PF Nick Pacitti hit a one-handed runner in the final seconds of regulation to tie it, and scored 4 of his 17 pts in OT to help win it for LA Trade Tech in the Beavers' 86-78 win over host Pasadena in the SCC-North division opener Friday night.
Pacitti's game-tying basket came on a broken play, but once OT started he and PF Tyrone Nance, who left the briefly late in regulation after suffering a mouth injury after colliding with a Pasadena player, each had 4 pts in the extra session. After Nance made 2 FTs for the first points of overtime, Trade Tech led the rest of the way.
But that came after a wild final sequence that saw Trade Tech tie the game with 18.2 seconds left after a steal & basket by PG Darnell Campbell and Pasadena go back in front on a basket by PF Joel Nolen with 7.6 seconds remaining. That set up Trade Tech's final play.
Campbell brought the ball up in the backcourt, but his dribble was briefly deflected away by Pasadena PG Corey Caston. Campbell recovered the ball, but was off-balance and time was running out - and Trade Tech was out of timeouts. Campbell managed to get the ball over to SF Curry McKinney, who brought the ball into the frontcourt.
Just as he crossed the 3-point line, the Lancer defense converged on him as the clock passed the 3-second mark. McKinney managed to get the ball over to Pacitti at the right elbow. Just before the final horn, Pacitti launched a one-handed running shot that swished through the net, tying the game at 71.
The frantic finish was a bit of a surprise after the way the game started. Pasadena jumped out to a quick 17-8 lead and led by as many as a dozen after a putback basket by Nolen made it 24-12 midway through the first half.
Trade Tech cut the margin to 5 later in the half, and trailed by 7 at halftime at 40-33. Early in the second half, Pasadena pushed the lead back to 9 points at 44-35. But then Caston picked up his 3rd foul and went to the bench.
And then came an 18-4 Trade Tech run that saw the Beavers take a 48-47 lead on a driving lay-up by Nance and push the lead to 53-48 after a 3-pointer by SG Clifford Sutherland.
With Caston back on the floor, Pasadena recovered, tying the game at 53 on a Caston lay-up with 11:20 left. The lead went back and forth for the next several minutes and was tied at 61 until Pasadena got a fast-break basket from Ctr Tyree McCary and a lay-up by Caston after a steal to make it 65-61.
Pasadena continued to hold that lead until Campbell's steal & basket with 18.2 seconds left following a steal around midcourt. As Campbell was laying the ball into the basket, Nance was holding his mouth in pain after the collision around the free throw line.
But Nance returned for Trade Tech's final play, which resulted in Pacitti's game-tying basket. And he made a pair of free throws after a rebound 20 seconds into overtime. Then Pacitti hit another runner to make it 75-71, and Trade Tech never lost their lead.
A 3-pointer by Sutherland pushed Trade Tech's lead to 80-73 midway through overtime. That came 31 seconds after Caston fouled out for the Lancers. Pasadena got a pair of baskets by PF Elliott Berry to make it 80-77 and still trailed by just 3 at 81-78 with 1:07 remaining. But one free throw by McKinney with 51.2 seconds left made it a two-possession game at 82-78. Then pair of free throws by PG Leon Usher with 31.7 seconds left and by Pacitti with 23.3 seconds left following missed 3-point tries by Pasadena's SF Antoine Bryan finally clinched the win for Trade Tech.
Pacitti, the lone holdover starter for Trade Tech's state semifinalist team last season, posted the double-double with 17 pts and 10 rebs. Sutherland came off the bench and also had 17 pts, including 3 threes. Nance just missed a double-double with 14 pts and 9 rebs. And McKinney had the most mesmerizing statistical line of all, flirting with a quadruple-double before settling for 10 pts, 7 rebs, 7 asts and 7 steals, but missing his last 9 shots of the game and finishing 4-for-15 from the floor.
For Pasadena, Berry led the way with game-highs of 25 pts and 14 rebs. SG ChaRunn Jones added 15 pts, all on threes, and 5 asts. Nolen had 12 pts, 8 rebs and 4 asts. McCary made a run at a triple-double with 10 pts, 8 rebs and 8 blocked shots. And Caston had 8 pts, 8 asts and 4 steals, though he also had 8 turnovers and made just 3 of 12 shots from the floor.
The win gets Trade Tech back to the .500 mark for the season. Trade Tech won despite not having the services of two regular starters: PF Kevin McDowell (ankle) and SF Tim Smith (knee). Pasadena falls to 16-8 overall on the season.
box score
Friday, January 16, 2009 - 7:30 pm
at Hutto-Patterson Gym, Pasadena
South Coast Conference - North Division
LA Trade Tech Beavers 86:
4-Darnell Campbell, SG - 3/6 fg, 0/2 ft, 2 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 2 pf, 7 pts
5-Christopher Johnson, PG - 4/8 fg, 1/2 ft, 2 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 9 pts
20-Curry McKinney, SF - 4/15 fg, 2/4 ft, 7 reb, 7 ast, 7 stl, 3 pf, 10 pts
21-Darrell Tripp, C - 0/3 fg, 4/4 ft, 3 reb, 1 blk, 1 pf, 4 pts
44-Nick Pacitti, PF - 6/12 fg, 5/6 ft, 10 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl, 17 pts
13-Leon Usher, C - 1/5 fg, 2/2 ft, 2 ast, 1 blk, 3 pf, 4 pts
24-Renee Johnson, F - 1/4 fg, 3 reb, 1 ast, 2 pf, 2 pts
32-Tyrone Nance, F - 4/8 fg, 6/7 ft, 9 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl, 3 pf, 14 pts
11-Clifford Sutherland, G - 6/12 fg, 2/3 ft, 6 reb, 2 stl, 2 pf, 17 pts
34-Wayne Wiggins, C - 1/1 fg, 2 pts
team rebounds: 6
Totals: 30/74 fg (.405), 22/30 ft (.733), 48 reb, 14 ast, 4 blk, 16 stl, 16 pf, 86 pts
3-pt fg (4): Sutherland 3, Campbell
Turnovers (25): Nance 5, C.Johnson 4, McKinney 4, Tripp 3, Pacitti 3, Campbell 2, Usher, R.Johnson, Sutherland, team
Pasadena Lancers 78:
12-Corey Caston, PG - 3/12 fg, 2/5 ft, 3 reb, 8 ast, 1 blk, 4 stl, 5 pf, 8 pts
13-Eliott Berry, PF - 10/18 fg, 5/8 ft, 14 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl, 3 pf, 25 pts
14-ChaRunn Jones, SG - 5/14 fg, 3 reb, 5 ast, 15 pts
24-Joel Nolen, SF - 6/12 fg, 8 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 5 pf, 12 pts
52-Tyree McCary, C - 5/8 fg, 8 reb, 2 ast, 8 blk, 2 stl, 3 pf, 10 pts
30-Antoine Bryan, F - 1/4 fg, 2 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 2 pts
40-Phillip Brown, G - 0/1 fg, 1 reb, 0 pts
22-Edwin Edukere, C - 2/4 fg, 2/2 ft, 3 reb, 4 pf, 6 pts
team rebounds: 3
Totals: 32/73 fg (.438), 9/15 ft (.600), 45 reb, 22 ast, 10 blk, 11 stl, 21 pf, 78 pts
3-pt fg (5): Jones 5
Fouled Out: Caston 3:08 left in OT; Nolen 51.2 secs left in OT
Turnovers (29): Caston 8, Jones 7, Nolen 5, McCary 4, Berry 3, Bryan 2
Halftime Score: Pasadena 40, LA Trade Tech 33
End of Regulation: Tied at 71
Updated Records: LA Trade Tech 10-10 overall, 1-0 in SCC-N; Pasadena (t-#11-South) 16-8, 0-1 in SCC-N
Pacitti scored on a one-handed runner just before the buzzer to send it to OT. Pacitti and Nance each had 4 pts in OT to lead LATT
