buena wins one

SoCal Prep & High School Report

Santa Barbara Report: Buena Finally
Wins One In League--(February 11, 1998)

As today's Los Angeles Times noted, Tuesday was a day of mixed emotions for Glen Hannah, boys' basketball coach at Buena. Hannah, in his 17th season at Buena, said he felt good about the Bulldogs upsetting San Marcos, 72-68, in overtime Monday to win their first Channel League game of the season. But he was also somber about the finality of Buena's season ending with games against Hueneme today and Rio Mesa on Thursday. The Bulldogs (4-20, 1-11 in league play) have qualified for the Southern Section playoffs 15 times under Hannah, but there is no chance of that happening this season. The Bulldogs won't be among the top four teams in the Channel League and they won't win 10 games, the minimum number required for teams to be considered for an at-large playoff berth. "It's kind of weird to know that today is definitely our last practice," Hannah said Tuesday.

Some would blame Buena's record on the on the fact that Ian Boys transferred to Simi under circumstances which many questioned, but which were ultimately ruled as not material or at least not a violation of CIF Southern Section rules. Some would say that even with Boys, who has only been a moderate impact player at Simi, the Buena team would have struggled.

But on Tuesday, they didn't struggle at all. And they beat San Marcos, a team which had been playing strongly all season, until recently, and with the loss, San Marcos has now lost two in a row. At least Brook Billings didn't punch someone out.

And he had an extra overtime period in which to put on the gloves, but he restrained himself, as Buena instead came out swinging.

Buena won this one, 72-68. The Royals let a seven-point lead slip away in the final two minutes of regulation and never recovered, allowing Buena to post its first Channel League win. Buena scored the first five points in overtime. San Marcos, which lost for the second straight game, fell to 9-4 and 18-6.

"We were in a position to win and we didn't do it,'' San Marcos coach Chris Hantgin told the News Press. "This was a loss due to lack of confidence. We played scared at the end. As they got closer, they picked up in confidence and their crowd got behind them."

The Bulldogs tied the game at 61 on a goaltending call with 30 seconds to play in regulation and San Marcos missed a shot at the buzzer after running an inbounds play with two seconds left. Ryan Fay led Buena with 28 points, including a three-point play to open overtime. "Certain individuals are having career nights against us,'' said Hantgin. "We're going to have to look at that." San Marcos was led Sonny Oden with 17 points and Randy Moharram with 16.

For San Marcos, the leading scorer was Oden (who also had one three), followed by Moharram (3 threes) and McOwen, who each had 16 points. Others were Gutierrez 7 (one 3), Billings 8, and Nance 4. Buena's high scorer was Ryan Fay with 29, while others scoring were: Triana 2, Golden 7, Wilde 2, Thomas 8, Blanks 5, Conaway 10, P.Brown 3, and Thompson 7.