Brea-Olinda Roundup : Chamberlain’s Shot at the Buzzer Gives Brea-Olinda Title Over St. Paul

Brea-Olinda High School’s Matt Chamberlain scored a layup at the buzzer to give Brea-Olinda a 74-72 victory over St. Paul on Friday in the championship game of the Brea-Olinda boys’ basketball tournament.

Brea-Olinda seemed to have the game in hand after outscoring St. Paul, 26-17, in the second quarter to take a 43-32 lead at halftime.

In the third quarter the teams gave up any semblance of defense and basically traded baskets, with Brea getting the better of the deal until about 2 minutes remained.

St. Paul’s Brian Sandoval hit a 3-pointer to cut Brea’s lead to 56-48, and a second Sandoval 3-pointer at the buzzer made it 60-55 at the end of the quarter.

With 1 minute 41 seconds remaining, St. Paul took a 70-69 lead on 2 free throws by Greg Willig. Chamberlain missed a shot and St. Paul ran down the clock until Art Villegas cut back door for an open layup to make it 72-69 with 26 seconds left.

David Dittman then hit a 3-point shot to tie the score. Willig, driving to the basket, appeared to be fouled and lost possession. Brea inbounded the ball to set up Chamberlain’s game-winner.

“Their intensity was better than ours to start the third quarter,” Brea Coach Rick Jones said. “It’s not necessarily that we let them in the game; they are just such an explosive offensive team that they can do that to you.

“With 5 minutes to go, I called a timeout and I told our kids the game would be over if our intensity did not match theirs. And I think we did.”

Brea (10-5) played without starting point guard Rodney Stewart, who injured his knee in a 69-63 victory over Compton on Thursday.

Brea’s Keith Walker, who had 21 points, was the tournament’s most valuable player; Brian Hudson added 18 points.

Willig led St. Paul (11-5) with 21 points, and Jason Hart had 17.

In the third-place game:

Whitter Christian 63, Compton 54--Compton opened with a full-court press and took an 18-6 lead in the first quarter. But Whittier Christian (7-3) battle back and trailed, 32-25, at the half. Whittier Christian took a 46-45 lead on a layup by Paul McKinley with 6 minutes left in the game and never trailed again.

Kealii Takahashi, a guard for Whittier Christian, made 7 of 8 free throws in the final 4 minutes to prevent a Compton comeback. McKinley had 17 points and Rich Earlywine 13 to lead Whittier Christian. Takahashi had 8.

Darnell Patterson and Calvin Curry scored 13 each for Compton (10-3).

In the consolation championship:

Bakersfield Foothill 65, Sunny Hills 64--Sunny Hills had a chance to win the game in the final seconds. Lancer guard Jon Beuerlein stole an inbounds pass with 2 seconds left, but missed a 20-foot jump shot. Donavon Webster scored 22 points for Foothill. Marcus Hopkins scored 23 points for Sunny Hills. Brett Mitchelson scored 14 points and Jeff White 11 for the Lancers.

Sunny Hills is 8-4.

In consolation games:

Torrance 79, La Habra 57--Rick Robison scored 21 points to lead Torrance. The Tartars led by only 2 at halftime, 35-33, but outscored La Habra, 20-8, in the third quarter to take a 55-41 lead. James Clegg scored 13 points for La Habra (6-7). Torrance is 5-5.

El Dorado 74, El Modena 66--Matt Luke had 21 points and 12 rebounds to lead El Dorado (8-4) in a consolation games. Travis Dowdell scored 18 points for the Golden Hawks. Robbie Pietsch scored 23 points for El Modena (10-4).