Canyons’ Comeback Falls Short as Wilborn’s Shot Barely Misses

It was a shot Marquis Wilborn had taken numerous times this season, and a shot he had made several times.

If Burns had a chance to take it again, he probably would.

But unfortunately for Wilborn and his College of the Canyons teammates, he won’t get another chance because his eight-foot jump shot went in and out, back in and finally out with two seconds left in the Cougars’ 101-100 loss to visiting Compton in a third-round game of the Southern California regional of the state basketball tournament Saturday night.

The loss snapped Canyons’ 10-game winning streak and kept the Cougars (26-7) from making their first appearance in the round of eight of the tournament, which starts Thursday at San Jose State.

“It felt good when I let it go,” said Wilborn, who scored 12 points. “I didn’t have much time to think about it because the clock was running down and I just had to take it to the hole.”

Canyons Coach Lee Smelser thought the shot was the game-winner. “I kept waiting for it to go in,” Smelser said. “It just seemed to hang up there, and finally go out.”

If the shot had fallen, it would have capped an incredible comeback for the Cougars, who trailed, 94-80, with 4 minutes 51 seconds to play.

Curt Smith, who scored a game-high 39 points, made a pair of free throws to give the Tartars their 14-point advantage, but after David Langley’s three-point play narrowed Canyons’ deficit to 94-83 with 4:17 left, the Cougars went to a full-court press and Compton went to pieces.

The Tartars (28-5) turned the ball over five times in their next eight possessions as Canyons drew to 98-96, with two minutes left.

Leonard Speed (24 points) hit one of two free throws to give Compton a 99-96 advantage with 1:33 left, but Canyons countered with a basket by Reggie Bell (24 points). After a Smith miss, Langley (24 points) hit two free throws with 55 seconds left to give Canyons a 100-99 lead.

Smith gave Compton a one-point lead when he scored on a layup--and was fouled by Rasaan Hall--with 46 seconds left, but he missed the free throw.

After working the clock down and calling two timeouts, Canyons ran its final play.

“Ideally, we wanted the ball to go to (Langley),” Smelser said. “But I thought Marquis made a pretty good shot when there didn’t appear to be much there.”