BRENTWOOD, CA - 70 seconds was all it took to change the complexion of the CIF NorCal Division 1 semifinal on Tuesday night, as visiting James Logan caught fire at the end of the third quarter and eventually raced to the 58-51 victory over Heritage, advancing to Saturday's regional final at Santa Clara University, where the Colts will face CCS Division 1 champion Palo Alto.
After a low-scoring first half, both offenses started to warm up in the third quarter. But a two-minute scoring drought from the Colts prompted a timeout from coach Melvin Easley, with 1:25 left in the period and Logan leading 30-27. What happened after that changed the flow of the game, as Ryan Parilla drilled a three-pointer from the corner, and then somehow lofted a shot in the paint over the arms of Heritage's Jonathan Ned for an eight-point lead.
Logan wasn't done, though, as Jordan McGlory dropped in more bucket as the buzzer sounded, giving the Colts a commanding 37-27 lead after three quarters.
"When we go on big runs, we don't stop," said Logan guard Noah Conner. "We just keep going, and it becomes non-stop."
The Colts did just that early in the fourth quarter as well, as Conner drilled a deep three early in the fourth, and 6-foot-9 senior Edra Luster's emphatic slam dunk finished a 14-2 run, giving Logan a 44-29 lead with 6:21 left in the game. Heritage started to battle back, but another three and a pair of free throws from Conner then pushed the lead to 16 points.
The Patriots weren't quite willing to give up on their season, as Anthony Dennis scored four straight points, but McGlory countered with a big three-point play, and Parilla then pushed the lead to a game-high 17 point-margin with his steal and transition lay-up. A flurry of late threes from Heritage made the final score closer, but never really in doubt.
The combined 75 points between the teams in the second half was in stark contrast to the first two quarters. Logan led 7-6 after one quarter, and 18-16 at halftime. But that was in accordance to Easley's game plan, which adjusted offensively after the break, using more penetration drives from McGlory and entry passes to Luster to free up Parilla and Conner on the perimeter.
"We knew exactly what we had to do, and defense had to be first. We had to concentrate on defense, and know that the buckets would come," Easley said. "We have enough offense to compete with any team, so it was the defense that we needed to focus on. We had to stop the middle drive. We knew once we stopped that, we could stop them."
Also, despite the cold first half, Parilla and Conner never lost that shooter's confidence.
"We had to be mentally tough," Parilla said. "We knew that we had to keep playing our game, and do so with toughness. If we did that, we had full confidence."
After going scoreless in the first quarter, Parilla finished with 16 points, including four three-pointers. Conner, meanwhile, had nine of his 16 points in the fourth quarter. McGlory and Luster each added nine points for the Colts.
Ned led Heritage with 17 points, including three late three-pointers, while Dennis added 16 points, 11 of them coming in the fourth quarter.
