SARATOGA, CA -- Pete Simos took his suit coat off to start the second half of Thursday night’s game. Prudent decision.
Fifteen minutes and 44 game seconds later, Larry Gao made a game-winning 3-pointer for Simos’ Piedmont Hills team in a wildly entertaining 55-53 victory against host Prospect.
The upset win has lifted the Pirates into a three-way tie for first with Prospect and Gunderson (both 6-2).
“They’re hungry,” Simos told his team during a second-half time out. “Be hungrier!”
The excitable coach’s exhortations at times threatened to peel the paint off the Prospect gym walls. It wasn’t immediate, but the Pirates responded.
Piedmont Hills led by 10 at halftime, but paced by 6-foot-4 sophomore forward Michael Steward (13 points) and the marvelous 5-9 senior point guard Blake Uyehara (23 points), Prospect had seized a 48-42 lead with 3:35 left in the game after an Uyehara three.
Talk about walking the plank – the Pirates were teetering on the edge.
Then they came back. Goose Persin made a three. Then Rex Alcause made another. Now it was 51-48 with 1:48 left.
Prospect's Uyehara made the ultimate hustle play, following his own missed shot by vaulting himself over a Pirate player for a tie ball. Piedmont Hills wanted a foul. Prospect got the alternating possession and Uyehara glided left for a left-handed lay-in to put Prospect up 53-49 with 1:18 left.
Screaming for the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, Simos turned into Caine from the old TV show "Kung Fu" down the stretch. Suddenly he was calm and diagramming plays, as if Phil Jackson had inhabited his body. Following their coach’s lead, the Pirates were chill to the end.
Gao swished a three with 55.2 ticks left, a precursor for Pirate fans. Now the Prospect lead was one.
Then with 40 seconds left, Prospect turned it over. The stage was set for a dramatic finish.
Alphonse Manalo drove around a hard screen by Persin. Prospect converged. The ball was skipped to Gao alone beyond the arc. His shot hit all net and moments later the Pirates were hugging and rejoicing at midcourt.
“I just had to knock it down,” Gao said. “My teammates did a good job getting me open. It was the last shot and I needed to make it."
Piedmont Hills made 13 3-pointers against the Panthers, who clog the middle with the 6-8 Lukas Swidler and 6-9 Nemanja Rajic. Persin, a junior, had a team-high 21 points – on seven threes.
“I’m a shooter,” Persin said. “I’ve been shooting my whole life, since kindergarten. My teammates got me open and the shots were falling.”
Asked if he thought his team was almost dead, down six with three-and-change left, Simos said “Very much so. But we stayed the course and didn’t get too excited.”
Then Simos put his coat back on and left the gym -- in first place.
John Murphy is the Web Content Manager of Prep2Prep. Contact him at jmurphy@prep2prep.com and follow on Twitter @PrepCat
