"That was the best high school game I've ever been a part of," said Resurrection Head Coach Tom Schneider.
Well, coach, I'll do you one better and call it, quite possibly, one of the best games in CWOSSA history on Friday night at Resurrection as the Phoenix came from behind and defeated the St. Mary's Eagles 68-64 in overtime in the D8 Senior championship final.
Of course, things didn't exactly start so smoothly for Resurrection. The Eagles used their athleticism and shot-making abilities to their finest in the early stages of the contest, building up an 11-point lead in the first quarter and finishing the frame up 19-11.
The Phoenix found their footing in the second quarter, bolstered by the key brief stint provided by reserve guard Jamie Keil, who knocked home a three-pointer and a layup in quick succession as the Phoenix would flip the game in the second quarter to head to halftime up 29-26.
Following the trend of the "back and forth" game, the third quarter belonged to St. Mary's --- so much so, that it seemed like they might seize the momentum and hold on for good. A quick 5-0 spurt off of a pull-up three-pointer by Ben Bankazo and a great hustle play by Isaac Lance to score a layup off of an Alex Thompson blocked (by Mike Pereira) lay-up attempt gave the Eagles back the lead and they took a 45-40 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
And what a fourth quarter it was.
The Eagles would actually extend out to as much as an eight point lead in the fourth frame, but they then seemed to get away (slightly) from their aggressive style that had earned them the edge. The Phoenix cut the lead to 54-48 with around 4:00 to play, and then a Jeff Rodrigues lay-up rolled in after hanging on the cusp of the rim for a second to cut things down to 54-50.
Mike Pereira put home 2 more to bring things down to 54-52 and 2:24 left.
The Eagles, of course, wouldn't make things so easy. Ben Bankazo had a beautiful fake-pass-and-layup to extend back to a 4-point lead.
The "TSN Turning Point" occurred in the moments that followed.
On a loose ball scramble, and Rez still down by 4, Cam Gibbs banked the ball off of an Eagle defender to keep Rez in possession. Shortly thereafter, Tyler Schneider canned a wide-open three-pointer (a couple of feet off the line) to bring the Phoenix within one at 56-55.
The Phoenix had a glorious chance to take the lead after an Alex Thompson jumper went off line, and Jeff Rodrigues pushing the ball up to Cam Gibbs with now less than :50 on the clock. However, Gibbs hesitated and instead of going for one of his familiar dunks, attempted a lay-up which was pinned of the backboard by Ben Bankazo, causing the Eagle faithful to erupt.
Bankazo would hit one-of-two from the line with about :30 left to go, setting the stage for a dramatic final sequence.
Mike Pereira missed a three-pointer with about :15 left that would have given the Phoenix the lead, but a jump ball on the rebound would give the Phoenix possession again with :07 on the clock. Off of an inbounds play, Andrew Mwangi found Pereira, who made a lay-in and tied things up. Under the din of the crowd, Isaac Lance could not hear the final countdown and his shot went up after time had already expired.
So we headed to overtime.
The Eagles would draw first blood, when Alex Thompson drove baseline and found himself alone for an uncontested layup. St. Mary's would have the next big opportunity, but Pereira would deny Ben Bankazo with a huge block, and the Phoenix running the other way for an "and one" layup converted by Cam Gibbs.
St. Mary's coach Jason Hergott was incensed with what he felt was a missed foul call on Bankazo, coming very close to picking up a technical foul after kicking a chair on the St. Mary's sideline. Kudos to the referees, though, for having a long fuse in an (understandably) emotional situation.
Gibbs would miss the free-throw, but Pereira, as he always has a tendency to do, vacuumed in the loose ball and put home a basket that gave Resurrection a 61-59 lead.
Fast forward to RCSS up 3 and :19 on the clock, Gibbs would redeem himself at the line by knocking in two clutch free-throws to put Rez up by 5. You'd think that might be enough but.....
