CIF title taken out of Etiwanda's hands
The Etiwanda boys basketball team was robbed of a CIF title Saturday night.
The officials made the wrong call when they whistled Eagles guard Erick Ellis for traveling with 16 seconds left in the CIF-SS Division I-A championship game against top-seeded Riverside King.
With his second-seeded Eagles up two points, Ellis was taken to the ground after he grabbed what should have been the game-sealing rebound. The whistle blew before he even had time to travel, all the more reason I was sure the call was on King. And the way Ellis was playing - he scored 15 of his team-high 21 points after the third quarter - I wouldn't have bet against him making those free throws.
Instead, King got the ball back and 6-foot-7 Kawhi Leonard made a putback with 7.3 seconds left.
Ellis nearly won the game anyway: As time in regulation expired, he got a good look at a 3-pointer that rimmed out.
Etiwanda was clearly deflated in overtime, as evidenced by the 79-69 final score in favor of King. After Ellis pulled the Eagles within two with 2:37 left in overtime, King went on an 11-2 run.
The confrontation between the top two seeds in Division I-A had been building all season. The game lived up to the hype, too, until the referees took the game into their hands.
Etiwanda couldn't match the inside game of 6-6, wide-bodied King forward Eric Wise (27 points, 9 rebounds) or Leonard (15 points, 8 rebounds). But the Eagles found their shooting touch just in time to hit their first three 3-pointers of the game in a fourth quarter they entered trailing by five.
Etiwanda's best shooter, junior Rome Draper, who was visibly tight most of the game, buried a clutch 3-pointer from the corner with 38 seconds to give Etiwanda the 59-57 lead Ellis was trying to protect when he grabbed that rebound. It's too bad the game was taken out of his hands.
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About Clay
Clay Fowler has been covering high school sports for six years in California and Texas. He was born in Dallas, attended the University of Texas and worked in Central Texas before joining the Daily Bulletin staff in 2006.
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ya we were robbed of our championship. i feel sorry for our etiwanda eagle players cause they deserved to win it!!!!