Alemany prevails in three OTs to earn CIF-SS 3A crown
The Bosco Tech boys basketball team refused to quit on the idea of winning its second straight CIF Southern Section championship.
The Tigers played with tenacity and toughness in the second half after trailing by 11 points, and then wanted to keep playing and playing and playing some more.
But Alemany was able to defeat Bosco Tech 86-80 in triple overtime to win a wild and thrilling CIF-SS Division 3A championship game Saturday night.
Bosco Tech (23-9) never held a lead in the game but was able to force three overtimes thanks to an inspired team effort that was led by junior Jaden Erami. He scored a game-high 37 points and hit a 20foot
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3-pointer to tie the score at 70 at the end of the second overtime.
Alemany (20-15) was led by senior Jared Mims, who scored a team-high 25 points. He scored six points in the third overtime, including the final two free throws with four seconds left to seal the game.
“(Bosco Tech) wouldn't give up but we just came through in the end,” Mims said. “I guess we just wanted it more.”
Mims admitted he was tired in the third overtime but said he kept going in pursuit of the championship. Both Mims and Alemany coach Mike DuLaney said they've never been involved in such a dramatic game that needed three overtimes to decide.
“It was only fitting that it was a championship game,” DuLaney. “That was fun.”
Alemany led 28-19 at halftime then built a 34-23 lead early in the third quarter before Bosco Tech rallied and cut the lead to 41-38 at the end of the period.
Bosco Tech tied the score at 45 and 47 toward the end of the fourth quarter before Mims hit a layup to put Alemany up 49-47 with 3:10 left.
Ryan Osborne hit a layup from the right side for the Tigers to tie it at 49 with 2:20 left in regulation.
Neither team was able to score again in the fourth quarter. Alemany had the final chance but Bourgeois Tshilobo lost the ball on a reverse layup try right before time ran out.
It appeared the Warriors were going to pull away from Bosco Tech in the first overtime when Logan Dorsey hit a layup with 1:41 remaining to put Alemany up 58-53. Bosco Tech's Ryan Osborne hit a 3 with 1:26 left to trim the Warriors lead to two. Erami then tied it at 58 with 55 seconds left when he hit a 12-foot baseline jumper.
Bosco Tech had the ball with 26.5 seconds left with the shot clock off to try to win the game after forcing a jump ball on the prior Alemany possession that resulted in a turnover. But Erami had the ball stolen by Mims who raced down the court for what could've been the game-winning layup with time expiring. However, Osborne stripped the ball from Mims and it went out of bounds with just .6 seconds left.
Mims tried to lob an in-bound pass to Tshilobo in front of the basket but Erami knocked it away to force a second overtime.
Erami forced a third overtime with the buzzer-beating 3 after Mims hit two free throws with 4.7 seconds left.
Alemany though pulled away in the third overtime by scoring eight straight points. Paris Lassiter scored the first bucket for Alemany then Dorsey hit a 3 from the baseline to put the Warriors up 7570 with 2:55 left. Tshilobo scored down low and Dorsey hit one of two free throws to cap the 8-0 run.
Mims later scored on a layup with 56 seconds left to give Alemany an 80-71 cushion. Bosco Tech though refused to go away. Erami hit two 3s in the next 23 seconds to pull the Tigers to within 82-77 but Dorsey hit two free throws and Mims knocked down two more to secure the title for the Warriors.
Dorsey scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for Alemany while Tshilobo added 18 points and 15 boards to help Alemany use its size to outrebound Bosco Tech 57-40.