BOYS’ BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : Chula Vista Gets Victory Over Rival Mira Mesa

Chula Vista’s Jerome Green and Mira Mesa’s Ryan Cunningham entered Tuesday night’s game as the No. 1 and No. 2 scorers in the county.

Cunningham exited Tuesday night’s game as runner-up once again. Only this time, it was in a more significant sense, as coming up second best marked the end of Mira Mesa’s season.

Seven seconds remained in the San Diego Section Division I boys’ basketball first round playoff game at Chula Vista, and what few fans there were had worked themselves into a complete frenzy.

Mira Mesa was holding a one-point lead, and holding onto the ball for dear life, when somehow, Cunningham inexplicably passed the ball to Chula Vista’s Lamar Bailey. Five seconds left.

Bailey quickly got the ball to Kevin Brennan, who laid it up easily for the 69-68 victory. And with three seconds to spare.

“That never happens, Ryan never turns it over,” Mira Mesa Coach Tim Cunningham said. “But he was committed to passing the ball . . . “

And it was feisty point guard Bailey who happened to be on the receiving end of this gift.

“We got lucky,” Chula Vista Coach Mike Collins said of the play that earned Bailey his 13th and most important assist of the game. “He’s the one who brings the ball up the court for us, and he knew what to do with it.”

Said Brennan, who finished with 16 points: “It happened so quick. Bailey made a good pass. You always have to be ready for it. (The team) put it together and never said quit, because our team doesn’t quit.”

The Spartans (18-10) may have a lousy quarter, but surely they don’t quit. Chula Vista led almost the entire first three quarters, until the Marauders (16-10) outscored the host team, 25-13, in the third quarter to take a 52-47 lead going into the final quarter.

“We played a bad third quarter,” Collins said. “I was a little worried. I talked to them on the bench about it.”

Mira Mesa led, 62-56, with just under 3 1/2 minutes remaining, when Chula Vista sophomore Alberto Marzan pulled the Spartans to 62-60 by scoring successive field goals after back-to-back blocks, one in which his head was almost parallel to the hoop.

“Marzan is outstanding for a sophomore,” Collins said.

Consecutive baskets by Cunningham, who finished with a game-high 29 points, took Mira Mesa’s lead back up to six, 66-60, but Bailey came up with a field goal from behind the three-point arc to make it 66-63 with 49 seconds left.

“That three, that just killed us,” said Tim Cunningham, who is Ryan’s uncle. “That kid had to be unconscious when he hit that.”

Chula Vista’s Brennan and Bailey hit four of four free throws with 24 seconds left to give the Spartans its first lead of the fourth quarter, 67-66, but Khais Barkzi got the lead back for Mira Mesa on a layup, which made it 68-67.

“We had out chances and we salted them all away,” said Tim Cunningham, who saw his team fritter away six attempts at the free throw line in the final quarter. “This (close losses) has been happening to us all year.”

Green, who fouled out with 1:10 remaining, finished with 19 points.

Chula Vista advanced to Friday’s quarterfinals where it will meet top-seeded Poway, a 77-47 winner over San Maros.