Jan 24, 2008

Dramatic win over El Cerrito for Jackets

Last-second shot rims out; Berkeley alone in 1st place in ACCAL

By Ben Enos / MediaNews

All Alex Harris could do was watch.

The El Cerrito High School guard, who just seconds earlier scooped up an errant pass near half court, found himself on a fast break with less than 5 seconds left and the Gauchos trailing by two.

After eluding an attempt to draw a charge from Berkeley's Mark Samuels, Harris tossed up an off-balance layup that bounced four times on the rim with Harris spilled on the court, looking up.

The Gauchos' hopes danced on the rim but eventually were dashed when the ball fell off to the right, giving Berkeley a hard-fought 55-53 win at Lovonya DeJean Middle School in Richmond on Tuesday night.

The win left the Yellow Jackets alone in first place in the Alameda Contra Costa Athletic League.

Berkeley (10-7, 5-0 ACCAL) appeared a bit flat to begin the game after an emotional win over Salesian at Cal's Haas Pavilion on Monday. That changed after halftime though, as senior guard Duane Bagsby caught fire. Bagsby scored nine points in the third quarter after going scoreless in the first half.

"I just decided to let a couple go in the second half and see what's going on,'' Bagsby said. "I was still struggling a little bit, but more fell than not.''

At the same time, though, El Cerrito (11-5, 4-1) got its engines revved behind the inside-outside combination of Daymon Warren and Dave Emerson. The two combined to score 19 of the Gauchos' 28 points in the second half, keeping it close until the very end.

"That's a tough loss,'' Emerson said. "We had it right there, but we couldn't finish.''

In the game's waning moments, both teams made enough plays to build some drama. A Samuels jumper put Berkeley up 55-51 with 27 seconds remaining. Warren came back at the other end, though, and hit a tightly contested jump shot with one foot on the 3-point line to close the gap to two with 8 seconds left.

That left Berkeley to inbound the ball and, after a foul of Bagsby left the Yellow Jackets inbounding again under El Cerrito's hoop, Darryl Blackmon's pass was too high for Bagsby to corral, allowing Harris to put up one final attempt to tie the game.