Crescenta Valley High boys’ basketball done in by Muir bank shot

PASADENA — A fadeaway half-desperation 12-foot bank shot from Muir High’s Jeremy Hayes delivered the first blow to the defense of the Crescenta Valley High boys’ basketball team’s co-Pacific League championship.

Hayes’ final field goal with three seconds remaining in Wednesday evening’s league opener at Muir not only sealed a 30-point effort from the senior guard, but dealt the Falcons a 46-44 defeat in what was a thrilling contest.

“I tip my hat off to Muir, they played hard, they executed and Hayes made a big-time shot,” said Falcons Coach Shawn Zargarian, the reigning Pacific League Coach of the Year. “I thought we did a good job of defending. We forced him into as tough a shot as possible, but we gave up 30 points to one player, which is something that we do not do.”

The loss snapped a nine-game league winning streak for Crescenta Valley that extended from last season and helped the Falcons win a share of their first league title with stalwart Pasadena since 2004.

Crescenta Valley’s best hope for winning Wednesday lay in pushing the contest into overtime, which the Falcons (9-5) tried to do as junior guard Arin Ovanessian converted two free throws with 32 seconds left, which knotted the game at 44.

Hayes initially brought the ball upcourt and called for an isolation play as time wound down before Muir Coach Simaine Stewart called timeout with 13 seconds remaining.

Out of the break, Hayes took the inbound pass, ran into a pair of Falcons defenders as he attempted to go baseline, pulled back and then heaved a herky-jerky bounce off the glass for the game-winning bucket with three seconds remaining, which led Zargarian to race half-court and call a timeout.

“The thing that I told our guys is if there was any shot we were going to give up, I mean that’s the shot you give up,” Zargarian said. “I thought we had hands in his face. He took a perimeter shot and it banked in.”

With only three seconds remaining, Crescenta Valley’s half-court heave bounced off the side of the backboard, which secured the win.

When asked if Hayes’ game-winning shot was the play the coaching staff had drawn up, Stewart chuckled.

“Not the bank shot, but it was the right play,” Stewart said. “If we missed, I only wanted them to have two or three seconds, so at least we’d have overtime.”

The Falcons led to start the fourth quarter, 37-35, and were ahead as late as 42-40 after a jumper from junior guard Tadeh Taverdians with 2:14 remaining.

Muir (9-5), however, scored the next four points, including on a reverse layup from Hayes to take a 44-42 lead with 49 seconds left.

Crescenta Valley’s ability to be competitive late may be a testament to the squad, which looked out of sorts early as the Falcons gave up a layup off the opening tip and quickly fell behind by eight.

Yet, Crescenta Valley pulled to within 27-22 at the half and took the lead, 31-30, with 2:19 left in the third when guard Gabe Ajemian (nine points) converted an and-one play as he was fouled while making a layup. Ajemian then converted his follow-up free throw.

Senior guard Berj Krikorian added nine points for Crescenta Valley, which next travels to Burroughs on Friday.

“We gave up too many offensive rebounds and we gave up that tip layup to start the game,” said Ovanessian, who made his varsity debut last season versus Muir and led his team with 19 points. “We just made way too many mistakes. We could have won by 12 points tonight, but we’ve got to put it all together.”