After a thrilling, one-point win to advance to the quarterfinals of the CIF Division III playoffs, the Valley Center varsity boys basketball team ran into a juggernaut in the final game and lost to wrap up the 2010-11 season.
The Jaguars went into the playoffs as the No. 9 seed, which set them up with a first-round game at Santana on Wednesday.
In a close game from start to finish, the Jags held on through a furious fourth quarter to escape with a 51–50 win.
Santana came out firing on all cylinders early in the game and took a quick lead. But the Jaguars battled back, spreading the ball around and evening the score at 11 at the end of the first quarter.
The Jags took their first lead of the game on the first shot of the second quarter, a fast-break layup by AJ Broomell that started with a steal by James Siva. Valley Center extended the lead to four points early in the quarter and pushed the lead out to six midway through the period before Santana fought back and pulled within two at halftime.
The Sultans re-took the lead with a three-pointer to open the third quarter, but the Jaguars fed the ball inside to Stehly Reden, who racked up a dozen points in the period, to take a 41–36 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Eight of Reden’s 12 points in the quarter came on free throws, as the Sultans had trouble containing Reden’s size in the paint.
The Jags needed every one of their ten points in the fourth quarter. Santana re-took the lead early in the period on a four-point play, but the Jags went on a six-point run to pull ahead by five once again. Santana responded with another six-point run to pull ahead by one with just over a minute left to play.
With time winding down, the Sultans missed an inside shot, and Siva grabbed the rebound on the baseline after it bounced off of Reden’s hands. After a quick pass fake, Siva took off, driving down the court, past his defender and into the lane, where he bounced a pass to Beau Reilly, who banked in the layup to give Valley Center a one-point lead with 30 seconds left on the clock.
Santana called a timeout with 19 seconds left to draw up a play for a last-second shot for the win. The Sultans got off an open three-pointer with eight seconds remaining, but the shot clanged off the back of the rim and bounced away. One of the Sultans nearly came down with the rebound, but Reden poked it out of his hands and the ball squirted out near mid-court. Broomell knocked it away from another Santana player, and Siva finally got ahold of the ball at half court, where he was immediately fouled with nine-tenths of a second remaining the game. Siva missed the first of his one-and-one shots, and the Sultans tried a desperation heave from the other side of the court. The Valley Center supporters held their collective breath as the ball hit the front of the rim, then celebrated when the ball fell harmlessly to the floor to end the thrilling Jaguar win.
“This game was up and down and up and down, but in the end, we held our poise,” Valley Center coach Bob Purdy said after the game. “We got a little lucky with some shots, but when they doubled Stehly and started overplaying AJ, we were able to spread the ball around and get the points we needed.”
Reden finished the game with an outstanding 22 points, while Broomell added nine, Siva had eight, Reilly had six, and Mike McInerny, Brett Henderson and Ryan Kleiman each had two.
The season came to an abrupt end on Saturday night, however, as the Jaguars traveled to St. Augustine to take on the No. 1-ranked Saints in the quarterfinals.
Valley Center ran into a well-coached team full of outstanding athletes and couldn’t keep pace in a 79–39 loss to end the season.
The Jaguars jumped out to a 5–2 lead in the opening minutes of the game, but St. Augustine put the hammer down and never trailed again in the lopsided game. The Jags pulled within two points late in the first quarter, but the Saints went on a nine-point run to close out the period with an 11-point lead.
It was more of the same in the second quarter, as St. Augustine outscored Valley Center 25–8 in the period to hold a 28-point lead at halftime.
The lead increased to 37 after the third quarter, as the Saints forced turnovers and converted shot after shot on the fast break. With a running clock in the fourth quarter, the Saints ran out the time and put the cap on the 40-point win.
Broomell scored all of the team’s eight points in the second quarter and finished with 17 points in the game, while Reden added eight points, all of which came in the first quarter. Siva chipped in with six points, while Robby Tortes had four points and Reilly and Henderson each scored two.
Valley Center finishes off the season with an 18–9 overall record.
