showcase.
In the opening contest of the four-game event, Bakersfield Christian overcame a wobbly start to topple Scottsdale (AZ) Rancho Solano Prep, 59-48, as junior guard Leviticus Latu and senior forward Ben Yurosek (Stanford-bound as a tight end) scored 17 and 16 points, respectively.
In the second game, Heritage Christian (16-2) found little resistance while easing its way past Fresno Roosevelt, 72-50, as sophomores Skyy Clark (27) and Max Allen (18) combined for 45 of its points.
In Game 3, Windward and Las Vegas Desert Pines couldn’t have cut things much closer.
Windward trailed by a point after sophomore point guard Milos Uzan found junior Cimarron Conriquez for a 3 from the right wing with 12 seconds to go.
Following a timeout, sophomore Dylan Andrews (who scored a team-high 14 points) in-bounded the ball to junior Jaren Harris in the right corner, took a return pass on the fly, executed a nifty behind the back dribble to split a couple of defenders just beyond mid-court, then set up his go-ahead layup from the right side with a bit more than five seconds to go via a tight left-to-right crossover.
The Jaguars didn’t sulk though, as – with the Wildcats scrambling to retreat on defense – Uzan took an inbound pass at full speed in front of the Windward bench, smoked defender Henry Hopper on his own sizzling crossover, then pulled up just behind the arc on the right side for a soft “push shot” with the ball just rolling off the rim as the buzzer sounded to extend Windward to 16-4 with the 51-50 decision.
Andrews (pictured) scored 14 points and teammate and UNLV-bound Devin Tillis added 12.
In the final game, the Tritons – who trailed by double figures in the first half – needed a couple of big plays on the defensive end from Saint Mary’s-bound Judah Brown and a nails 3-pointer from sophomore Riyaan Jiwani with 25 seconds to go for the win 69-68 victory.
The 6-7 Brown, with his team trailing by two points, blocked a layup attempt by UNLV-bound Donavan Yap (who scored 26 points) and rebounded a high-degree-of-difficulty miss by Yap to bring his team’s record to 13-4.
Brown scored 16 points while teammate Houston Mallette (one of the better guards in the west from the Class of 2021) chipped in with 15 and a half-dozen or so assists.
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