Down 16-14 with about 30 seconds left, Jason Ng drove the length of the court and converted on a runner which tied the game.
On the next possession down, Jason Ng came up with a steal and was fouled on his way to the basket. After looking at the replay, the defender clearly reached across and made contact with Jason's arm as he was going up for a shot.
He went to the free throw line for a chance to give the 7th graders the lead.
After his first shot went in and out, he buried the second one, and with 12 seconds left, they had to come up with one stop to secure the game.
Before Jason's made free throw, they shot a collective 1-for-8 from the line in the 4th quarter. They would've been kicking themselves afterwards had Jason not come through on his second attempt.
St. Cecilia had a chance to win the game when one of their players appeared to have slipped and fell on his own, but the referee called a foul on Jason for getting a piece of the player's arm.
So with 7.3 seconds to go, Raymond got his hand on a pass, jarring the ball loose. A St. Cecilia player missed the ball and Jason Ng picked it up right before he was wrapped up and fouled.
In double bonus, Jason nailed both shots, even the second one when someone in the St. Cecilia crowd decided to cough. It didn't matter as the 7th graders went up by three.
One last ditch heave by St. Cecilia with 2.2 seconds left was blocked by Jason Ng and the 7th graders pulled off the biggest St. Mary's basketball playoff upset since 2010 when the 7th grade Red Team won at Epiphany.
The man of the hour was Jason Ng, who had a game high 10 points, none bigger than the five he scored in the final 30 seconds of the game.
Jason even left the game briefly in the third when he had a lower body injury.
Jason even left the game briefly in the third when he had a lower body injury.
Raymond was frustrated all night as the other team really keyed in on stopping the 7th grade's leading scorer. So it was up to the rest of the team to step up on offense, which didn't look like it was going to happen until the final minute.
Despite scoring only 2 points in this playoff game, Raymond came up big on the defensive end with two crucial stops at the end. His pressure led to Jason's steal, which eventually became the go ahead free throw.
And it was Raymond who deflected a pass, which was eventually scooped up by Jason Ng.
Their defense was probably the best they've played all season, limiting a team that scored over 30 points in their previous two meetings, to only 16 points on their home floor.
Placing Raymond at the top pressuring the point guard seemed to throw off the other team's offense and caused them to take some difficult shots through the game.
By no means was this game a masterpiece as both teams had trouble getting into an offensive rhythm from start to finish. So many air balls, missed lay-ups and lack of rebounding by both teams.
For a 7-6 playoff game, it was not pretty.
Compare this to the 7th grade Red Team of Justin Lee and friends, who were in 7-6. The night they beat Epiphany with four players at the end of the game, the final was 49-45.
When Elliot Wong's 7th grade team played in division six, they won their playoff game 32 to 19.
The sloppiness was due to a lot of the little mistakes that has plagued the 7th grade all year, lack of boxing out and rebounding, missing lay-ups and free throws.
But in the end, they were able to overcome those mistakes and pull out a gut wrenching game.
They won't have much time to sit on their win because the championship game is this Sunday at St. Emydius beginning at 1:15 p.m., where they will go for their second title in three years.
St. Mary's played St. Cecilia twice in the regular season, and both times they were on the losing end. They were beaten by nine, and then 11.
The 7th graders trailed 2-0 until the final minute of the 1st quarter when Thomas hit a 3 pointer.
It was only 12-11 in favor of St. Cecilia to start the fourth, as both teams only scored two points the entire 3rd quarter.
Down the stretch, it was the free throws that won the game for the 7th grade, as Jason went 3-for-4 in crunch time.
Overall, they shot 7-for-16 from the line, but every point added up to one of their biggest wins in team history.
1 comment:
Way to Go St. Mary's!
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