Bell scores at buzzer to send Long Beach Poly past Bosco, 61-59

After 13 lead changes, nine ties and an ending that had the capacity crowd of more than 2,600 standing in excitement, Long Beach Poly inbounded the ball with 10.6 seconds left Friday night in a tied CIF Southern California Open Division basketball playoff game against Bellflower St. John Bosco.

Roschon Prince drove to the basket and ran into St. John Bosco’s Darien Williams. The officials didn’t call a charging foul. The ball ended up in the hands of Jordan Bell, who scored on a layup as the buzzer sounded, and Poly came away with a 61-59 victory at Cerritos College.

“This is what high school basketball is about,” Poly Coach Sharrief Metoyer said. “The fans got their money’s worth, a last-second shot and a game that went down to the wire.”

St. John Bosco players won’t be happy when they see video of how Williams did what he had been taught to do, holding his ground in the middle of the key as Prince banged into him.

St. John Bosco (24-7) can only blame itself for putting Poly (28-3) in position to win. The Braves seemed ready to pull away in the third quarter, opening a 42-31 lead, only to see Poly score 11 consecutive points to tie the score.

In the fourth quarter, with 24.9 seconds left in a 59-59 tie, St. John Bosco’s Tyler Dorsey missed the front end of a one-and-one. Poly turned the ball over, but then so did the Braves.

“The game could have gone either way,” Metoyer said. “Bosco played a heck of a game. Roschon had been carrying us all night, so we wanted to go to him and not give them a chance to score. At the end of the day, you drive to the rim and make the referee make the call, and Jordan was in the right place at the right time.”

Prince finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Bell had 12 points and 13 rebounds. Brandon Staton scored all 10 of his points in the second half to provide a big lift to the Jackrabbits. Isaac Hamilton led St. John Bosco with 22 points and Dorsey had 16.

In other games Friday, Westchester defeated Fresno Bullard, 60-58, and Santa Ana Mater Dei defeated El Camino Real, 79-54.

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com