With under 20 seconds left in Friday night's game with Dayton, the Sparks junior drove past a double team. Guillen went up for a layup, hung in the air to avoid Tannar Wood's block attempt and got a shooter's roll to help the Railroaders secure a 60-57 win, which gives them the title of co-3A North League champs.
“It was crunch time and I have to give credit to Wood. He played a great game,” Guillen said. “I don't know who was guarding me, but I kind of hesitated on my shot because Wood had blocked one of my shots. I knew my team would be there for a rebound.
“We're confident, not cocky. We had a lead and they came back. They had a lot of heart.”
Dayton, the other co-champion, had a chance to answer after Sparks went up 58-57 on Guillen's layup. However, Sparks was able to force a turnover and the Dust Devils had to foul senior Jaime Pacheco with 3.7 seconds on the clock.
Pacheco went to the line and knocked down both attempts of the double bonus for the 60-57 margin.
Still, Dayton made Sparks fans hold their collective breath. A full-court inbounds pass found Connor Conroy in the corner. Conroy took a step back behind the three-point arc and unleashed a shot that hit the back of the rim and bounced away as time expired.
“It feels great. We started off slow this year, but practices are what got us here,” Pacheco said. “Coming into the game, we were pretty nervous. We had butterflies because we wanted to win the championship. We got it and now we're going to regionals.”
Sparks (11-15, 8-4 3A North) blew a couple big leads in the league battle to set up a flurry of a finish.
The Railroaders entered the second quarter with a 23-12 edge only to watch the visitors rally for the first 11 points of the quarter. Dayton held the hosts to only two points in the period as both teams went into their locker rooms with 25 on the scoreboard.
However, the Maroon and Gold returned the favor by beginning the second half with its own 11-0 run, helped by four Guillen free throws and one of Martin Jordan's four 3-pointers.
After taking a 38-31 lead into the final eight minutes of play, Sparks was able to push the gap to 40-31 before Dayton started rallying like in the second quarter.
The Dust Devils scored eight of the next 10 points to cut the deficit to 42-39 with 5:13 left to play in the game.
That's when the Lyon County started raining down the treys. First it was Kage Walker, who hit six 3-pointers on the night. Marti Espinoza followed with a three-ball, giving Dayton its first lead of the night, 45-44, at the 3:45 mark.
Pacheco answered right back by scoring down low and Sparks' Andrew Garcia drained a 3-pointer for a 49-45 advantage.
The Dust Devils would not go away as Walker ripped the twine on another 3-pointer.
Guillen drove to the hoop and dished the ball to Pacheco for an easy two with 1:46 remaining. That made the score 54-49 in the Railroaders' favor.
Wood capped his team-high 22-point night with a spin move on the baseline for a layup, making it 54-51.
Sparks then turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds pass, but Garcia swiped the ball at midcourt and took it in for a breakaway layup and a 56-51 edge.
Walker came right back and rattled home a 3-pointer, but instead of protecting the two-point lead, Martin took an ill-advised 3-pointer and missed. Dayton pushed the ball back up the court and Espinoza drained a trey, giving the Dust Devils a 57-56 lead with 26 seconds on the clock.
The Railroaders nearly gave the game away with the ensuing inbounds when Jeremy Smith tried to hand the ball off to Guillen, but Walker tipped the ball back into Smith's hands while he was still out of bounds.
The SHS cagers had to send Dayton to the charity stripe and got Conroy to miss the front end of a 1-and-1 situation, setting up Guillen's clutch shot.
“I wish it didn't have to get to that point,” Sparks boys coach Dick Lee said. “Dayton is a good team, so they probably would have come back anyway. Once he (Guillen) gets into the lane, he wants to finish and he's pretty good at it. If he doesn't finish, he usually gets his rebound.
“I thought we played well defensively even though they hit a lot of threes. We had a hand up and ran at them. I thought we did a pretty good job on the boards.”
Guillen led all scorers with 23 points, while Martin and Pacheco added 16 and 10 points respectively.
Walker finished with 19 points in the losing cause.
Sparks will enter the 3A Northern Region tournament as the No. 2 seed, but won't have to travel far for the tournament, which will be held at Reed High. The top two seeds receive a first-round bye and only have to win the semifinal matchup to automatically qualify for state.
“It's nice to be close to home and hopefully our fans will go over there,” Lee said. “But we played pretty well 380 miles away last year.”
Girls basketball
Dayton 53, Sparks 25
The Railroader girls had a shot to force a one-game playoff to decide the sixth and final postseason spot.
But a six-point deficit to start the fourth quarter turned into a 28-point loss in Sparks' season finale.
“We just could not hit a shot. It's the story of our season,” Sparks girls coach Tony Shaw said. “We missed a lot of free throws in the third and fourth quarters that could have made it a different game.”
The Sparks girls played motivated basketball despite going winless in the league campaign. After outscoring the Dust Devils 16-5 in the third quarter, there just wasn't anything left in the tank.
Dayton tallied 25 of the 28 fourth-quarter points Friday night.
“They thought they could compete. I kind of let them loose,” Shaw said. “They're a scrappy bunch, and they play hard. I was proud they played hard until the end and didn't quit.”
Dayton’s Kathy Arias knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth period as part of her 10-point performance, but it was Ariella Ruyball who led all scorers with 18 points, including eight in the fourth. Teammate Rachel Monzello also poured in 10 points in the win.
Danae Moser and Amanda Clark paced Sparks with nine and eight points respectively.
Post a Comment