Brea Olinda Comes Close, but Winds Up Losing by 1

It was almost painful to watch how close Brea Olinda and 16-year Coach Gene Lloyd came to reaching the school’s first section final.

Only after Chris McMillian’s three-point attempt went barely long and Brea Olinda teammate Jason Skrivfar’s tip-in attempt missed did top-seeded Lakewood Artesia escape with a 66-65 victory in a Southern Section Division II-A semifinal Tuesday at Valencia High.

Senior Brian Hills made two free throws with eight seconds remaining to finish with a team-high 16 points and provide the winning margin for Artesia (29-2), which advanced to its seventh section final in the past nine seasons.

Artesia will play Compton Dominguez in the final Saturday at the Pond. Brea Olinda ended its season 26-5.

Brea Olinda didn’t go quietly with guard Sean Wink leading the way. He scored 30 points, making seven of 10 three-pointers, and helped the Wildcats erase a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to make the Pioneers sweat it out.

“I’m happy we won,” Artesia Coach Wayne Merino said. “But we didn’t deserve to win. We stunk. Brea’s kids did a great job tonight and they played probably one of the games of their lives.”

Although Brea Olinda found itself trailing, 54-44, through three quarters, it rallied behind McMillian and Wink.

McMillian scored nine of his 19 points in the final quarter and Wink’s seventh three-pointer with 2 minutes 5 seconds remaining tied it, 62-62, and he made one of two free throws with 50 seconds remaining to give Brea Olinda its first lead, 63-62, since the first quarter.

But Artesia sophomore Jason Kapono, who had 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists, made both ends of a one-and-one situation with 37 seconds remaining to give Artesia the lead, 64-63.

McMillian had a chance to put Brea Olinda ahead, but Artesia’s 6-1 guard James Murdoch made a block on McMillian’s driving layup attempt and the Wildcats fouled Artesia’s Cliff Aska with 17 seconds left.

After Aska missed the front end of a one-and-one, Brea Olinda rebounded the miss and McMillian was fouled with 15 seconds remaining. He made both shots to give Brea Olinda its last lead before Hills made the decisive foul shots.

“We were right there,” Lloyd said. “We did the things we wanted to do, but only one team can go. They won and we didn’t.”

In another Division II-A game:

Compton Dominguez 73, Sonora 44--Sonora trailed by nine at halftime, but Dominguez outscored the Raiders, 22-7 in the third quarter to lead 54-28. Ben Jones scored 14 to lead Sonora (26-4).