Late rally gives Heritage win, second place over Paloma
Aaron Contreras puts up a 3-point shot during Heritage's win on Wednesday. (Photo by Action Captures Media Group) By Paige Mendez, Corre...
By Paige Mendez, Correspondent
The Heritage High boys basketball team took a last-minute 82-76 victory over Paloma Valley at home Wednesday night to secure their spot in the playoffs and the No. 2 spot in the league in the last game of the regular season.
With just under two minutes left on the clock, Paloma's Tyree Cardwell sank a free throw to take a one-point lead, but missed the second one.
Heritage forward Aiden De Leon snagged a rebound and dished it to Donovan Larry, who rushed it down the court. He then found Aaron Contreras, who took the shot and sank a 3-pointer to take a 76-74 lead at the 1:34 mark on the game clock.
Contreras made his 100th 3-point shot during the game -- something that has never been done before in Heritage history.
The teams each exchanged field goals in the next minute, making it 78-76 for Heritage at the 54 second mark.
The Patriots used up 29 of their shot clock seconds with ball movement -- nearly resulting in a steal by Paloma's Taeshawn Armstrong -- before finding strong forward Syre Neal under the hoop. He put up a layup that went in and gave his team a two-possession lead.
The Wildcats had 25 seconds at this point to get back in the game and found a wide-open Erick Fernando behind the arc to take a 3-pointer, but the shot was no good and ended in a Patriot rebound.
Heritage then scored one more time to secure the lead at 82-76 and Paloma couldn't convert any more possessions into buckets.
But up until the second half, Paloma maintained control over the game's momentum, though the biggest score gap was only seven points.
A key part of Paloma's early control was their ability to shut down De Leon, who went scoreless for the second and third quarters before finding his groove in the fourth and putting up 14 points.
"I've played these guys twice every season for four seasons now. They know how I shoot and they want to stop that," De Leon said. "But that last quarter shows who you really are and even though I'm not the most athletic guy, I will put in all the effort and I think I made that count."
His effort not only got him 17 points on the night but 14 rebounds, two of which were offensive rebounds in the last two minutes of the game, which earned his team four second-chance points. Head coach Nyron Jones said the timing of those boards made a big difference for his team.
"The rebounding is what beat us the last game, and I think in the most important time of the game [tonight] rebounding that way is clutch," Jones said. "You can think of clutch as a shooter but I think the way Aiden rebounded at the end of the game tonight was clutch for us."
Another factor in the Patriot win was their 87 percent free throw shooting, including a perfect free-throw record up until the fourth quarter.
"We have players who specialize in [getting to the line]," Jones said. "They know how to work downhill and get the ball up the middle and good things happen when you can collapse a defense like that."
On the night, the Patriots made twice as many free throws as the Wildcats, who shot at just 59 percent from the line.
The Wildcats, on the other hand, out-rebounded Heritage 40-21 in the entire game and had five players with more than 12 points, the top scorer Michael Monsanto with 17 points.
Even with the point distribution and winning the boards game, Paloma head coach Darius Randolph said the fourth-quarter losses are a little too familiar to his team.
"This has been a challenge of ours where we struggle to finish games," he said. "It's simple, mental, defensive breakdowns and we got kind of lazy with their 3-point shooters toward the end. We knew they were going to have a run, we just didn't know when, and they did it right there at the end."
Of the 10 starters from both teams, seven athletes had over 10 points on the night -- possibly a factor of this being such a huge rivalry game, on top of it being one of the last games of the season, deciding who would take second place in the league.
"When I talked to them pregame, I told them they can't play 'not-to-lose' with nerves and playing too tight," Randolph said. "It creeps up on you towards the end and mental toughness comes in at the end when you start to take shots you shouldn't take, and we did that at the end."
Jones said he was not accustomed to such a rivalry but after his two years as the head coach he has learned that the closeness and respect between the two teams leads to high-intensity competitions like this one. He had one hope for his team going into the game.
"I told especially my seniors to go in and take everything they have learned and leave it all out on the court," he said. "And I really think they did that tonight."
Heritage finishes the regular season with a 5-3 record going into playoffs with a secure No. 2 spot, while Paloma has a 4-4 record and the No. 3 ranking. Both teams will wait for the official tournament schedules to be announced, with CIF games beginning Feb. 6.
Heritage's Aiden De Leon drives to the basket against Paloma Valley. (Photo by Action Captures Media Group)
Ameer Sharif drives to the basket for Paloma Valley on Wednesday. (Photo by Action Captures Media Group)
