NCS semifinals: De La Salle beats Miramonte at the buzzer to progress to ultimate

Harmony — De La Salle High fell driving Miramonte with a few minutes left in the 1st quarter and then used the relaxation of the night hoping from all hope to crack by the floor like a swimmer searching for one gulp of air.

When it eventually occurred, with Javon Johnson driving for a fastbreak layup just prior to the buzzer, it gave the second-seeded Spartans a 40-38 get above the Matadors and a berth in the North Coast Portion Open Division title recreation from No. 1 Campolindo.

That Johnson would score the profitable points on a fastbreak basket with the house lovers flooding the ground in ecstasy was an unconventional ending to a possession-by-possession defensive struggle typified by long scoreless spells by the two groups.

Miramonte, 23-5, is not carried out. The Matadors will encounter Northgate for the third time and then progress to the NorCal playoffs.

De La Salle, 22-4, trailed 31-15 at the 50 percent and was down 36-27 at the end of three quarters. The Matadors, through a combination of turnovers and some excruciatingly shut skipped photographs, were being outscored 13-2 in the fourth quarter and scored just seven factors in the second fifty percent.

“I imagine Miramonte performed good, and they’re most likely in that locker room feeling like they really should have received,” De La Salle coach Marcus Schroeder claimed. “And I really don’t always disagree. I’ll say this about our fellas — we truly hung in. We have completed it all season. We have been down in the next fifty percent and our men just type of adhere with each other and retain chatting the proper way and it just variety of turned for us.”

Johnny Semany led De La Salle with 13 details, with Johnson ending with 12 and Jordan Webster with 11.

Miramonte’s Jeff Frye led all scorers with 15 factors regardless of enjoying with foul trouble, with Caden Breznikar had 9 and Tyler Dutto seven.

The Spartans led 36-27 likely into the fourth quarter, with Miramonte likely on a scoreless streak that lasted 6:09. Still the Matadors even now had a 38-31 lead on a shot by Frye in the vital ahead of the Spartans referred to as time with 2:40 left.

A 3-pointer by Webster reduce the margin to 38-34, Johnson hit a pair of foul photographs to make it 38-36, and a layup within of a moment by Alec Blair lastly tied the score at 38-38.

When 1 very last Miramonte shot rolled off, the Spartans experienced the fastbreak possibility they needed to get the video game, with Billy Haggerty finding the rebound, passing it to Blair, who obtained it to Johnson.

“Billy got the rebound, passed it up to Alec, and in my peripheral, I noticed the shot clock at about 6, seven seconds, and I just had a extensive-open up rapidly split.,” Johnson mentioned. “There have been about two seconds remaining and I just realized it was in excess of.”

Schroeder gave Miramonte credit rating.

“Miramonte is truly, definitely very good,” Schroeder mentioned. “I feel badly for groups that have to participate in them transferring ahead. I like to assume we’re very good defensively, but we weren’t in the initially fifty percent. We challenged the fellas at halftime. We were reactive and they came out with very good composure. But we type of stored chipping away and were being in a position to make some significant performs down the stretch.”