DSIII315.htm

SoCal High School & Prep Report

CIF State Playoffs: Southern Region D-III Final:
USDHS Beats Fresno Washington 63-57--(March 15, 1998)

Here are two views of the same story. The first is from Pat McKinney; the second from the San Diego Union-Tribune. Here's Pat's first:

One More!
Walton Forces Overtime, Would Not Be Denied

By Pat McKinney

USDHS Dons Basketball Website

The season began in Sacramento for the University of San Diego High School Dons and it will end there with the California State Championship game. And, believe me, it will not get any tougher than it has been the past week. USDHS was ranked #2 statewide in Division III and the rankings were tested these last three days. On Tuesday, Uni edged Chaminade 64-63 in an exhausting contest. Chaminade was rated the third best team in Div III and showed it by the narrowest of margins. The win gave USDHS a crack at Easton Washington Union, 26-3 and top ranked in Division III, tonight at the Long Beach State Pyramid. Little separates these three teams, and Uni showed the leadership and teamwork to come out on top. Tonight's game offered everything you could want from a high school basketball game, and it is likely to go down as a classic.

Let's frame this game a little bit: it is true that Arkansas-bound Sr. C Chris Jeffries did not play tonight. Now let's put the excuses aside. Washington Union would have been hard pressed to play better than they did tonight and I guarantee you that neither Deshawn Stevenson and Shamell Stallworth would have played as well as they did. Many felt Union played better without Jeffries since they weren't always looking to one guy as the go to.

Let's do the math. Yosemite coach Kevin Shaw offered this after USDHS defeated his squad by 25 on Tuesday . "Union has six outstanding players and is bigger and stronger. I'd say Union is 20 points better than this team (USDHS), and I say that even though I'm no big fan of Union". Take out Jeffries, who averages, 20 points a game, and where does that leave us? Even. Close coach, but not quite.

The one thing Coach Shaw forgot was the wild card St. Augustine coach Mike Haupt offered about the Dons after losing to Union by 31 and hearing what Coach Shaw had to say. "I don't agree with (Shaw). Washington is very athletic, but the thing that impresses me the most about Uni is they've been in big games. They figure out a way to win." Washington is very athletic and they are also very well coached. They aren't, however, very deep and they probably haven't faced a lot of big games. This is evidenced by the fact that they were looking for competition and considered a 20 point rout over Ocean View on Thursday to be what they needed.

As for the injury, it's simply part of the game. In a team sport, losing a part can be devastating but the best teams find a way to overcome. No one faced a tougher road here than your Dons, especially considering they came up empty twice before in this game, and only congratulations should go out to this team.

I really could not say whether Union or Chaminade is better. Both were outstanding and for Union Shamell Stallworth was good and Sophomore Deshawn Stevenson was simply awesome. It was a game where senior leadership counted for a lot, and the Dons had it tonight.

The Dons started the following five: Luke Walton 6'8 Sr. F
David Abramowitz, 6' Sr. G
Ron McMillan, 6'6 Sr. F
Carlos Cong, 5'5 Sr. G
Chris Walton, 6'6 So. F

Washington Union started, and stayed with, this lineup:

Deshawn Stevenson, 6'5 So. G
Shamell Stallworth, 6'4 Jr. F
Coupe Taylor, 6' Jr. G
Richard Milsap, 6'5 Sr. F
Carvell Wafer, 6'6 Jr. C.

I am not sure if Union has no bench, although they certainly should have developed it in all of those blowout wins. They had a lot of athletes in the pregame warm-ups; maybe they just can't be trusted. Coach Vonn Webb sure had the five he put on the floor ready to go, and he stuck with them. No subs in the first half. In the second half, Junior Maurice Moore came in for about ten seconds, turned it over, and took a seat. Dupree Copeland came in for a minute for Wafer when he got in foul trouble and for Stevenson when he came up lame. Win or lose, he was sticking with these guys. This would be huge in the end.

