PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE BOYS’ BASKETBALL : Century Stuns Trabuco Hills on Harmon’s Shot at Buzzer

It must be a big victory when players ask their coach if they can cut down the nets--especially with four games left in the regular season.

Though the nets didn’t come down, the Century boys’ basketball team still had good reason to celebrate after its 48-46 upset victory over fourth-ranked Trabuco Hills Friday night in Santa Ana.

Thomas Harmon’s off-balance, fall-away, 12-foot baseline shot at the buzzer bounced twice on the rim and rolled halfway around before dropping to give the Centurions what Coach Greg Coombs called “probably the biggest win we’ve ever had at this school.”

Prettier shots have won games, but Coombs wasn’t complaining.

“We’ll take it,” Coombs said. “We felt we could win if we could keep it close, and those are the kinds of things that happen in close games.”

Century (14-6, 3-3) did stay close throughout, allowing Trabuco Hills no larger than a five-point lead (12-7, after one quarter). Each time the Mustangs (17-5, 4-2) went on a mini-run, Century dug in and slowed things down, keeping Trabuco Hills out of the up-tempo pace it prefers.

Coombs credited Visal Yam’s defense on Trabuco Hills point guard Brett Poulos as a key to the Centurions’ ability to control the pace. By applying full-court pressure, Yam frequently prevented Poulos from pushing the ball upcourt. He also prevented Poulos from penetrating in Trabuco Hills’ half-court offense.

“I think Poulos is one of the best guards around, and Yam did a great job of denying him the lane to drive,” Coombs said.

Harmon led the Centurions with 17 points, making his last five shots after missing three of his first four. Jason Welty picked up the slack with six points during Thompson’s sluggish first half.

Darvin Thompson scored 12 points for Century, including a 16-foot jumper with 45 seconds left to give the Centurions a 46-45 lead. Trabuco Hills’ Derek Uhl made a free throw with 25 seconds left to tie the score, setting up Harmon’s buzzer-beating heroics.

Pat Barnes led Trabuco Hills with 17 points.

In another league game:

Laguna Hills 68, Laguna Beach 65--Aaron Brunstetter had 16 points and Jesse McDonald had 15 for host Laguna Hills (9-10, 3-3), which trailed by a point entering the fourth quarter. Trigg Garner had 22 points and 14 rebounds and Ian McDonald had 19 points for Laguna Beach (10-9, 2-4).