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Pacifica Christian players celebrate after winning the regional title Tuesday. (Photos: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Tritons advance to Saturday’s CIF Division II championship game with 52-51 win.
Before Tuesday night’s CIF Southern California Regionals Division II finals at Orange Lutheran, Pacific Christian basketball Coach Jeff Berokoff said his team needed to “stay loose, play hard and steady to win.”
And that’s exactly what the Tritons did as they held on late an pulled off a 52-51 victory over No. 3-seeded Orange Lutheran before a capacity crowd to capture the championship.
No. 9-seeded Pacific Christian advances to the state championship for the first-time in the school seven-year history of competing in varsity sports. The Tritons will face San Joaquin Memorial on Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
“This is the way we’ve played all year; I feel blessed to coach this team,” said Berokoff. “These kids did not want the season to end. They are an amazing bunch and I am so proud of them.”
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
Parker Strauss led the Tritons (27-9) with 15 points but it was the defensive play by sophomore EJ Spillman in the final seconds that secured the win for Pacific Christian.
With the Tritons leading 52-51 with 9.7 seconds remaining, Spillman went to the line with a chance to increase Pacific Christian’s lead.
However, he missed his free throw and the Lancers quickly rebounded the ball and called time-out to set up their final play with an opportunity to win. Orange Lutheran sophomore point guard Zion Paleo inbounded the ball to Andrew Nagy who passed the ball back to Paleo.
The 6-4 Spillman closely guarded the 6-2 Paleo and blocked Paleo’s shot. The Tritons grabbed the loose ball and the buzzer sounded securing the win for Pacific Christian and a trip to Sacramento.
“When I missed that free throw I was thinking about my seniors and I couldn’t let them down; I knew I had to make a play,” said Spillman, who scored 12 points. “We’re on our way and we’ve been looking forward to this all year.”
Berokoff said his team had a good strategy for the final play.
“We talked about how we were going to defend the final play in the huddle during the time out,” said Berokoff. “We felt that they would be getting the ball to Paleo and we felt that EJ (Spillman), since he’s a little taller than Paleo, might be able to prevent him from shooting.”
After trailing by seven points early in the game, Paleo and Smith hit back-to-back baskets to cut the Tritons lead to 15-13 after the first-quarter.
Manea’s 3-point play tied the game at 24-24 at the 3:29 mark of the second-quarter, but Pacific Christian outscored the Lancers 8-1 down the stretch, capped off by Tanner “Sarge” Deal’s basket with two seconds remaining that gave the Tritons a 32-25 halftime lead.
Strauss was ecstatic following the game.
“It’s amazing; we’ve been working hard since July and all of the hard work has paid off,” Strauss said. “We know it’s a game of runs and we kept playing steady.”
Midway through the third-quarter it appeared that Pacific Christian was going to cruise to victory. Logan Stewart’s offensive rebound and put-back basket gave the Tritons a seemingly commanding 38-25 lead with 4:52 left in the quarter.
But the Lancers drilled three consecutive 3-pointers, one by Nagy and two by Javon Smith to cut the lead to 38-34 at the 3:29 mark of the quarter. Orange Lutheran (23-12) kept the pressure on and trailed 41-36 after three periods.
Cannon Potter and Paleo further ignited the Lancers attack as the duo combined to score 11 points over the first four-minutes of the quarter. Paleo’s bucket gave the Lancers a 47-45 lead with 3:57 to play.
Potter hit another crucial 3-pointer and moments later made a free throw to give Orange Lutheran a 51-50 lead with 1:34 left in the game. However, the Tritons countered with a basket by Stewart with 1:19 to play, propelling Pacific Christian to a 52-51 lead.
The action intensified over the final minute setting the stage for Spillman’s heroics but neither team managed to score again.
“We stayed together and never let up,” said Stewart, a 6-6 junior, who scored 10 points and was a defensive force throughout the game. “We all played hard to the end.”
Orange Lutheran Coach Daniel Dunbar praised his team for their efforts.
“We didn’t quit, but I’m sad and bummed for our seniors,” said Dunbar. “We survived the Trinity League and CIF and then we had states; we haven’t played an unranked team since early January. There hasn’t been any letup all season.
“Tonight we didn’t come out with the blazing fire we normally do and it costs us. It’s been a great season; it’s the furthest any Orange Lutheran team has ever gone and for our seniors, I was hoping we could have made it to Sacramento for them but we came up one-point short.”
Manea led the Lancers with 12 points and Paleo added 11 points and Smith poured in three 3-pointers and finished with nine points.
To reach the regional finals the Tritons defeated Birmingham, King Drew and Oxnard, while the Lancers beat Stockdale, St. Pius X – St. Matthias Academy and Tesoro.
—Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone
