SAN FRANCISCO — Big-time players make big-time plays, and University-San Francisco has a lot of big-time players.
From Max Fried’s drive to the basket to tie the game at the end of regulation to Charley Moore and Charlie Kennedy’s key plays in overtime, the Red Devils’ 61-57 double overtime win over Mountain View in the second round of the CIF Division III Tournament was full of big-time plays.
After trailing for all but a few moments outside of the first quarter, the 11th-seeded Spartans took the lead on a Zach Moran layup with 20.7 seconds left off a pass from Sam Tobin, who scored a game-high 20 points. Fried sliced right through the middle of the defense at the other end to even the game at 48, and after a traveling call prevented Mountain View (24-5) from getting another shot off, the teams were headed for overtime.
University (25-9) got the first five points of OT on a Moore putback and Fried 3-pointer, but the Spartans cut it to two with a Jack Resnick free throw and Jailen Daniel-Dalton layup. A travel gave the ball back to MV with 16 seconds, but when the Spartans failed to find an open shot, head coach Kevin Mack called timeout with three seconds remaining. In what seemed like the longest three seconds in history, Will Dominguez missed a mid-range fadeaway, but Daniel-Dalton’s putback at the buzzer extended the game by another four minutes.
In those additional minutes, the third-seeded Red Devils finally took control. Resnick, who scored all 14 of his points after halftime, scored off the glass to give Mountain View a 57-55 advantage, but Kennedy responded by scoring in traffic to tie it and Moore put the Devils back in front with a gentle dunk, one where his fingertips barely grazed the rim after taking a pass from Fried.
Tobin’s elbow jumper at the other end wouldn’t go, as he was pressured heavily by Reese Johnson, and Moore was fouled at the end of a possession in which Mountain View had tried to force University into a low-percentage shooting area. He made both free throws with 16.9 seconds left to put the game away.
“I learned how to handle the pressure from Spencer (Spivy) and Julian (Manyika) last year,” the Moore said. “I just did what they had done last year.”
Last year, University had won a first round game at Kezar in three overtimes and won a second round contest in OT against Foothill-Palo Cedro, the same team that will be heading down to San Francisco on Saturday for a NorCal semifinal.
“There’s something about this team,” Fried said after his 15-point, 18-rebound performance. “It’s a team full of winners. We don’t look like the best team, but we keep winning and we keep going.”
Fried may be the Devils’ star, and, according to head coach Randy Bessolo, the best player in all of San Francisco, but it was a team effort that propelled University to the win. Moore scored 15, with eight in the two extra periods. Kennedy added 10 and Christian Heng finished with nine, all coming in the second half.
On the other side, it was the end of a line for a Mountain View team with a decorated senior class that had won two CCS Division II titles in three years.
“What they’ve done has turned this program in a different direction, and they’re good kids, too,” Mack said. “They’re going to be able to take away a lot from this, and they’re going to do great in whatever they do because they’re good kids, not just good basketball players.”
Tobin, one of the most underrated players in the Bay Area and the leader of the class, added, “It was a hell of a ride. I love these guys, I hang out with them outside of basketball and outside of school, and it’s really been a lot of fun.”
He scored his team’s first 10 points and 14 in the first half, though Johnson’s defense was able to limit him after the break. Tobin was scoreless in the third quarter and overtime, though he did score six in the fourth quarter. As he slowed down, the Devils were able to take control, bridging the first two quarters with a 14-0 run to take a 15-8 lead and holding that advantage for more than 15 minutes in the second half. University also limited the 7-foot-1 Dominguez to a single point.
“We just had to deny him the ball,” Bessolo said. “We watched film of the Leland game, and every time he had the ball it went in the hoop. We had to make sure their guards couldn’t get it to him.”
That mainly left the ball with Tobin and Resnick, who scored 10 points over his season average. Jake Pappas added nine points and 11 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to take down a University team that is headed to a NorCal semifinal for a second consecutive year.
