Season Ends for Pali High Hoops

Sylmar Rallies to Upset Dolphins 90-87 in Overtime in City Division I Quarterfinals

A postseason that began with high expectations ended in disappointment for the Palisades High boys basketball team.

Seeded first in the Division I playoffs, the Dolphins were confident they could capture the program’s first City title since 1969.

Sylmar, however, had other ideas Friday night and showed you can never underestimate the heart of a champion. The Spartans, who won the Division II title last season, felt disrespected after being seeded ninth out of 12 teams after winning the Valley Mission League and arrived at the Pali High gym with chips on their shoulders. Three hours later, they left with a 90-87 overtime victory and a berth in the semifinals.

“We didn’t know anything about Pali except they were seeded No. 1,” said Dayquann Williams, who led Sylmar with 27 points. “We got motivated by our low seeding. We want to prove we’re better than No. 9.”

Palisades had a chance to tie the game with less than 30 seconds left in overtime but Ron Artest III and George Brown missed shots underneath the basket and Tyler Hooks was fouled with 9.2 seconds left. He made one of two free throws to give the Spartans a  three-point lead. The Dolphins inbounded the ball and advanced it to half court, calling their final timeout with 5.5 ticks remaining.

On the final play, the Dolphins successfully got the ball to Chris Kurihara, one of their best three-point shooters, at the top of the key, but he was double-teamed and couldn’t get a shot off. Instead, he passed to Ishmael Harris in the right corner and his three-pointer bounced off the rim as time expired.

“The strategy at the end was to guard the three-point line and give them the two,” Sylmar Coach Bort Escoto said. “I think it confused them for a second and I was hoping it would. I’ve got five kids back from last year so we’re used to fighting through games like this. I told my guys we’ve been here before and we’re gonna win.”

Senior guard Joseph Robinson scored 30 points for the Dolphins (15-13) but missed an off-balance jumper at the buzzer at the end of regulation after Hooks tied it 79-79 on a free throw with 12 seconds remaining.

“They just wanted it more than us,” Robinson said. “I definitely think we had the mentality that it would be easy, which no team should have going into the playoffs.”

Brown added 12 points for Palisades, which appeared to headed for a lopsided victory after outscoring the visitors 31-16 in the first quarter.

“It’s hard to lose at home in  the last game of the season to a team we should’ve beaten,” Pali High senior captain Monroe Gorden said. “Playing zone [defense] killed us because they were making shots. At first we were mad we didn’t make the Open Division, but we were excited about being the No. 1 seed in Division I because we thought we had a great chance to win it.”

The Spartans (19-13) chipped away at Palisades’ lead and narrowed their deficit to six points by halftime. A three-point play by Williams gave Sylmar a 49-47 lead midway through the third quarter and the Spartans held a 10-point advantage with six minutes left.

The Dolphins responded with a run of their own, pulling to within a point on Michael Fry’s slam dunk with under three minutes left and taking a 76-75 lead on a pair of free throws by Robinson with 1:02 remaining.

With Sylmar in the double bonus it became a free throw shooting contest for the last 60 seconds   of regulation as several Dolphins fouled out.

Palisades Coach Vejas Anaya attributed his team’s loss to several factors.

“One problem is that with the exceptiion of the first few minutes we were sleepwalking through the first three quarters,” he said. “We were in foul trouble early, so every touch foul meant free points for them and we had 14 turnovers from our starting guards, which you can’t afford to have.”

As frustrating as Friday’s defeat was, Anaya remains optimistic about the future.

“This is a year-round program so we’ll be back to work Monday,” he said.