Mikes show their mettle despite 63-60 OT loss to Trojans
Rob Burchianti | 蘑菇视频
Rob Burchianti | 蘑菇视频
Carmichaels鈥� Chase McAfee attempts to tip in a missed shot as California蘑菇视频 Malik Ramsey (2), Austin Grillo (3) and Cochise Ryan (21) look on during Friday night蘑菇视频 game at Carmichaels Area High School.
Rob Burchianti | 蘑菇视频
Carmichaels鈥� Matt Barrish (right) and California蘑菇视频 Kwondae Porter (left) eye each other up as Barrish brings the ball up court during Friday night蘑菇视频 game at Carmichaels Area High School.
Rob Burchianti | 蘑菇视频
Carmichaels coach Don Williams watches the action during the Mikes鈥� game against California at Carmichaels Area High School on Friday night.
Rob Burchianti | 蘑菇视频
California蘑菇视频 Malik Ramsey puts up a shot while being defended by Carmichaels鈥� Al Cree, Drake Long (10) and Chris Barrish (3) during Friday night蘑菇视频 game at Carmichaels Area High School. Ramsey scored a game-high 20 points as the Trojans won in overtime, 63-60.
Rob Burchianti | 蘑菇视频
Rob Burchianti | 蘑菇视频
California蘑菇视频 Nate O鈥橲avage (10) puts up a jump shot over Carmichaels鈥� Al Cree (25) during Friday night蘑菇视频 game at Carmichaels Area High School. O鈥橲avage scored 18 points in the Trojans鈥� 63-60 overtime victory.
Carmichaels鈥� Jacob Hair (5) stretches to grab a rebound as the Mikes鈥� Dylan Wilson (4) and California蘑菇视频 Cochise Ryan (21) look on during Friday night蘑菇视频 game at Carmichaels Area High School. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
CARMICHAELS 鈥� California and Carmichaels showed they are both teams that can battle from behind last Friday night.
The host Mikes rallied from a 10-point, second-half deficit to force overtime but the Trojans fought out of a three-point hole with 1:04 left in the extra frame to earn a thrilling 63-60 Section 2-AA boys basketball victory.
California scored the game蘑菇视频 final six points after trailing 60-57 as Matt Trunzo scored his lone basket of the night, Jaeden Zuzak made three of four free throws and Austin Grillo made one of two from the line.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 be more proud,鈥� first-year Trojans coach Aaron Balla said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been preaching to triumph in adversity.
鈥淢att蘑菇视频 basket was obviously very big. And Jaeden has been putting hours in at the gym after practice and it蘑菇视频 paying off. He came up big with the foul shots late in the game. He蘑菇视频 a very coachable kid.鈥�
Malik Ramsey scored a game-high 20 points for California (3-2, 1-0) and Nate O鈥橲avage followed with 18. Zuzak wound up with nine points and Cochise Ryan added eight for the Trojans.
Matt Barrish made three 3-pointers on his way to an 18-point night for the Mikes (3-0, 0-1), who also got 12 points from Dylan Wilson and 10 from Al Cree.
鈥淚t was a good game to watch,鈥� Carmichaels coach Don Williams said despite the agonizing loss. 鈥淚t was exciting.鈥�
The Mikes led 14-12 after the first period thanks to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Barrish. Ramsey scored seven points in the second period as the Trojans surged to a 30-25 halftime advantage.
Grillo蘑菇视频 3-pointer put California up 38-28 midway through the third period but the Mikes closed the quarter on a 9-1 run capped by freshman Drake Long蘑菇视频 3-pointer to pull within 39-37.
鈥淭his is a good group of kids,鈥� Williams said. 鈥淭hey鈥檒l scratch and claw and fight to get back into a game which is what they did tonight.鈥�
The Trojans pushed the lead up to six twice in the fourth period. Carmichaels freshman Chris Barrish hit a 3-pointer after California went up 45-39. Ramsey蘑菇视频 basket made it 48-42 but the Mikes answered with a bucket inside by Cree, two free throws by Matt Barrish and a scoop shot by Wilson to knot the score at 48-48 with 2:47 left.
O鈥橲avage, a sophomore, made a pair of free throws to put California ahead 50-48. After a Mikes timeout, Garrett Ponick went coast-to-coast for a lay-up off the inbounds play to tie it again at 50-50.
O鈥橲avage once more calmly sank two foul shots to make it 52-50 with 51.5 seconds left.
Wilson and Long both had potential game-tying shots rattle out as the clock ticked down but Chris Barrish was fouled with 4.8 seconds remaining after grabbing the rebound from the latter miss and hit both free throws to tie it at 52-52.
鈥淗e stepped up big as a freshman,鈥� Williams said of Barrish. 鈥淗e was under a lot of pressure and he knocked them down.鈥�
California quickly pushed the ball down court and Grillo was fouled with 1.4 seconds left but missed both shots after Williams called timeout and the game went into overtime.
Wilson sank a jump shot and made one of two from the line to put Carmichaels ahead 60-57 with 1:09 left.
Trunzo scored inside and Zuzak made one of two free throws to tie it, 60-60, with 42.7 seconds left. After a Mikes turnover, Zuzak swished two more to put the Trojans up by two.
Matt Barrish was fouled with 4.9 seconds left, however, his first foul shot rolled out. He missed the second on purpose but that ploy failed and Grillo was fouled and hit one of two with 3.4 seconds left to set the final score as a heave from beyond halfcourt by Matt Barrish was off the mark.
Both coaches had to rely on their benches late as Ramsey, O鈥橲avage, Cree and Chris Barrish all fouled out.
Williams commended Wilson, who guarded Ramsey in the Mikes鈥� man defense most of the game and helped hold him to just six points after halftime.
鈥淚 think Dylan Wilson did a real good job on him,鈥� Williams said. 鈥淗e made him work for all his points.鈥�
Balla was pleased to see Ramsey蘑菇视频 teammates step up.
鈥淚 thought they did very well in defending Malik,鈥� Balla said. 鈥淏ut we鈥檙e such a selfless team, they鈥檙e so willing to help each other out and that蘑菇视频 beautiful to see. They鈥檝e shown that any one of them can score when they鈥檙e needed.鈥�
鈥淚 thought all our guys played really hard,鈥� Williams said.
鈥淲e just came up a little bit short.鈥