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.
Comments
ya we were robbed of our championship. i feel sorry for our etiwanda eagle players cause they deserved to win it!!!!
Posted by: Veronica Bolanos | March 5, 2008 2:48 AM