IRVINE, Ca. – On a night when three of the top four seeds held serve in impressive fashion, one of the CIF Southern Section Open Division boys’ basketball openers didn’t follow any pre-game script.
The Damien Spartans, edged by Crean Lutheran by a single-point in a Selection Committee ballot last Sunday for the fourth seed in the eight-team bracket, found themselves in a 20-point hole with just less than three minutes to go in the second quarter Friday night with the host Saints.
But, in a comeback without parallel in the nine-year history of the top post-season playoff division in California, Coach Mike LeDuc’s visitors methodically fought their way back before pulling out a 64-59 victory in front of a crowd that was both stunned (the host fans) and delirious (those who made the trek south for the contest).
The Spartans, getting critical contributions from each starter and the only reserve that played (sophomore Xavier Clinton), improved to 27-2 while the hosts dropped to 22-4 – with their only losses coming to top seed Centennial, twice, and No. 3 Harvard-Westlake.
After a steal and breakaway dunk by UC Santa Barbara-bound forward Koat Keat (coming out of the Spartans’ second timeout of the quarter), the Saints were up, 37-17, less than three minutes before intermission.
But the visitors scored the final eight points of the quarter by way of junior forward Jimmy Oladokun (a layup), senior guards Spivey Word (a follow of his own miss) and Bradley Xie (a 3 from the left wing, following a pass from Oladokun) and one of two free throws by Oladokun after he was fouled a second before the intermission horn.
“We felt a lot better about things (going into the locker room only down 12 points),” said the 6-foot-8 Oladokun (pictured), who finished with game-highs of 18 points and 12 rebounds.
“The momentum had definitely shifted to us.”
They maintained it to start the second half, too, as Xie opened the quarter’s scoring with a 3 after a penetration and pass from R.J. Smith.
The University of Colorado-bound Smith, who did an admirable job checking elite Crean sophomore Vyctorius Miller (12 points, five of 14 from the field while missing all three field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter) most of the way, also hit consecutive 3s later in a quarter that ended with the Saints up, 50-44.
Word tied the score at 54, back-cutting and converted a pass from Smith, with 4:02 to go before sophomore Darrell Morris put the hosts back up following a Oladokun turnover.
Keat (14 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocks) was whistled for his fifth and disqualifying foul with 1:53 to go.
It was the most critical juncture of the game.
Fifteen seconds later, forward Kaleb Smith (no relation/he scored nine of his 10 points in the fourth quarter), banked in a 3, coming off a screen and following a pass from R.J. Smith.
After a Crean Lutheran timeout, Oladokun rebounded a Miller miss and – with 45 seconds to go – Word, after a pass from R.J. Smith, drilled a 3 from the left corner to put the Spartans up by four points.
Morris missed on a drive but 7-footer James Agany rebounded and Crean called another timeout.
When play resumed, senior Parker Tuttle swished a 23-footer.
After a Spartans’ timeout, Word was called for pushing off trying to free himself for an inbound pass from Kaleb Smith with 22 seconds to go.
The Saints had another chance to go ahead but Agany – in heavy traffic – couldn’t convert in tight and Oladokun cleared the rebound.
The Spartans were able to inbound on three tries, with the Saints fouling each time after failing to force a turnover.
The last of those three put the visitors in the bonus, with R.J. Smith pushing his team back up by three points with 10.6 seconds to go while swishing both ends of a 1-and-1.
Crean Lutheran Coach Nate Klitzing – with his fourth timeout of the quarter – stopped play with 8.6 seconds to go to set up a potential tying 3-point jumper.
But Rui Han – who transferred to Crean last summer after playing for Damien for three seasons – threw the ball out of bounds in the right corner.
Kaleb Smith inbounded to R.J. Smith with 1.3 seconds to go, and, after being fouled by Miller, he converted both ends of the 1-and-1 with 1.3 seconds to play to wrap up the comeback for the “Open Ages”.
The next round of Open pool play is Tuesday night, when the Spartans travel to Corona to take on top-seed and defending champion Centennial, which improved to 27-1 Friday night by way of its 78-53 win against No. 8 seed Bishop Montgomery.
The Huskies are 9-0 against opponents in the Open Division and that are among the 16 teams remaining in contention for a Division I title.
In Pool B games Friday night, hosts Sierra Canyon (89-70, Notre Dame) and Harvard-Westlake (67-45, Mater Dei) rolled in eased-up fashion.
No. 2 Sierra Canyon takes on Mater Dei in Chatsworth Tuesday night while No. 3 Harvard-Westlake faces Mission League foe Notre Dame.
In the other Pool A game Tuesday night, Bishop Montgomery travels from Torrance to Irvine to face Crean Lutheran.
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