Crescenta Valley overcomes Maranatha
The old cliché is that basketball is a game of runs. The team with the biggest surge usually wins unless the opponent can answer every time. The Maranatha boys basketball team had those answers against a quick and strong Crescenta Valley squad but simply ran out of time in a 56-52 loss on Friday night in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 2A playoffs.
With the win, Crescenta Valley (18-3) will play the winner of El Dorado/Portola on Tuesday.
“We fought back even at the end,” Maranatha coach Tim Tucker said. “That's the kind of team we have. (Crescenta Valley) hit shots when they needed to and we didn't. You have to be able to hit shots. Their gym. They hit the big shots and win the game and carry on.”
The game was tied at 37 to start the fourth quarter. Crescenta Valley was clinging to a 44-42 lead in the middle of the quarter before a 10-1 run broke the game open. The Falcons' run was sparked by Quinlan Daily who scored seven of his game-high 25 points during the run.
Daily raced down the court for a layup to push the Falcons to a 46-42 lead. He later buried a 3 from the wing with 3:06 left to give Crescenta Valley a 52-43 lead before driving to the basket and banking in a running 4-footer to extend the Falcon lead to 54-43 with 2:25 remaining.
The Minutemen though made the game interesting. Terrence Hampton hit a 3 from the baseline with two minutes left to cut the lead to 54-46. After a missed free throw when the Falcons got into the bonus, Martin Zarzuela got fouled and calmly hit two free throws to cut the lead to 54-48 with 1:13 left.
After another missed free throw, Hampton grabbed a rebound off a missed 3 by Paxton Pope and put the ball back up and in with 1:02 left to clip the Falcon lead to 5450. Maranatha went to a full court press and stole the ball after the Falcons inbounded it. But Hampton and Nicholas Khatchikian were unable to hit tough 3s.
Crescenta Valley missed another free throw to give Maranatha a chance with under 20 seconds left but Pope couldn't connect on a contested 3 and Allen Boghossian grabbed the rebound for Crescenta Valley with under nine seconds left. He sank both free throws to ice the game.
“We knew it was going to down to the wire,” said Crescenta Valley coach Shawn Zargarian. “Our kids did a good job of battling. This is the playoffs. It's what you expect.”
Crescenta Valley hit 11 3s. Gavin Shaghoian nailed five of them as he scored 15 points. He scored the game's first points by hitting a 3. He then sank three more in the second quarter. His biggest though game during that 10-1 run the fourth when he fired from 22-feet out to give the Falcons a 49-42 lead.
Maranatha was led by Hampton who scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Khatchikian scored 10 points off the bench. Pope scored six points, hitting two 3s.