Muir beats Crescenta Valley on Jeremy Hayes’ jumper with 3 seconds left … Pasadena stunned by Hoover …

hayees
Jeremy Hayes puts up game-winning shot to beat CV.

PHOTOS

It didn’t happen exactly how his coach drew it up, but Muir High School forward Jeremy Hayes will take the bottom-line result.

Hayes banked in a jumper in traffic from in front of the Muir bench with three seconds left on the clock Wednesday to give the host Mustangs a 46-44 win over defending co-Pacific League champion Crescenta Valley.

“Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good,” Hayes said of his game-winner. “I always think they’re going in. It’s an excellent win. We talked about it all week and we knew how valuable it was for this first (league) game to get this win.”

Wednesday’s game was Muir’s league opener. The Mustangs finished third in league last year while rival Pasadena and Crescenta Valley shared the title. Muir improved to 9-5 overall while the Falcons fell to 9-5 overall and 0-1 in league.

The entire second was a white-knuckle affair with neither team ever holding a lead larger than two possessions. Hayes tied the game at 42-42 with 1:40 left on a short banker inside. He then used another short banker on Muir’s next possession to give his team the lead 44-42.

Crescenta Valley got fouled on its next possession and Atrin Ovanessian calmly hit both free throws to tie the game at 44-44 with 36 seconds left. While Ovanessian was at the line, Mustangs head coach Simaine Stewart could be heard repeating “I get the last shot” in front of his bench.

“It wasn’t confidence to win, it wasn’t confidence that we weren’t going to lose in regulation,” Stewart said. “We wanted to have the ball last. We’re at home. We feel like these rims are a little bit more friendly to us than they are to them.

“We wanted the opportunity to have the last shot and give them very little time. The goal was to run something to the other side and then to come back to him (Hayes). Actually, the drive was supposed to go to the middle. He went baseline. Obviously, it was luck. We’ll take it.”

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