BOYS’ BASKETBALL : EMPIRE LEAGUE : Katella Defeats Cypress to Win a Share of Title

Mike Pahl, Katella’s senior center, sucked in air and begged as the shot went up.

“I thought, ‘Please don’t go in,’ ” Pahl said. “I couldn’t breathe. I had waited four years. It couldn’t go in.”

Cypress’ Brett Boulton’s off-balance three-pointer hit the front of the rim and came off, leaving Katella with a 58-55 Empire League victory. Pahl exhaled and joined the crowd as Knight fans poured onto the floor to celebrate the Knights’ first league title since 1987.

It was a co-championship with Cypress, true. But, after holding a frantic Centurion rally in the final minute, the Knights had earned it. This one meant a lot.

“Every day we come to practice and see those banners,” forward LaBryon Clayton said. “I looked up at them every day. Now we got one.”

It was the 15th league title for Tom Danley since he became the Knights’ coach when the school opened in 1966. He won 11 in the first 13 years, but has gone the last six without a title, the longest drought of his career.

“We were overdue,” Danley said. “We were long overdue. We had chances the last couple years and didn’t get it done. This team worked hard and got it done.”

They did, then almost let it get away.

The Knights (21-3, 8-2) gave what most of the standing-room-only crowd at Katella came for, building a 10-point lead with three minutes left. Pahl, 6-9, and Clayton, 6-5, dominated the inside against the Centurion team that didn’t have a player as tall as 6-4.

Katella led, 25-24, at halftime. Neither team led by more than three points in the half and neither team was shooting particularly well.

Derek Mitchell, Cypress’ point guard, finished with 18 points. But he made only six of 18 shots and was two of nine in the first half. Chris Romero, his counterpart, missed all seven shots in the first half and was four of 15.

But the Knights’ inside game was strong. Clayton scored 10 of his 16 points in the first half and Pahl took it from there. He scored nine of his 14 points in the second half, mostly on lobs inside. Katella extended its lead to eight late in the third quarter.

Clayton’s rebound and layup gave Katella a 54-44 lead with 3:09 left. But the Centurions, who won their first league title since 1981, didn’t fold.

Cypress (8-2), which had erased a 10-point deficit in the team’s first meeting to win in double overtime, went to work again.

Katella led, 56-48 with 51 seconds left, but Wes Bunn scored back-to-back layups. Boulton then stole a long inbound pass at midcourt and fed Mitchell, whose three-pointer cut the lead to one, 56-55, with 15 seconds left.

Romero sank two free throws with 9.8 seconds left. The Knights then tried to prevent a three-pointer. But Boulton got free with two seconds left and let fly.

Only one player was sure.

“It wasn’t going in,” Clayton said. “I knew that because we had to get a banner.”

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In other Empire League games:

Century 74, Kennedy 69--Gabriel Aguirre had 20 points and Curtis Arrington had 15 points for Century (14-12, 4-6). Aaron Purnell had 18 points and Richie Bowen had 14 points and eight rebounds for Kennedy (8-17, 2-8).

El Dorado 58, Loara 44--Robbie Sammons scored 15 and Dustin Miller added 14 for El Dorado (18-9, 6-4) which finished third in league. Obaid Popal scored 19 points for Loara (9-16, 2-8).