The scoring opened with Wafer converting on a three point play to make it 3-0. Luke found Ron inside and the Dons were on the board. Abramowitz would score, before Wafer scored and was fouled again, but he missed the free throw. Luke hit a three and Stallworth answered with one of his own. Luke was fouled and hit one free throw and Abramowitz scored again on the next trip. Luke would score again and Union was forced into a zone with two and a half left; it was just what they needed. Stallworth scored, followed by Stevenson and Stevenson again on a thundering dunk. The Dons went flat at the end of the quarter, shooting only 31% to 54% for Union, who seized a 16-12 lead.

The second quarter was vintage USDHS basketball: tight defense, crisp passing, inside buckets. Luke scored and Stallworth answered. Luke scored again and McMillan put one back to make it 19-18 with 3:45 left. Stallworth got another bucket and Milsap dropped a three to make it 24-18. Luke got a three of his own and Kam put one in to cut it to 24-23. On the final possession of the half, Union didn't seem to have much going, sort of milling around the top of the key. Suddenly, Stevenson rose up and drained a three as the buzzer expired to maintain the four point lead for Union. Walton led all scorers with 13 points and 3 rebounds at the half while McMillan pulled down six boards to go with his four points. Abramowitz struggled, going 0 for 5 from three point land and scoring only four. Stallworth scored 10 in the first half and Stevenson added 7.

Things threatened to get out of hand for the Dons in the second half, however. Luke opened up the third with a three point play and Dave scored to give them the lead at 28-27 with 6:45 play. Luke and Wafer each hit one free throw and the teams were going back and forth. With 1:35 left in the third and the game knotted at 36, McMillan drew a technical foul for something we couldn't see. In a game this big in an absolutely roaring arena, there is no way a ref shouldn't just walk away. It must have been something, though, although it was never disclosed at the bench. This set off a Union run as the third ended with Union up 42-36.

This Dons team possesses a ton of heart, but it would get worse before it got better. Stevenson scored to start the fourth to make the lead 8. Luke would hit a couple of free throws and Union got a basket and a couple of free throws from Stevenson. With 5:45 left, USDHS was down 48-38. Luke got a free throw and scored on the next possession. The defense tightened and Luke hit one more free throw to pull Uni within 6. Dave hit a three to pull them within three at 48-45 with 3:13 left. On the next possession, Luke stole one and hit David on the break. David had it, 1 on 2, and pulled up for the three and stroked it, tying the game at 48 with 2:50 to go. Stevenson scored and converted a three point play. Luke hit two free throws to keep it at one. Wafer scored and McMillan got loose inside for an easy layup. Stevenson missed a three but was fouled on the next possession, hitting one to make it 54-52. The shot clock off, Luke got the ball and went inside, nailing a running jumper to tie it at 54 with :05 to go. Stevenson brought it down and got a shot that was well defended by Walton and we were heading to overtime.

This was no ordinary overtime, however. Stallworth, Milsap, and Taylor never left the floor for Union. Stevenson and Wafer left for what totaled maybe 30 seconds combined. For the Dons, Abramowitz and McMillan played it all, while Walton stepped out for maybe half a minute. Chris was fresh, Carlos was fresh, and Kam was in pretty good shape. Everybody else was just wasted, looking absolutely punch drunk. Union won the tap and missed a three. The Dons took it down and couldn't get a shot. Union missed another three, before the Dons turned it over on their opportunity. The clock wound down to under a minute and the tie was finally broken when Luke found Ronnie inside with 35 seconds left to make it 56-54. An insane tip drill ensued on Union's next possession, as three put backs rimmed out, before somebody called a foul out of the chaos and sent Milsap to the line. He missed the first and threw the second off the backboard for a violation. Luke got the ball and was fouled, hitting both to seal the victory. Uni managed only four points, but pitched a shutout in overtime to finish Union.

Luke finished with 31 points, scoring 11 from the line, and 5 rebounds. Abramowitz added 15 and McMillan 10 and 9 rebounds (6 offensive). Stevenson led Union with 21, while Stallworth scoring 17 and Wafer 10.

