buckley v. windward

SoCalHoops High School News

Gale & Ward-Henninger Score 47; But
Buckley Loses To Windward--(Jan. 16, 1999)

First, the bottom line: Windward defeated Buckley, 76-69 in a wild triple-overtime game at the Wildcat's gym in Santa Monica.

The first three quarters of this game was a little like watching Princeton play itself: Buckley ran a patient motion and flex offense, a complicated pattern offense, which depends on screens being set, guards rotating and picks being made for the open man to come off a screen or a back-door cut. Windward runs a four-corners spread offense, which exploits huge gaps in a zone defense, or tires a man-to-man defense out with passing and screening. And these two teams pretty much stuck to their styles of play for most of the game.

That is, until all hell broke loose in the fourth quarter and Buckley utilized a fast-break, transition-style offense, which saw two Griffin players, David Gale (5'10" Fr. PG) and Colin Ward-Henninger (6'-3" So. SG/SF) combine for 22 of Buckley's 26 fourth quarter points, while using a full-court pressure defense to hold Windward to 15 points. Gale and Ward-Henninger both hit back-to-back three-pointers in what should have been a wild finish, but which instead sent the game to triple overtime which Windward eventually won.

For starters, this was an offensive show by four players on the floor; For Buckley it was freshman David Gale (5'-10" Fr. PG) who finished with a team high 24 points, including 4 three-pointers, 7 steals and 5 assists, and teammate Colin Ward-Henninger (6'-3" So. SG/SF) who had 23 points and 11 rebounds. Together, the two combined for 47 of Buckley's 69 total points, and they also had 22 of Buckley's 26 fourth quarter points, and other than a single free-throw by Sasha Rahban (6'-0" Sr. SG) in the third overtime, they were the only players to score for Buckley in the three overtime periods.

And for Windward, two players combined for game-high totals: Sean Hirsch had 22 points, evenly balanced between free-throws and field goals, including one three, and Peter Leeb had a game high 28 points, making 6 three-pointers.

The game started off with Buckley taking a 12-11 lead, with Gale scoring 7 of his points in the first quarter; Simon Leonov (6'-2" So. PF) had 2 and Adam Paster (6'-0" Jr. PG/SG) had 3; in the second quarter, the two teams flip-flopped scoring, as Windward managed to outscore Buckley 12-11; Gale hit another three, Paster another slashing layup, Sasha Rahban (6'-0" Sr. SG) and Alex Clancy (5'-10" So. SG) both hit threes of their own. Leeb and Hirsch also hit a three each to keep the Wildcats in it, and the teams went to the locker rooms with the score tied at 23-23.

Setting aside the individual high-scoring play, the third quarter was really the decisive period in this game, as Buckley's offense stalled, Windward's Peter Leeb decided to get hot. He made three back-to-back-to-back three-pointers, all from the same spot on the left side of the arc, and Buckley Coach Dan Haasch decided at that point to bench the starters as Windward went on an 8-0 scoring run. With Gale, Paster, Ward-Henninger and Rahban sitting, Brandon Cane hit two consecutive layups, and Daniel Bright scored as well to help the Wildcats outscore Buckley 18-7 in the quarter.

With Buckley trailing by 11 going into the fourth quarter 41-30, Haasch switched back to the starting group, and they came in and started to chip away at the Windward lead. Notwithstanding that Leeb continued to score (4 more points), and Windwards' John Page also hit three two-point field goals, Gale and Ward-Henninger combined for 22 points in the fourth quarter to bring Buckley back into the game. Gale hit the second of two fourth-quarter threes to bring Buckley to within 6 with just under a 30 seconds to play: In a furious finish, Buckley's Alex Clancy who finished with 7 points on the night, hit Gale with the ball coming off a screen on the right side wing, and with a defender in his face, Gale turned and launched a high, three-pointer which dropped, bringing the score to 53-56 with just under 30 seconds to play in regulation.

Windward had difficultly all night running a successful inbounds play, turning the ball over and getting trapped on the press, and this time, with under 15 seconds to play was no different. On the inbound, Buckley's pressure defense forced a Windward travel and a turnover. With Buckley taking the ball out under it's own basket, with 8 seconds to play, Gale got the ball to Ward-Henninger at the top of the three-point arc, and he hit a banking, running three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime, at 56-56.

In the first overtime period, Gale hit four of Buckley's 6 points, and Ward-Henninger hit the other 2, to keep the score tied at 62-62. In the second overtime, Ward-Henninger hit all four of Buckley's points to tie it at 66-66; But in the third overtime period, after most of Buckley's backcourt had fouled out, including Adam Paster (6'-0" Jr. PG/SG), Mike Lalazerian (5'-11" Jr. SG), and eventually Gale about one minute into the third overtime, Windward managed to outscore Buckley in the final minute when the Griffins were forced to resort to fouling the Wildcats. Final result: Windward managed to outscore Buckley 10-3, all on foul shots, to win by seven points, 76-69.

Ward-Henninger
hang-time

Henninger cuts

For Buckley, Gale led with 24 points, 7 steals, 5 assists and four rebounds; before fouling out he had 2 turnovers and one blocked shot. Adam Paster, who also fouled out, had 9 points, 2 rebounds, one assist, one steal and three turnovers; Mike Lalazerian didn't score, but did have 3 boards and 3 steals; Royal Weaver, who went 0-4 from the field and didn't score, had 3 rebounds, one assist and 3 steals, and generally played excellent defense, committing only one turnover; Simon Leonov had 2 points, 3 rebunds, and 1 assist; Sasha Rahban had 4 points, four rebounds and one assist; Colin Ward-Henninger had 23 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 blocked shot, and one turnover. Alex Clancy finished with 7 points, three rebounds, one assist 5 steals, but was hurt by 7 turnovers.

For Windward, only five players scored, but it was enough as Brandon Cane had 8, Peter Leeb had 28, including 6 three pointers, John Page had 12, Sean Hirsch had 22, and Daniel Bright had 6.

We also managed to get some pictures; not the best quality, but better than nothing (yeah, we need Larry's great photo rig, but then he's a pro at this stuff).

Gale & Lalazarian trap John Page	Driving	Ward-Henninger at the line	Buckley moving
Leeb drives	A little blurry but. . . Gale (far left) hits a three with 20 seconds remaining	Defense	Gale crosses over
Weaver defends Cane	Another cross- over drive	Gale at the line	Preparing to drive
Lalazarian at the baseline	Sean Hirsch at the line	Weaver feeds Paster for two on the j	Strategy session
Adam Paster brings the ball up	David Gale directs traffic	Assist	Rahban for three
Weaver feeds Colin	One of seven steals	Full court pressure	Defense
Setting up	Boxing out	Post tip off	Open court

These two teams, considered the front-runners in Liberty League, will face each other again on January 29, at Buckley in what could be the decisive game for the league title. For now, Windward, which has played all of its league games at home, has the lead in league at 4-1, while Buckley is in second at 3-2 (having played all of it's games on the road), just ahead of Yeshiva, Providence, Avalon and Holy Martyrs. Viewpoint has only one league win, and Oakwood trails the pack with a goose-egg in the win column.

Great game, exciting finish.