Riverside North Edges St. John Bosco, 66-64

They had seen him do it so many times that when Jelani Gardner took a 10-foot jump shot with eight seconds left Tuesday night, his Bellflower St. John Bosco teammates expected more heroics.

But after the shot popped in and out, and Riverside North grabbed the rebound, came the real surprise. The Huskies’ Brian Hooks took an outlet pass at halfcourt and raced for an uncontested layup with two seconds left, giving North a 66-64 victory in the first round of the Division II Southern Regional State Tournament at Cypress College before 3,000.

“No one thought they’d send a guy down court like that,” Gardner said.

Particularly not North Coach Mike Bartee.

“(Hooks) is a forward, he’s supposed to be rebounding,” Bartee said, smiling. “But I’ll let that one go.”

The 6-foot-3 Hooks, who scored 19 points, slipped as he tried to guard Gardner on the Braves’ possession.

“As soon as the shot went off, I busted loose,” Hooks said. “They were more worried about getting the ball back.”

Said Brian Breslin, coach of the Braves (28-3): “Normally, we don’t take that shot until four seconds are left. But (Gardner) beat his man so well he was forced to take the shot so early. Then I saw a North jersey down the court, and I knew we were in trouble.”

Chiva Anderson of the Huskies (29-1) scored a game-high 26 points, had eight rebounds and three assists, including the pass to Hooks for the winning basket.

The 6-6 Gardner, who was the target of the North defense, was held to a team-high 16 points, only five after halftime.

“We believe he makes everyone around him better,” Bartee said of Gardner. “We said if we boxed him, he doesn’t get a chance to do that. It throws them out of a constant offense.”

But when the game was on the line, Gardner thought he would find a way to win.

“I thought it was in,” Gardner said of his last shot. “But that’s the way it goes sometimes.”