Cypress Puts Orange Out in Overtime

Cypress stayed with its game plan again Tuesday night: lull the opponent to sleep with its slow motion offense and then stick it to them when it hurts most.

This time it was Orange that felt the sting of the Centurions, and this time it was Travis Weaver who did the honors.

Weaver’s backdoor layup with two seconds remaining in overtime gave Cypress a 41-40 victory over the Panthers in a Division II-A second-round boys’ basketball game at Orange High.

Familiar story, different hero.

“At least 10 of our games have come down to the last couple possessions and I think we have only lost one of them,” Cypress Coach Tom Gorrell said. “That’s been the difference.’

The Centurions most memorable last-second victory, until Tuesday, was their victory over Katella that paved the way for the league championship. In that game, John Radaza sealed the Knights’ fate with a jumper at the buzzer.

“It’s been an incredible year,” Gorrell said. “This team has just been real scrappy and played real hard, and we’ve been fortunate to get the last roll of the game a lot.”

Weaver’s basket was set up nearly a minute earlier after Orange took possession with 51 seconds remaining and holding a one-point lead.

The Centurions defense elected not to foul Orange. Instead they swarmed Brian Krauss, who was bringing the ball up at halfcourt. Krauss tried to unload the ball to Juan Dotson, but Dotson caught the ball off-balance and was called for traveling with 30 seconds left.

Cypress (20-9) seemed out of sync on its final possession, but Wes Bunn got the ball with six seconds remaining, took two steps toward the basket and then fired the ball to Weaver who was cutting to the basket on the weak side.

In other Division II-AA games:

Villa Park 61, West Torrance 41--Eric Chenowith had 29 points, 15 rebounds and nine blocked shots as Villa Park advanced to the quarterfinals. The Spartans (24-4) play Inglewood Friday at Orange High.

Woodbridge 73, Katella 39--Chris Burgess had 18 points, 14 rebounds and 11 blocked shots for the triple double in Woodbridge’s rout.

Woodbridge (24-3) plays Cypress in the quarterfinals.