http://www.contracostatimes.com/top-stories/ci_11915382
FOLSOM — There are comebacks, and then there's what the St. Joseph Notre Dame High boys basketball team pulled off on Saturday.
The feat deserves a more lofty distinction. Unfolding in such a cinematic fashion, it deserved a soundtrack as well.
Trailing Branson-Ross by 19 points with three minutes left in the game, the Pilots won the California Interscholastic Federation Division V Northern regional championship 42-40 on a buzzer-beating runner by Jacari Whitfield.
"First of all, it's my 30th year of coaching and I've never seen a lead like that evaporate," St. Joseph coach Don Lippi said. "(The players) did it all. And they did it with what's inside of them. That was incredible."
Through the first 29 minutes of basketball at Folsom High, the Pilots (26-8) had managed just 19 points. Branson (30-5) led 38-19 with 3:00 remaining when Dominic Lippi, the coach's son, scored the first basket of what would become a furious 23-2 run to close out the game.
A number of factors led to the furious finish. The Pilots turned to a full-court press and forced the Bulls into 12 fourth-quarter turnovers. Also, Branson struggled at the free throw line. The Bulls shot just 4-for-10 from the stripe in the fourth quarter, which included missing four straight inside the final 30 seconds.
Branson's David Markun had two foul shots with 16.9 seconds remaining and the scored tied at 40-40. Upon his second miss, D'Angelo Hutton pulled down the rebound and got it to Whitfield.
"If (Markum) missed that free throw, I knew I was going to score," Whitfield said. "We had come from too far back to go to overtime. I wanted to win it right there." The sophomore point guard dribbled atop the key until approximately three seconds remained, and then he broke for the middle of the lane and flipped the ball up. The shot banked in off the center of the backboard and went through the net as the horn sounded.
The win advances the Pilots to the Division V state championship game Friday at Arco Arena in Sacramento. They will face Windward-Los Angeles (28-6), which won its Southern regional final 52-40 over Pacific Hills-West Hollywood.
Meanwhile, Branson, the defending Division V state champion, was left in a state of shock.
"I think we played about as good as we could play for three quarters, and about as bad as we could play for one quarter," Bulls coach Bob Donlan said. "And unfortunately, one bad quarter ends up costing us." Dominic Lippi, who led all scorers with 18 points — 15 of which came in the fourth quarter — started the game on the bench and didn't score his first points until he hit a 3-pointer with 21 seconds left in the first half. It ended an eight minute scoring drought for the Pilots, and gave them nine points for the game.
"If he doesn't hit that 3-point shot, we only have six points at halftime," Don Lippi said. "How are you supposed to win a game with six points? They figured out a way. Maybe I'll just watch from the stands and let them play the game next Friday. Because I didn't do a thing. It was all what they did."
FOLSOM — There are comebacks, and then there's what the St. Joseph Notre Dame High boys basketball team pulled off on Saturday.
The feat deserves a more lofty distinction. Unfolding in such a cinematic fashion, it deserved a soundtrack as well.
Trailing Branson-Ross by 19 points with three minutes left in the game, the Pilots won the California Interscholastic Federation Division V Northern regional championship 42-40 on a buzzer-beating runner by Jacari Whitfield.
"First of all, it's my 30th year of coaching and I've never seen a lead like that evaporate," St. Joseph coach Don Lippi said. "(The players) did it all. And they did it with what's inside of them. That was incredible."
Through the first 29 minutes of basketball at Folsom High, the Pilots (26-8) had managed just 19 points. Branson (30-5) led 38-19 with 3:00 remaining when Dominic Lippi, the coach's son, scored the first basket of what would become a furious 23-2 run to close out the game.
A number of factors led to the furious finish. The Pilots turned to a full-court press and forced the Bulls into 12 fourth-quarter turnovers. Also, Branson struggled at the free throw line. The Bulls shot just 4-for-10 from the stripe in the fourth quarter, which included missing four straight inside the final 30 seconds.
Branson's David Markun had two foul shots with 16.9 seconds remaining and the scored tied at 40-40. Upon his second miss, D'Angelo Hutton pulled down the rebound and got it to Whitfield.
"If (Markum) missed that free throw, I knew I was going to score," Whitfield said. "We had come from too far back to go to overtime. I wanted to win it right there." The sophomore point guard dribbled atop the key until approximately three seconds remained, and then he broke for the middle of the lane and flipped the ball up. The shot banked in off the center of the backboard and went through the net as the horn sounded.
The win advances the Pilots to the Division V state championship game Friday at Arco Arena in Sacramento. They will face Windward-Los Angeles (28-6), which won its Southern regional final 52-40 over Pacific Hills-West Hollywood.
Meanwhile, Branson, the defending Division V state champion, was left in a state of shock.
"I think we played about as good as we could play for three quarters, and about as bad as we could play for one quarter," Bulls coach Bob Donlan said. "And unfortunately, one bad quarter ends up costing us." Dominic Lippi, who led all scorers with 18 points — 15 of which came in the fourth quarter — started the game on the bench and didn't score his first points until he hit a 3-pointer with 21 seconds left in the first half. It ended an eight minute scoring drought for the Pilots, and gave them nine points for the game.
"If he doesn't hit that 3-point shot, we only have six points at halftime," Don Lippi said. "How are you supposed to win a game with six points? They figured out a way. Maybe I'll just watch from the stands and let them play the game next Friday. Because I didn't do a thing. It was all what they did."
