El Dorado boys basketball keeps playoffs going with game win over Crescenta Valley – Orange County Register
PLACENTIA >> Coming into the CIF-SS second-round playoffs Tuesday, El Dorado basketball coach Ryan Mounce posed this question to his team: “Why not us? ?”
The Golden Hawks proved Mounce right when they beat fourth-seeded Crescenta Valley in extra time 49-44 after Jacob Kang provided some heroism in the fourth inning to help force overtime and Cooper Bladow took 3 points. in extra time.
Bladow finished with the team’s top 15 points, of which three had three, and Kang added 14, with 12 of those points coming in the fourth and extra time. Hudson Novak had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
El Dorado, (21-9), a major pick in the CIF-SS Division 2A, took down the league champion for the second consecutive year in the league after this season. It beat Portola in the first round.
The Golden Hawks will take on St. Paul in the quarterfinals of 2A on Friday.
“(This win) is about my seniors stepping up and not wanting to end their season,” Mounce said. “My best player, (Jacob) Kang stepped off the pitch and made some big plays after struggling early on.”
Kang had not scored for nearly three quarters, until his change in the final seconds of the third inning, the result was 29-29.
After the Falcons took a 5-0 lead to start the 4th round, Kang knocked out a 3rd corner to bring the Golden Hawks in the second round, then Kang hit another 3-pointer that gave El Dorado a 35-34 advantage with 2: 30 left in the game.
Crescenta Valley (18-4) responded with a Quinlan Daily 3-pointer and a Gavin Shaghoian shot to reclaim the lead, 39-35, forcing the Golden Hawks to run out with 1:52 remaining time.
Kang took one of the two free throws on his next possession and then Bladow scored to put El Dorado within one.
Shaghoian, who finished with the highest 21 of the game, went on to hit a pair of free throws to give Crescenta Valley a 41-38 lead with 53.7 seconds left but Kang hit three more, which ended it. match with 13.9 seconds remaining.
After the Falcons missed a shot in their next possession, the Golden Hawks called out 0.6 seconds to try to win by regulation, but their boxing match ended in a goal. Bladow made a pass inside the box and threw it to teammate Ty Carlson on the other side of the line, a dead-ball situation that was illegal.
“It has to be a live ball. I asked my boys what they wanted to run and they said, “Baseball.” I didn’t think of it, it was my fault,” Mounce said.
That gave the Falcons their final look at a game winner but Novak defended Ryan Raad’s whistle-blowing attempt, forcing a four-minute extra play.
“Our introverts missed what we were trying to find and we ended up getting a lousy shot, but El Dorado takes his hat off, they played when they needed to.” Crescenta Valley coach Shawn Zargarian said.
https://www.ocregister.com/2022/02/16/el-dorado-boys-basketball-keeps-playoff-run-alive-with-overtime-victory/ El Dorado boys basketball keeps playoffs going with game win over Crescenta Valley – Orange County Register