DP blowing

SoCal High School & Prep Report

Dos Pueblos Hones the Art of
Blowing Leads To A Science--(January 13, 1998)

We've heard several times from our friend Shantay Legans about the Dos Pueblos team, and how they are prone to building up big leads, and then almost, but not quite blowing them in the fourth quarter. Well, seems they did it again last Friday night.

Friday night against visiting Hueneme, Dos Pueblos had a 12-point lead late in the third quarter, but then blew the lead, dropped behind, and almost lost, managing to rally late in the fourth quarter to pull out a one point win and remain tied for the league lead. They won 64-63.

Legans did it again, pulling his team, virtually willing it back into the game, making two free throws with 1:37 to play to break a 60-60 tie, then made an open court steal and layup with 30 seconds left to secure the win, although Hueneme did drill a 3-pointer with six seconds remaining.

And if you thought that was close, they did it again two days earlier, last Wednesday. In their game against San Marcos, Dos Pueblos had a 19-point lead but blew it again in the second half, and won by only two points, 49-47 on a last second shot. Talk about taking it to the brink.

And it's not like the Chargers are struggling. They are 12-2 overall, and following Friday night's game were 3-0 in league. But Dos Pueblos coach Phil Sherman ought to be concerned about his teams' intensity, especially during the second half.

On Friday, Hueneme, was not exactly considered tough competion. They were 0-3 in league and 4-8 overall going into the game. But their record was misleading, and they really played their hearts out, almost pulling off the upset of the year in Santa Barbara-Ventura County basketball.

Hueneme's Robert Collins (6'-1" Jr. G) had 21 points, and led all scorers. He hit 15 of his 21 in the second half, including a 3-pointer to trigger a 12-0 run that extended into the first two minutes of the final period, that gave Hueneme the lead. Then Legans was assessed a technical foul following a breakaway basket by Collins, which allowed Brenden Garrett to tie the game at 49-49 with a free throw. We're sure that Shantay was just getting frustrated, and that he'll tell us the T was to wake his team up, but it could have been pretty costly.

After two free throws by Hoefer, Collins again tied the game, and then stole the ball, and converted a three-point play to put Hueneme ahead 54-51. But then Dan Hoefer of Dos Pueblos managed to hit four straight free throws, and tied the game again 55-55. Another score by Collins on a layup put Hueneme ahead for the last time at 59-57, but Shantay Legans managed to hit a 12' J to tie the game again, and and David Sears converted again with a three-point play. Hueneme again tied the game on a tip-in and free throw by Robert Luna.

In the final seconds of the game, Luna hit a 3-pointer, to put Hueneme within one, but DP got the ball inbounds to Legans, who was fouled with 3.6 seconds on the clock. He missed both shots and Hueneme rebounded, but the Vikings could not get off a final shot.

It was about as exciting as a game can get, and DP had better stop this. It's not good for Coach Sherman's heart.

Here are the scoring stats for the game:

Hueneme: Brenden 5, Bailey 6, Norman 2, Colbert 2, Williams 5, Ramirez 3, Garcia 6, Luna 14, Collins 21.

Dos Pueblos: Legans 14, Pipersburg 14, Sears 9, Archuleta 6, Jenkins 4, Burke 3, Hoefer 12, O'Neal 2.