The stage was set with a home game in Tuesday’s San Diego Section Division III boys basketball semifinal playoff game and all the trappings were present courtesy of a full house in the Red Devils’ National City gym.
The overflow crowd was treated to an exciting finish — one that went down to the final spit-second on the final shot of the game.
If Craig McMillan’s desperation floater dropped through the net, top-seeded Sweetwater would advance to Thursday’s division championship game at Mira Mesa High School.
If the shot didn’t fall, the fourth-seeded San Diego Cavers would make the trip instead.
McMillan’s shot didn’t fall and the Devils — leading by six points with 3:21 to play — saw their season end prematurely with a 79-78 loss to the Cavers.
San Diego (21-8) advanced to play second-seeded Valhalla (28-3) for the division championship.
Sweetwater (24-7) will have to wait until next season to make another statement on the court.
This one obviously hurt; the pain was etched all over the face of SuHi head coach Jesse Aguirre following the game.
“It’s too bad,” sighed Aguirre, who appeared beyond disappointment. “Both teams played well. We kept a four-to-five-point lead for most of the fourth quarter. Their guy made three free throws. We just didn’t play smart basketball.
“Every time we got a good groove going, the whistle started blowing for some reason. Our focus was not there for four quarters.”
The meltdown started when Red Devil 6-foot-7 giant C.J. Jackson fouled out with 2:38 left in the game. At that point in the game, Jackson had tallied 10 points and grabbed 18 rebounds.
That left the major burden of carrying the team on the shoulders of the 6-foot-5 McMillan, who seemed to respond to the challenge.
San Diego cut the Sweetwater lead to 69-67 on a bucket by Jaliel Jackson. But McMillan responded with a pair of free throws to up the Devils’ lead to 71-69.
The hosts played the final minutes of the contest in foul trouble, repeatedly sending Cavers to the charity stripe in the dying stages of the game, which helped complete the fall.
Jaliel Jackson dropped in a foul shot with 2:19 to play to trim the SuHi lead to 71-70. Teammate Steve Stinson then stole the ball and scored on an uncontested lay-up with 2:01 to play to put the visitors ahead 72-71.
At this point, the Cavers were also in serious foul trouble and the slightest physical contact seemed to draw a trip to the free throw line for either team.
McMillan sank both free throws with 1:46 remaining to push the hosts back on top 73-72.
The momentum seemed to swing in Sweetwater’s direction when Jimmy Mattox grabbed a rebound and sped down court for an uncontested lay-up and a 75-72 SuHi lead.
The home fans were roaring at this point; the din became even louder when McMillan sank one of two free throws with 1:03 to play to extend the Devils’ lead to four points at 76-72.
But too much time remained on the clock.
The hosts could not contain the visitors, who had designs on making a comeback of the first order to silence the SuHi fans and create shrieks of ecstasy from their own group of supporters.
The ending was not for the faint of heart.’
San Diego’s Andre Love was awarded three free throws with 49.4 seconds remaining in regulation. The pressure was clearly on Love, who made all three shots to trim the Sweetwater lead to 76-75.
The Devils called a time-out with 33.1 seconds to play. Promptly on the inbounds play, McMillan was sent to the line with a chance to wrap up the game.
But the SuHi scoring standout missed both shots with 32.2 seconds left on the clock to hand the ball back to the Cavers.
Football standout Daniel Thomas scored on a lay-up with 21.6 seconds to play to put the Cavers in front 77-76.
That set the stage for a wild finish.
McMillan sent the large SuHi fan base into delirium after hitting a jumper with 11.8 seconds to play to nudge the Devils in front by the slimmest margin at 78-77.
But the hosts were unable to defend that lead, however small it was. Perhaps predictably, they fell victim to a pair of free throws by Stinson with 6.9 seconds remaining.
Sweetwater got the ensuing inbounds to McMillan, who raced up court weaving through defenders. He finally pulled up for a jump shot … that missed falling in at the buzzer.
Game over. Season over for the two-time defending South Bay League champions.
One spectator fainted.
McMillan finished with some truly inspirational numbers for a depleted Devils’ squad: 32 points, four assists and eight rebounds.
Ariene Velasco and Jeilen Jackson each contributed 12 points while the younger Jackson tacked on nine rebounds.
Mattox, who missed last Saturday’s quarterfinal victory against San Ysidro due to an unexpected hospital visit, was back for Tuesday’s semifinal but was not the team’s savior.
“I give it all to him (Mattox),” Aguirre said. “We had three guys (injured) on the bench.”
Thomas led San Diego, riding an 11-game winning streak, with a season-high 21 points while Aaron Burgin Jr. dropped in 15 points and Stinson added 14 points.
With a win on Thursday, the Cavers have a chance to win a CIF basketball championship to go with their CIF football championship in the fall.
Only the Norsemen, riding a 14-game winning streak, stand as the final barrier to clear.
No. 2 Aztecs stall in CIF semifinals with 58-49 setback to No. 3 Francis Parker
The Mesa League champion Montgomery High School boys basketball team made a statement in last Saturday’s 82-57 San Diego Section Division I quarterfinal playoff win over visiting Helix after recovering from an early four-point deficit to win by 25 points.
Kyle Paranada led all scorers on the playing court with 33 points while teammate Rahin Williams dropped in 14 points.
The game’s momentum swung in Montgomery’s direction following a slam-dunk by Williams with 1:39 remaining in the third quarter that electrified the crowd.
The second-seeded Aztecs proceeded to out-score the 10th-seeded Highlanders 46-23 in the second half.
It was a different story in Tuesday’s semifinals.
Montgomery fell behind 25-13 in the first quarter but rebounded with two strong middle quarters to trail 42-40 entering the final quarter. But the Aztecs were unable to steal a win after being out-scored 16-9 by third-seeded Francis Parker in the fourth quarter.
Paranada led the Aztecs (27-4) with 24 points in the 58-49 loss.
Francis Parker (20-9) advances to meet top-seeded Cathedral Catholic (22-9) in Friday’s division championship game at UC San Diego’s RIMAC Arena after the Dons eliminated fourth-seeded La Jolla Country Day, 64-55, in Tuesday’s semifinals
Girls basketball
South Bay League co-champion Chula Vista (22-9) ended its season with a 44-30 setback at top-seeded Mission Vista (20-2) in Tuesday’s semifinals.
Junior Frida Caballero led the fifth-seeded Spartans with 15 points to earn player of the game honors from the team’s coaching staff. Junior Alexandra Lozano had eight rebounds.
Mission Vista advanced to meet second-seeded San Dieguito Academy (22-6) in Thursday’s division final at Mira Mesa High School.
In a Division IV semifinal match-up on Tuesday, 12th-seeded Castle Park (11-17) led top-seeded Madison (26-3) by a 12-9 score after the first quarter. But the Trojans were out-scored in the next three quarters, including 11-2 in the third quarter, to end their season with a 51-34 loss.
Imani Moore (17 points) and Megan Irwin (14 points) each scored in double figures for the victorious Warhawks, who advanced to Thursday’s division championship game against second-seeded Foothills Christian (25-6) at Serra High School.