Click here for the complete stats for this game.

Many feel the State Championship has already been played, but the Dons need to seal the deal next weekend in Sacramento. The opponent is Enterprise, a team I know absolutely nothing about. The site is ARCO Arena and the game will be on Saturday at 3:00 pm. Congratulations to the Dons...You finally did it!

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And just so you don't think Pat's account of the game is the only one we want you to read, here's a real live story from today's Sunday San Diego-Union Tribune. Well, gues that USHDS' Southern Regional title merits a mention from them; this is the same paper whose internet site never features prepa news. As a result, we rely upon Pat, Paul Smith and several others for our sources of information about the San Diego area. A virtual wasteland from an information point of view, despite the fact that the area is a hotbed of hoops talent. So as not to disappoint everyone, there was actually an article in today's paper about USDHS' win. Here it is:

They waited three seasons for this moment. Then they had to wait through a tense overtime period. Finally, after Luke Walton's two free throws clinched the game with two seconds remaining, University of San Diego High could celebrate winning a Southern California Division III Regional title.

The Dons, rallying from a 48-38 deficit in the final 5-1/2 minutes of regulation, upset Easton Washington Union 58-54 Saturday night in the regional final at the Pyramid on Long Beach State's campus.

The dramatic comeback win over Washington Union (26-4), ranked No. 1 in the state in Division III, advanced No. 2-ranked USDHS (25-4) to its first state final after two straight seasons of finishing as the regional runner-up. The Dons will face Redding Enterprise, the Northern California Regional champion, Saturday at the Arco Arena in Sacramento.

"This is a whole lot better than losing the last two years," Walton said. "When we went to overtime, I knew that we were experienced, having played OT two years ago (in the 1996 regional final). At that point I didn't even think about losing."

Walton, a 6-foot-8 senior and third-year starter who is bound for Arizona, finished with a game-high 31 points.

With 21 seconds remaining in regulation, Walton hit a spin-move basket down low to tie the score at 54-54. Washington Union called timeout and had to go the length of the court to set up a game-winning shot that missed, and the Dons pulled down the rebound.

In overtime, both teams traded turnovers and missed shots before USDHS called timeout to set up a play. Walton posted up high and hit 6-6 senior Ron McMillan (10 points, 11 rebounds) cutting under the basket for a layup and a 56-54 lead with 38 seconds remaining.

Washington Union managed two shots at the basket before Richard Milsap was fouled while rebounding the second miss with 2.1 seconds to play.

Milsap missed the first of two free throws off the front of the rim. After a timeout, he attempted to bounce the ball off the rim in hopes of getting the rebound, but the ball hit only glass. A free throw that doesn't touch the rim returns possession to the opposing team.

Walton was then fouled on the inbounds pass and hit both free throws for a four-point lead that touched off the celebration before the final seconds officially ticked off.

Washington Union played without 6-9 senior Chris Jeffries, who has a scholarship to Arkansas. Jeffries, who averages 19.8 points and 8.3 rebounds a game, suffered a broken ankle in Thursday's semifinal win. Even without him, Washington Union's starting lineup still went 6-6, 6-5, 6-5, 6-4 and 6-0. Carvell Wafer, a 6-6 junior, replaced Jeffries and finished with 10 points and three rebounds.

"Obviously we're a better team with Chris," Washington Union coach Vonn Webb said. "We have more options. Without him, we're OK, but in crunch time it was like our young kids out there were searching for somebody to step up."

Stepping up was 6-5 sophomore Deshawn Stevenson, rated one of the top five sophomores in the nation by recruiting services. He finished with a team-high 24 points.

The explosive Stevenson did it all, slashing to the basket, putting down a powerful dunk, hitting an NBA-range three-pointer at the halftime buzzer and handling the ball.

Other double-figures scorers in the game were USDHS point guard David Abramowitz (15) and Washington Union's Shane Stallworth (14).