Hart Is Champion Again--by a Long Shot
With the game long since decided, Hart High guard J.T. Stotts put an indelible stamp on a senior night that every player dreams about.
Late in the fourth quarter of the Indians’ 87-69 victory over Valencia Thursday night, Stotts pulled up on a fast break and hit a three-pointer. Nothing unusual--merely his 11th of the game.
Stotts finished with a career-high 42 points as Hart claimed its third consecutive Foothill League title and seventh in eight years before a standing-room only crowd at Hart.
“I wasn’t going to let my team lose,” Stotts said.
Any lingering doubts of a loss were erased in a third-quarter flurry. Leading 43-25 at halftime, Hart scored the first eight points of the second half, capped by a three-point basket by Stotts.
Stotts made three more three-point shots in the next three minutes to give Hart (17-9, 8-2) a 68-36 lead.
“I really wasn’t thinking about the crowd or [senior night],” Stotts said. “I was doing a good job of keeping focused on the game.”
Stotts wasn’t the only Indian playing well. David Neill had three three-point baskets and finished with 22 points and nine rebounds.
Valencia (20-6, 7-3) was trying for its first Foothill League title in any sport, but the Vikings, ranked sixth in The Times’ regional poll, never established a rhythm on offense.
Eskias McDaniel scored 21 points and Fabian Leon added 17 and 11 rebounds, but most were scored in the fourth quarter.
Stotts and Hart came out strong. After missing his first three-point shot, Stotts finished with 15 points in the first quarter.
The Indians scored the first six points and had a double-digit lead by the end of the quarter.
After five consecutive turnovers, Jason Richardson hit a three-point shot at the end of the first quarter to cut Hart’s lead to 23-12, but the Valencia defense couldn’t stop the Indians.
Hart made eight of 11 shots in the second quarter, including two more three-point baskets by Stotts, who had 23 points in the half.
Jerrohn Jordan, Valencia’s leading scorer, had one point in the first half, seven in the game.