SG Kai Drewry drove towards the lane with the score tied, the clock winding down and the shot clock about to expire but somehow found an opening and scored the game-winning lay-up for Santa Rosa in a 49-47 win over Chaffey in the first of two state semifinals Saturday evening at Cerritos College.
Santa Rosa (23-8) held a 10-point halftime lead, but Chaffey (28-6) erased that deficit midway through the second half, tying the game at 35 with 9:44 left. Santa Rosa went back into the lead on a long 3-pointer by SG Matthew Hayes and never fell behind, but Chaffey stayed close and it was tied at 47 after PG Julian Nichols scored on a putback for the Panthers with 38 seconds left.
Santa Rosa used most of the remaining time, only to find Drewry with the ball, double-teamed near the right block. But with time about to run out he found a way to split the double team and lay in the game-winning basket.
Chaffey had one last chance to tie or even steal the win, and after a timeout set up a play to get the ball to Ctr Adom Jacko in the frontcourt. But Jacko had to leap to make the catch, and lost the ball on the way down. PF Brian Johnson corraled the loose ball for the Bear Cubs just as the final buzzer sounded.
Early on, it looked like Chaffey might have an easy time of it as Santa Rosa missed 9 of its first 10 shots and the Panthers jumped out to an early 11-3 lead. But Santa Rosa kept the pace slow, and went on a 17-0 run to take a 20-11 lead with 3:36 left in the first half. After back-to-back 3-pointers by Hayes to end the first half, the Bear Cubs held a 26-16 advantage at the break.
After making just 7 of 30 shots in the first half, Chaffey made two quick field goals to start the second half and continued to battle its way back into the game. A driving lay-up by Nichols tied the score at 35 with 9:44 left. Chaffey never actually took the lead again, but never trailed by more than four points again and tied it one last time on Nichols' putback.
For Santa Rosa, Hayes led all scorers with 20 pts, which included 4 three-pointers, and added 3 rebs, 2 asts and 2 steals. SF Alec Kobre had 11 pts, including 3 threes, and Drewry had 10 pts, including the game-winning basket. PG Davone Oliver had 5 pts and 6 rebs, and Ctr Luke Cocheran also had 6 rebs.
For Chaffey, SG John Gilliam had a team-best 11 pts, but was the only Panther to reach double digits. Jacko had 9 pts and a game-high 8 rebs, and Nichols had 8 pts, 7 rebs and 2 asts. The Panthers shot just 28% from the floor for the night and never seemed to find a rhythm as the game was played at Santa Rosa's pace, and this was evidenced by Chaffey's scant total of 3 assists for the game.
box score
Saturday, March 15, 2014 - 5 pm
at Cerritos College, Norwalk
State Semifinal #1
Chaffey Panthers 47:
1-Adom Jacko, C - 4/8 fg, 1/2 ft, 8 reb, 3 pf, 9 pts
10-Julian Nichols, PG - 2/8 fg, 4/5 ft, 7 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl, 3 pf, 8 pts
11-John Gilliam, SG - 5/13 fg, 0/2 ft, 3 reb, 1 blk, 1 tsl, 3 pf, 11 pts
24-Devyn Sampson, SF - 1/9 fg, 5 reb, 1 stl, 1 pf, 2 pts
35-Jeff Nibo, PF - 2/10 fg, 3/4 ft, 4 reb, 1 ast, 3 pf, 7 pts
32-Andre Wilson, G - 0/2 fg, 2/2 ft, 2 reb, 2 pts
5-Roderick Evans-Taylor, F - 0/2 fg, 0/2 ft, 3 reb, 0 pts
14-Pape Seck, C - 2/4 fg, 1/2 ft, 5 reb, 1 blk, 5 pts
4-Breejae Flonnoy, G - 1/5 fg, 3 reb, 3 pts
team rebounds: 7
Totals: 17/61 fg (.279), 11/19 ft (.579), 47 reb, 3 ast, 3 blk, 3 stl, 13 pf, 47 pts
3-pt fg (2): Gilliam, Flonnoy
Turnovers (8): Jacko 4, Nichols, Gilliam, Sampson, Nibo
Santa Rosa Bear Cubs 49:
11-Davone Oliver, PG - 1/8 fg, 2/2 ft, 6 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 5 pts
22-Matthew Hayes, SG - 6/14 fg, 4/7 ft, 3 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 3 pf, 20 pts
24-Alec Kobre, SF - 3/7 fg, 2/2 ft, 2 reb, 1 blk, 2 pf, 11 pts
33-Brian Johnson, PF - 0/2 fg, 6 reb, 1 ast, 3 blk, 2 stl, 4 pf, 0 pts
44-Luke Cocheran, C - 1/2 fg, 1/1 ft, 3 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 4 pf, 3 pts
34-Corey Hammel, C - 0/3 fg, 3 reb, 2 ast, 2 pf, 0 pts
25-Kai Drewry, G - 4/6 fg, 1 reb, 3 pf, 10 pts
15-Quentin Mendoza, G - 0/ 1fg, 0 pts
team rebounds: 6
Totals: 15/43 fg (.349), 9/12 ft (.750), 30 reb, 8 ast, 5 blk, 5 stl, 19 pf, 49 pts
3-pt fg (10): Hayes 4, Kobre 3, Drewry 2, Oliver
Turnovers (10): Oliver 3, Hayes 3, Cocheran 3, Johnson
Halftime Score: Santa Rosa 26, Chaffey 16
Updated Records: Santa Rosa 23-8, Chaffey 28-6
Jacko (Chaffey) and Hayes & Kobre (Santa Rosa) were named to the all-tournament team.
Chaffey led 11-3 as Santa Rosa missed 9 of its first 10 shots.
Then Santa Rosa went on a 17-0 run to lead 20-11 with 3:36 left in the 1st half.
Chaffey tied it at 35 with 9:44 left but never went back into the lead.
It was tied at 47 after Nichols' putback basket with 38 seconds left.
Drewry's driving lay-up with 3.6 secs left and less than 1 on the shot clock won it for SR.
