SOUTHERN SECTION BOYS’ BASKETBALL DIVISION I-AA PLAYOFFS : Santa Ana Valley Rallies but Can’t Finish Wilson

Long Beach Wilson found out just how quickly Santa Ana Valley can play basketball.

The Bruins watched and sweated as the Falcons burst to the finish, only to burn out in the first round of the Division I-AA playoffs. Wilson held on for a 62-60 victory.

The Falcons were coming off a rather stationary, 18-17, victory over Orange, a game they won in a blur when Anthony Porter dropped in a three-pointer from the corner. They tried to pull another rush to victory Tuesday.

Santa Ana Valley (14-12) rallied from 12 down in the final 1 minute 47 seconds. The Falcons, who had averaged only 34 points in their last three games, put on the jets.

The whittled at the lead, with the help of the Bruins, who made only five of 12 free throws in the stretch. Suddenly, it was 60-57 and Porter (24 points), who had hit three game-winning shots this season, had the ball.

This time, though, his three-pointer hit the heal of the rim with 12 seconds left. Mark Neal then sank a free throw to put the Bruins beyond Porter’s reach.

“That shot went up and all I could think was, ‘Please don’t go in, please don’t go in,’ ” Bruin Coach Quentin Brown said.

Said Falcon Coach Rich Prospero: “We were down three and it didn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out what we were going to do. It was just too much to ask.”

The Bruins (11-14) were responsible for that limit being reached. They pushed and shoved and staked out their territory.

Neal and Eric Williams, 6-foot-5 bookends, controlled the inside. Between them, they had eight blocked shots. Neal also had 17 rebounds.

Wilson held a 39-28 rebound advantage. “We weren’t used to that,” Prospero said. “They were very physical.”

The Falcons trailed only 30-27 at halftime. But they were just hanging on.

Peter Sverkos, the Bruins’ leading scorer, was held scoreless in the first half. And, to add injury to insult, he had received a nasty cut over his left eye that required two stitches.

It was Sverkos who did the cutting in the second half. He scored 16 points, 10 in the fourth quarter. Williams also finished with 16.

Sverkos scored eight points in an 11-4 run that gave the Bruins a 57-45 lead. From there, they hung on.

“Just a few more things would have done it,” Prospero said. “A few more rebounds. A few more shots. A few more seconds.”