The Eagles would continue to make things interesting. After a miss on the offensive end, the rebound came to Ben Bankazo who found forward Mike Kasunic alone at the three-point line. Though not known for his outside shooting, Kasunic hit nothing but net on his attempt to bring things back to a 2-point game (66-64) and :06 left.
After a St. Mary's timeout, the Phoenix were able to inbound the ball to guard Tyler Schneider, who was fouled and headed to the line for a pressure-packed "1-and-1" free throw attempt.
Needless to say, it's the situation every kid plays out when they're on the playground at some point in their lives --- and Schneider had already missed his two previous attempts in the game.
"That's what I was thinking about when I was shooting those free throws," said Schneider after the game, "that's what you think of as a kid --- icing the game for your team from the foul line."
And do that he did, getting the first one to drop and then knocking in the second one to extend to a 68-64 Phoenix lead and, as the final buzzer sounded, a raucous celebration was set off inside the Rez gymnasium.
The fans particularly acknowledged Pereira, serenading him to the chants of "M-V-P" as he received his championship plaque. He led all scorers with 20 points, and added 10 rebounds as well.
Jeff Rodrigues, participating in what could have been his final high school game, did everything he could to prevent that from happening by adding in 15 points (including 3-of-3 shooting from three-point range). Schneider would finish with 11 points, Andrew Mwangi (who added 9 rebounds and 5 assists) and Cam Gibbs had 6 each, Jamie Keil 5, John Moi 3 and Jason Chris had 2.
The Eagles, meanwhile, were led by their outstanding backcourt --- Ben Bankazo had a team-high 18 points, Alex Thompson had 16 and Isaac Lance 12. After that, it was Mike Kasunic who scored 11, Zak Hannah 2, Adam Voll 2, Tony Huynh 2, and Henry Bankazo with 1.
The Eagles and Phoenix are widely considered to be the best two "AAAA" teams at this point in time (at least, by my rankings). However, only the Phoenix will be making the trip to the CWOSSA championships next week as the Eagles season is done.
Boxscore
RCSS 11-18-11-17-11 = 68
SMHS 19-07-19-12-07 = 64
Resurrection (68)
J. Rodrigues 5-9 FG, 2-3 FT, 3 Reb, 3 Ast - 15 Pts.
M. Pereira 8-15 FG, 4-7 FT, 10 Reb, 0 Ast - 20 Pts.
A. Mwangi 3-13 FG, 0-0 FT, 9 Reb, 5 Ast - 6 Pts.
T. Schneider 4-13 FG, 2-4 FT, 4 Reb, 2 Ast - 11 Pts.
C. Kenning 0-1 FG, 0-0 FT, 2 Reb, 1 Ast - 0 Pts.
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C. Gibbs 2-7 FG, 2-3 FT, 5 Reb, 0 Ast - 6 Pts.
J. Moi 1-4 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 3 Pts.
J. Chris 0-0 FG, 2-2 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 2 Pts.
J. Keil 2-2 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 5 Pts.
Field Goals: 25-64 (.391). Free-Throws: 12-19 (.632). Three-Point Goals, 6-18 .333 (J. Rodrigues 3-3, J. Keil 1-1, J. Moi 1-2, T. Schneider 1-5, M. Pereira 0-1, C. Gibbs 0-3, A. Mwangi 0-3).
St. Mary's (64)
I. Lance 4-12 FG, 2-3 FT, 5 Reb, 2 Ast - 12 Pts.
M. Kasunic 3-5 FG, 4-5 FT, 5 Reb, 0 Ast - 11 Pts.
A. Thompson 5-17 FG, 6-8 FT, 3 Reb, 3 Ast - 16 Pts.
B. Bankazo 7-14 FG, 3-8 FT, 9 Reb, 1 Ast - 18 Pts.
Z. Hannah 1-4 FG, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 2 Pts.
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A. Voll 0-2 FG, 2-2 FT, 2 Reb, 0 Ast - 2 Pts.
T. Huynh 1-1 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 2 Pts.
H. Bankazo 0-1 FG, 1-3 FT, 4 Reb, 0 Ast - 1 Pt.
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