dos pueblos 211

SoCal Prep & High School Report

Santa Barbara: Dos Pueblos Game--
What Really Happened--(February 11, 1998)

Boy, other than the score and those highlights previously forwarded by Shantay Legans, who should know what happened because he was there, it seems we had just about everything screwed up from the Dos Pueblos loss to Santa Barbara yesterday. So we checked back with Shantay, and with the Santa Barbara News Press, and lo and behold, we discovered that it was J.R. Alen who in fact was doing all the fouling as Santa Barbara accomplished what no other Channel League team has done this year, beating the visiting Chargers 59-53 to hand Dos Pueblos its first league loss. J. R. Allen and Craig Christ hit back-to-back baskets to quell a late rally by the Chargers and the Dons converted 5-of-6 free throws in the final 30 seconds to pull out the win.

And as the News Press put it in their lead-in "The Dons beat the Chargers at their own game - making big plays in the final minutes."

Santa Barbara improved to 8-4 in league and 15-9 overall and can move into a second-place tie with a win tonight at Hueneme. Dos Pueblos, which has already clinched the league title, is 12-1, 21-3.

And for those of you who have been following Shantay and the DP bunch, you'll recall that fully six of Dos Pueblos' 12 league wins have come down to the final shot. And we're told that it looked like this game too might have resulted in the same situation as Dos Pueblos turned a 49-39 deficit into a 49-47 cliffhanger during a one-minute stretch in the fourth quarter.

It seems it was that "one minute stretch" that our source (or we here at SoCalHoops) got confused about:

It was 46-31 at the end of the third quarter. As the fourth quarter opened, and with Shantay on the bench, Dos Pueblos chipped away at the lead on baskets by Dan Hoefer and Alex Jenkins and two free throws by Jenkins. Brent Williams answered with a 3-pointer for Santa Barbara. And as the Santa Barbara News Press termed it "Then things got a little strange."

David Sears of DP went to the line shooting two free throws. After the shots, Hoefer scored inside on an assist from Jenkins. Then Jenkins was fouled as the Dons tried to inbound the ball. He hit a free throw, missed and Hoefer got the rebound and scored. Hoefer was fouled after the play by Allen and hit a free throw to make the score 49-47.

Allen was retired briefly to the bench to cool down. ``I was kind of mad,'' said Allen. ``I had to keep my head so I didn't screw up when I got back in."

But a few minutes later, Allen came back in and took a pass from Johnny Ortiz on the run and banked in a short shot to put Santa Barbara ahead 51-47 with 2:41 to play. Retreating to the other end of the court, he rebounded a missed shot by the Chargers and triggered a break which resulted in an open 3-pointer by Christ. Three straight misses at the free throw line allowed Dos Pueblos to stay close, and Jenkins made it a one-basket game when he nailed a 3-pointer to make it 56-53 with 19.9 seconds to play. But Kelly hit a free throw with 17.8 seconds to play and Christ added two more with 8.8 left to seal the victory.

So now you know what really happened.

And here's who really scored for both teams: Dos Pueblos: Legans 2, Sears 8, Holbrook 8, Jenkins 12, Bruce 6, O'Neal 4, Hoefer 13. Holbrook hit two threes, while Jenkins and Bruce score one each.

For Santa Barbara, the scorers were, Ortiz 9, Freeman 7, Williams 8, Christ 10, Allen 16, and Kelley 9. Williams scored one three pointer.