Trailing for most of the game, the Buccaneers men’s varsity basketball squad snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with a dramatic three-point goal as the final buzzer rang out Friday night.
Mission Bay defeated the Falcons 76-73 in the Scripps Ranch gym.
“We’ve lost a few close ones this year ” it’s about time we got one of those,” said Mission Bay head coach Dennis Kane. “They were making the shots and getting the bounces rebounding. But we ramped up the defense and got back in a position to win the game. That was really fun, great effort.”
The Bucs fell behind 10-4 in the opening minutes of the Feb. 1 contest. Then they put on an offensive and defensive surge that pushed them ahead 18-12.
By the end of the first quarter, the score was 20-19 Bucs. That was the last time they would lead until the final buzzer.
The second quarter was a disaster as the Bucs felt the weight of having their top rebounder and a leading scorer sitting on the bench. With Thomas Tiop nursing a bruised knee on the sidelines, it felt a lot like having LT on the sidelines.
By halftime the Bucs were down by 16 points, 29-45.
While the Falcons fans filled their gym with echoes of confidence, the Bucs looked shell- shocked. Falcon shots that didn’t go in bounced off the rim directly to another white jersey.
But midway through the third quarter, Mission Bay began to quietly claw their way back. By the start of the last quarter they were only down by 11, at 61-50.
Closer and closer it became an 8-point game, then a 6-point game. Then with less than 2 minutes, it looked tough. Then with less than a minute, it looked bleak.
Then the Bucs’ most aggressive defender, Derrick Thompson, fouled out.
But a turnover at the Falcons end of the court led to guard Esaias Tsegai sinking a three-pointer to put the Bucs close at 72-70 with 23 seconds.
After a free-throw shot by the Falcons, the Bucs returned. And this time, senior Maurice McKinney delivered a three-point goal to tie the game with 4.8 seconds, 73-73.
In a sweet display of fine coaching and defense, the Falcons’ attempt to in-bound the ball was stalled. After 5 seconds they failed, so the ball was turned over to the Bucs to in-bound, right under their own basket.
Running dangerously close to the same fate, the Bucs threw the ball in, passed it twice and got it to Tsegai 32 feet out. He jumped as he threaded it between two defenders ” and it was all net as the buzzer sounded.
Scripps Ranch won the Division II CIF Championship last year. Mission Bay is the Division III CIF defending champs.
“Scripps Ranch is a talented team, but they lost most of their top guys from last year,” Kane said. “But there are no easy games in the Western League.”
Tsegai put up 26 points, including four 3-pointers. Thompson added 19, McKinney 11, Charles Jock 8, Curt Henry 5, Victor Johnson 4 and Kevin Kunz 3.
The Bucs Western League schedule continues on Friday Feb. 8, when they will try to defeat University City for the second time this season at UC at 7:30 p.m.
The Buccaneers are second in the Western League at 12-7, 5-4. La Jolla leads the league at 17-6, 8-1.
League play concludes for Mission Bay at Lincoln High Tuesday, Feb. 12 at 4:30 p.m., followed by the CIF playoffs.
Mission Bay sports information is available from the school at (858) 273-1313 or the school website at www.misionbayhigh.com.