3-A Division : Plans Fail, but Korn and Damien Win Anyway

When Damien High School Coach Mike LeDuc called timeout to set up a last shot in Friday night’s Southern Section 3-A playoff game against Rancho Alamitos, he designed a play that had two options.

The first was to get the ball to Kevin Partington, a wise choice considering Partington is the school’s career scoring leader. The second was to get it inside to sophomore center Kelvin Woods. Neither option was available, so it was on to Option 3--improvise.

Guard Kenny Korn did just that, hitting an 18-foot jumper as time expired to give the Spartans a 60-58 win over the Vaqueros in front of a near-capacity crowd in the Rancho Alamitos gym.

Damien called timeout with 16 seconds left and the score tied, 58-58. After inbounding the ball, the Spartans found that Rancho Alamitos had no intention of allowing it to get in the hands of either Partington or Woods, who had already combined to score 37 points.

Korn got the ball on the left side of the key, and shot it with two seconds to play. It went straight in as the final buzzer sounded, giving Damien the come-from-behind victory. The Spartans took their first lead of the second half with 4:34 to play.

Korn was carried off the court upon the shoulders of some happy Damien fans. This isn’t the first time the senior guard has gotten the hero treatment. He hit two free throws in the finals seconds to give the Spartans a stunning upset of Hacienda Heights Wilson in the second round of the playoffs last season.

“He’s hit some big shots for us,” LeDuc said. “He hasn’t been shooting that well this season. He’s a good shooter, but he’s been in a slump. It’s great to see him hit that shot.”

For Rancho Alamitos (15-9), it was a painful lesson on the importance of free-throw shooting. The Vaqueros were 16 of 32 from the free-throw line. Damien was 24 of 33. Partington made all eight of the free throws he attempted in the fourth quarter.

Even with the poor shooting from the line, the Vaqueros scrambled back from a six-point deficit in the last two minutes.

A free throw by Woods gave Damien a 57-51 lead with 1:47 remaining, but Vaquero guard Roger Carter cut it to 57-53 with a 10-foot jumper. Craig Paquette, who led Rancho Alamitos with 17 points, hit a twisting layup with 57 seconds left, then added a free throw to complete a three-point play.

Scott Plutko hit the first of two free throws with 47 seconds left to give Damien a 58-56 lead. Paquette tied it, 58-58, by grabbing his own rebound and laying it in with 38 seconds left. The Spartans ran 22 seconds off the clock before calling timeout to consider their options.

Korn did the rest.

“Damien’s a good team,” Adams said. “What more can you say? You do everything you possibly can--and the kids did--and you come up two points short.”