Banning Turns Back Monroe’s Comeback

Monroe High’s Kenyatta Niles had three opportunities to tie or beat Banning in the final 25 seconds of the City Section 3-A Division championship game Friday at the Sports Arena, but he could not convert, and the Pilots held on to win, 59-58.

Hero--or goat? Those were the options facing Niles in the final minute.

First, Niles, a 6-foot-4 junior forward, missed the chance to tie the game when his second free throw attempt fell short with 25 seconds left. He made the first to pull the Vikings to within a point.

Niles went to the line again with 13 seconds remaining, but missed the front end of a one and one when his attempt bounced in and out. While playing in the Sports Arena was a thrill for Niles, shooting free throws there--with screaming, waving fans in his line of sight--was not.

“I’m used to shooting with a wall back there,” said Niles, who was three of seven from the line in the fourth quarter. “All I could see was this little-bitty hole up there.”

Banning’s Bryan Hill (14 points) was fouled on the rebound, went to the line and also missed. Monroe’s Marco Rich pulled down the rebound, pushed the ball upcourt and fed Niles for one more try. Niles took a quick look up at the clock, cocked and shot a three-point try from the right wing with four seconds left.

His attempt hit the back of the rim and bounced into the hands of Banning’s Chris Shealy.

“I hit them in practice all the time,” said Niles of the three-point try. “I wanted to just put it up and hope for a rebound.”

Despite the absence of last-minute heroics from Niles, it was his play early on that got the Vikings back into the game.

Banning (17-13), the Pacific League champion, dominated from the opening tipoff. The Pilots opened with a 14-0 run before the Vikings could get on the scoreboard.

Monroe missed its first 13 shots before scoring on a Rich tip-in with 3:15 left in the first quarter. The Vikings shot 13.6% (three of 22) in the first quarter, while Banning shot 53% (nine of 17).

Niles, who finished with a team-high 21 points and 10 rebounds, scored 12 of the Vikings’ 17 second-quarter points to help them close to 33-24 at halftime.

“I knew we could come back against these guys,” Monroe Coach Paul Graber said. “They’re not like a North Hollywood-type team. I knew we could scratch and claw and get back into it.”

Scratch, claw and score they did. Led by senior Tweedy Stiner’s six points, Monroe cut the lead to six points at the end of the third quarter. Stiner finished with 16 points and was the only other Viking besides Niles in double figures.

Banning, led by the front-court play of Hill (6-foot-7) and 6-4 junior forwards Leon Bilbrew and Kenny Washington, dominated on the boards, outrebounding Monroe, 42-28.

Having ridden the emotional roller coaster in the fourth quarter, Niles would rather have seen it end differently.

“I’d rather have gotten blown out than lose by one point like that,” Niles said.

Graber, who turned a seven-win program in 1991-92 into a 23-4 3-A finalist a year later, agreed.

“They had their chances--their opportunities to win the game--and that’s what hurts most,” Graber said.

* NOTRE DAME WINS III-A TITLE: C12