White’s Big Shot Lifts Redondo

With time running out and Redondo Union trailing Riverside King by two points, Sea Hawk swingman Wendell White spun away from two defenders and took an off-balance three-pointer that seemingly made time stand still.

“My heart dropped,” Redondo forward Adam Zahn said. “I knew if he missed, we wouldn’t have another chance.”

Somehow, the ball banked off the backboard and dropped into the basket, giving third-seeded Redondo Union a 71-70 victory over top-seeded King in the Southern Section Division II-A championship Saturday at the Arrowhead Pond.

“It’s like my soul left my body as soon as [White] hit that shot,” King forward Leon Rosborough said.

King (27-4) rallied from a 10-point third-quarter deficit behind the spirited play of Rosborough (29 points) and Marvin Lea (22), taking a 68-64 lead with less than two minutes to play in the game on a pull-up jumper by Matthew Thomas.

Redondo (23-6) tied the score on a baseline jumper from White and two Keith Ellison free throws before Lea drove the lane and hit the shot that put the Wolves ahead, 70-68

The three-pointer was White’s second consecutive game-winning basket. He hit a three-pointer to lift Redondo past second-seeded Santa Margarita in the semifinals.

“He had the presence of mind to take that shot,” Redondo Coach Tom Maier said. “A lot of kids in that position wouldn’t under that duress.”

Ellison led the Sea Hawks with 22 points, Wendell added 20 and Zahn had 14 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots.

Ben Bolch

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Long Beach Poly 64, Rialto Eisenhower 53--In winning their third Division I-AA title in six years and first since 2000, the second-seeded Jackrabbits knocked off the top-seeded team and avenged one of their three losses this season.

The Jackrabbits (28-3) had four players in double figures: Reggie Butler and Bobby Jones each had 15 points and Carlos Rivers and Marcedes Lewis each added 12. Eisenhower (27-3) got a game-high 21 points from junior forward Sean Marshall.

Tim Dermody

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L.A. Loyola 61, Thousand Oaks 58--It took a hanging, acrobatic six-foot baseline shot by Omar Wilkes with 11 seconds left to give Loyola (27-3) the Division I-A championship, its first title since 1953.

Wilkes’ basket was the eighth lead change of the fourth quarter. He added two free throws with 5.2 seconds left and finished with 26 points.

“I’m the king of weird shots,” the 6-foot-4 junior guard said. “That was creativity. That was not planned.”

Thousand Oaks (27-4) led by nine points in the second quarter and held the lead until Wilkes went airborne for his game-winning shot.

“It was probably the best [shot] I’ve seen in my whole life,” said Loyola center Chris Rucker, who had 15 points,15 rebounds and four blocked shots.

Kasey Myers scored 19 points for the Lancers. He missed on a three-point attempt in the final second that would have tied the score.

Wilkes made 10 of 16 shots and was three of six from three-point range. He scored 17 points in the second half.

“Once a player gets his groove, especially a shooter like [Wilkes], then it doesn’t matter who’s on him,” Thousand Oaks Coach Richard Endres said.

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La Puente Bishop Amat 47, Palm Desert 35--A 14-0 surge late in the fourth quarter propelled the Lancers (25-6) to the Division III-AA championship, their first in school history.

For 28 minutes, Palm Desert (25-5) had followed its game plan to perfection, slowing the tempo to neutralize Bishop Amat’s quickness.

After Josh Zazulia scored with 3:30 remaining, Palm Desert trailed, 33-32. But the Aztecs didn’t score again until there were 21 seconds left.

Bishop Amat used its pressure man-to-man defense to create fast-break opportunities. John Haywood’s free throw with 29 seconds remaining gave the Lancers a 47-32 lead. Haywood finished with 15 points and Paul Porter had 14.

Eric Sondheimer