Amazin’ Panthers pull off the come back
It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.” That’s a quote that can be heard from Porterville High head coach Lance Wallace at least a dozen times during a PHS halftime speech.
Nothing could have summed up last night’s semi-final game between Porterville and Sunnyside better, as the Panthers clawed their way back from a 16 point first half deficit to win 65-62, advancing themselves to the Division 2 section championship game Friday night at Selland Arena.
Sunnyside came in and wasn’t intimidated at all by a packed Sharman Gym and a rowdy Sharman Crazy student section as they jumped out to a 7-0 lead, getting 4 quick points from Ayshun Jenkins and a 3 point jumper from Malachi Barnes. After a Cooper Fish layup made it 7-2 Sunnyside cane right back and get a layup from Tanner Wilson and two free throws from CJ Jones to go up 11-2. Fish knocked down a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 11-4 but Sinnyside then got three point play from DJ Johnson to build a 10 point lead at the 2:28 mark of the first quarter.
Andrew Moody got his first points of the night from behind the 3 point arc to make it 14-7 but Jenkins answered back with a three pointer of his own to build the lead back to 10 at the 1:05 mark. A Moody layup made it 17-9 but Sunnyside answered with five straight to end the quarter, all 5 from Jones and Sunnyside led 22-9 after a quarter.
PHS started the second quarter on a 6-2 run, getting back to back layups from Fish and 2 free throws from Erik Odsather to make it 24-15. Sunnyside however answered with a 7-0 run as Wilson got a layup, Jones knocked down a 3 and Wilson hit a mid range jumper to give Sunnyside a 16 point advantage at the 5:25 mark.
Moody hit a 3 but that was answered by a Wilson 3 pointer to keep the Wildcat lead at 16. Odsather then got a layup and Moody hit his third three of the first half to make it 3423. Sunnyside, who shot lights out in the first half answered again with a Johnson trifecta to get the Wildcat lead back to 14. Odsather hit a pair of free throws but the Wildcats got a three from Barnes to build a 15 point advantage with 1:38 left in the half. Odsather got the last bucket of the half, with PHS trailing 40-27 at the break.
Sebastian Mascorro opened the scoring for PHS in the second half by burying one from long distance. Jones however knocked one down from long distance to answer. Not to be done Mascorro drained his second consecutive trifecta to make it 43-33. Jones however answered with his second consecutive three pointer to increase the lead back to 13 at 4633. PHS went on a 5-0 run, getting a layup from Fish and a free throw and a putback from Odsather to cut the deficit to 8. The Wildcats, like they did all night, answered again with a three point bucket from Johnson and a mid range jumper from Wilson to go up 51-38. Moody turned a steal into a layup and Fish buried one from downtown to help the Panthers cut the lead back down to 8 after three quarters.
PHS quickly cut the deficit to 4 as Brayden Della joined the scoring party, knocking down a free throw and then a 3 point shot from the corner to make it 51-47. Jones quickly scored in transition to make it 53-47, but Fish answered that with a three pointer and all of a sudden the Panthers had cut the deficit to 3 at 53-50 with 6:28 remaining.
Jones and Odsather exchanged layups to keep the Wildcat lead at 3. Odsather, who scored 8 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, answered Barnes’ turnaround jumper with a nice post move of his own to make it 57-54 with 4:40 left.
Fish then got PHS the closest it had been since the opening tip with a layup to cut the Panther deficit to 57-56. Jenkins scored for the Wildcats to get their lead back to 3 but Odsather answered with another nice post move at the 3:03 mark to make it 59-58. Wilson made 1 of 2 from the charity stripe, making it 60-58, but Odsather was a man on a mission and he scored on another strong move to the basket to tie things at 60 with 2:02 remaining.
Jones was fouled on a strong move to the basket but managed to only knock down 1 of 2 free throws to give Sunnyside the lead back 61-60 with 1:35 left. Moody came down and gave the PHS faithful what it had been waiting for for almost 31 minutes as his 3 point jumper from straight away gave PHS its first lead of the night 63-61 with 1:07 remaining.
Jones was then fouled again for the Wildcats but managed to only knock down 1 of 2 from the line to make it 63-62 with 58 seconds remaining. After PHS missed a shot they were able to corral the offensive rebound with 34 seconds left, forcing Sunnyside to have to foul.
Julian Serrato went to the line with :28 seconds remaining and missed the front end of a 1 and 1, however Odsather was able to tip the rebound and Serrato quickly gobbled it up and was fouled again with 25 seconds remaining.
This time Serrato was able to knock down two free throws to give PHS a 65-62 lead. After the Panthers knocked a pass out of bounds, Serrato was able to steal the inbounds pass and was fouled again with 9.2 seconds left. Serrano missed the front end of the 1 and 1 again but the Panther defense forced a wild three point attempt by Barnes which barely drew iron and PHS escaped with the victory.
“These kids never cease to amaze me! I’m very proud of the poise these young men showed. It would have been easy to hang our heads, celebrate the Polly and EYL title and go home, but they wanted to keep playing, and when you believe good things happen” exclaimed Wallace. “As far as playing at Selland, what a great opportunity, Only 12 teams a year get that chance and we are fortunate to have the opportunity to be one of those 12.”
Odsather led PHS with 19 followed by Fish who had 18 and Moody 16. Jones led all scorers with 22 for the Wildcats.
The Panthers will play for the Division 2 section championship on Friday night at Selland Arena in Fresno against Arroyo Grande who beat Dinuba 60-40 in the other semifinal game Wednesday night. All tickets must be purchased in advance at www.gofan.co. w