Crespi Is Amiss After Hauser Hits

In a game that had 20 lead changes, somebody figured to flinch.

It was the Crespi High boys’ basketball team.

After North Hollywood took the lead on two free throws by Kenny Hauser with 14 seconds remaining, Allan Ellis of Crespi missed two jumpers in the final five seconds.

The Huskies held on for a 58-57 victory Saturday night in the championship game of the Hart tournament and displayed a world of resilience.

“Resiliency is a great word,” Coach Rob Bloom of North Hollywood said. “We showed that the whole tournament.”

That was the case in the fourth quarter when the Huskies (9-4) overcame a nine-point deficit to tie it, 47-47, on a basket by Hauser with 5:43 remaining.

The game went back and forth until Hauser put North Hollywood ahead for good with his two free throws.

Hauser, the tournament’s most valuable player, scored 11 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter. He said he wasn’t concerned in the least after he made the free throws.

“I knew we were going to pull it out,” he said. “No worries at all. I knew we could play defense.”

It was a devastating setback for the Celts (9-3), who lost in the championship game of a tournament for the third time this season.

“For some reason, we came out a little tentative [Saturday night],” said Andrew Moore of Crespi, who scored 20 points. “We’re just really disappointed.”

Kingsley Anyanwu scored 17 points for Crespi and David Danipour had 14 for North Hollywood.

In other Hart tournament games:

Murphy 81, Camarillo 75--The Scorpions fell behind, 23-4, in the first quarter and couldn’t recover in the third-place game.

Ian Caldwell and Jared Jungwirth each scored 18 points in the second half, but it wasn’t enough for the Scorpions (9-6).

Jungwirth wound up with 28 points and Caldwell had 25.

The Scorpions played without Coach Mike Prewitt, who had to sit out because he was ejected from Friday’s loss to North Hollywood.

Saugus 68, Glendale 57--Justin Muszalski scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half as the Centurions (8-5) overcame a 30-26 deficit in the fifth-place game.

Chad Krogh had 14 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, for Saugus.

Varooj Karibyan scored 25 points for Glendale (7-7).

Hart 59, L.A. CES 41--Paul Hanges scored 15 points, including three three-point baskets, to help the Indians (8-7) finish seventh.

Burroughs 65, Palmdale 61--The Indians overcame a 15-point deficit in the third quarter to win the ninth-place game in overtime.

Matt Torres scored 18 for Burroughs (5-8).

Reseda 66, West Bakersfield 53--Sergei Lepiashinski had 26 points as the Regents (7-8) finished 11th.

Beverly Hills 49, Cleveland 35--The Cavaliers fell behind, 18-7, and lost the 13th-place game.

Matthew Awad had 14 points for Cleveland (1-11).

Littlerock 56, Royal 55--Darryl Edwards had 21 points and the Lobos (5-10) took 15th place.