St. John Bosco falls hard on buzzer-beating dunk
ANAHEIM ❯❯ St. John Bosco rattled off a 13-1 run late in the fourth quarter and nearly pulled off a comeback win but ultimately suffered a heartbreaking 5856 loss to No. 1-seeded Corona Centennial in the CIF Southern Section Open Division final Saturday at Honda Center.
The score was tied at 56 with 31.2 seconds to go and Bosco had the ball, looking to take the final shot.
“Any time you can have the ball with a chance to win, that's a good scenario but we expected to be in that scenario,” said St. John Bosco coach Matt Dunn.
However, with less than five seconds left, Centennial's Aaron McBride tipped a Bosco pass and chased it down near midcourt for a steal. The senior forward raced to the basket and threw down a buzzer-beating slam dunk from one step inside the free-throw line to win the game.
Braves point guard Elzie Harrington finished with a team-high 15 points including 10 points in the third quarter to help keep pace with Centennial in the second half.
St. John Bosco junior guard Jack Turner scored 13 points before fouling out. Sophomore forward Kade Bonam added 10 points and five rebounds.
The Braves (26-6) were in the Open Division final for the first time. They begin play in the CIF SoCal Regionals on Wednesday.
Dunn said he did not consider the No. 6-seed Braves the underdog and after the two-point loss he told his team that he was proud of their effort in the championship game.
“I told them I'm proud of them and I love them,” Dunn said. “One of the hardest things about sports is you have to put it all on the line without any guarantees if it's going to work or not and we put it all on the line (Saturday night). Obviously it didn't go our way and that hurts a lot. It hurts at the time but I think later on you become really proud that you know you put it all on the line.”
Dunn believes his team stepped up in the second half, especially during its 13-1 run late in the fourth quarter to take a 56-52 lead with 2:21 to go in the game.
“I thought their physicality bothered us a little bit in the first and I thought we were every bit if not more physical in the second half,” Dunn explained. “I'm proud of all of them, they're champions... In my mind they're champions.”
The Braves led 16-12 at the end of the first quarter after outrebounding Centennial by a 12-5 margin early in the game.
Turner scored six of his 13 points in the first quarter. He was in foul trouble for most of the game and fouled out with 3:32 to go.
Centennial battled back and took a 21-20 lead late in the second quarter.
A 3-pointer by St. John Bosco senior center Xinyi Li tied the score at 23. Li finished with eight points and three rebounds.
Centennial finished the first half on a 5-0 run and Bosco trailed 28-23 at halftime.
Harrington's big third quarter included a highlight reel-worthy dunk and an and-one by the 6-foot-6 sophomore that put Bosco up 38-37. However, Centennial reestablished its advantage and Bosco trailed 4541 heading into the fourth quarter.
Bosco fell behind 5143 with five minutes to go but four points by Turner sparked the Braves' 13-1 run in the fourth quarter.
Freshman guard Brandon McCoy Jr.'s tip dunk cut Centennial's lead to 51-49. Harrington's layup pulled Bosco within one, 52-51, with three minutes to go.
A 3-pointer by Li gave Bosco its first lead, 54-52, in the fourth quarter and another tip dunk by the 6-3 McCoy put Bosco up 56-52 with 2:21 remaining.
McCoy finished with six points and a team-high six rebounds.
However, Centennial scored the game's final six points to emerge as the CIFSS Open Division champions for the third year in a row.