By Jesse Mann
After
four years of playing in the shadow of the Christian Learning basketball
powerhouse, the Cambridge Knights won a championship to remember against the Eagles
Tuesday afternoon in the Eagles gym.
The contest was reminiscent of the era,
not so long ago, when the two teams’ intense rivalry dominated the League, a
time perhaps best remembered for the Knights’ come-from-behind one-point
victory against the Eagles in 2007, engineered with four three-point shots..
Cambridge won this time by a wider margin, 39-28, but the electric
tension was much the same as in days of yore.
Led
by the towering Luis Mercado, a giant that even Eagle center Andre Larsen could
not match, the Knights slowly but surely beat their opponents in a brutal
battle that raged all over the court, as both teams fought each other for every
inch of ground. But the Knights really showed the steel of their resolve by
holding their ground – even widening the
lead -- after Mercado fouled out with 4:08 left to play and the Eagles lest than
ten points down.
Fans,
players, and even coaches screamed constantly in frustration and exultation at
each other and the referees, who were always disappointing one side or the
other. Amid the pandemonium, all attention centered on the unforgiving digits
on the scoreboard.
Both teams bounded onto the court itching
for action, causing league officials to herd courtside fans into the stands,
fearing for their security.
When at last the tip-off occurred, Mercado
scooped it back to a teammate, and then, after getting it back, deposited it a
few moments later in the Eagle net.
After two more minutes of fierce – but scoreless
– play, the match suddenly ground to a halt. An
eerie silence filled the SCCLC gymnasium as Eagle coach Keith Wilcke stopped
play by standing in front of the referee with the ball screaming at him and
pointing at his chest and the ball, and complaining about which ball ought to
be used for play. (No one in the gym knew that at the time, and the spectacle
was mystifying to the big crowd.)
After nearly three minutes of consultation and
debate, in which the Cambridge athletic director was called in, the game ball
was changed to one Wilcke apparently liked better -- and Wilcke was charged
with a technical that gave Cambridge two foul shots.
Mercado, apparently untroubled by the new
ball, made both shots, doubling Cambridge's score to 4-0.
Action resumed, and Cambridge quickly
widened their lead. Andres Hurtado took control of a rebound, sending the ball
down the court where Mercado dished off to Juan Carlos Paniagua, who slipped it
into the Eagle net.
Cesar Flores landed a shot from outside
the key for the Eagles, but on the whole the Knights solid defense kept the
Eagles at bay. Any Eagle that attempted to drive into the Cambridge key was
immediately swarmed on by red Cambridge jerseys, or stopped cold by Mercado
underneath the net. But before the half was over Mercado was in foul trouble,
though often he just stood under the basket like an innocent bystander.
Nevertheless, the Eagles managed to nearly
even up the score by the end of the first quarter, assisted by three free throw
shots they made, a fraction of the opportunities they were awarded (but better
than they would do from the free throw line in the second half), plus baskets
by Larsen and Flores.
Neither team actually seemed to have a hot
shooting hand in the early going, either from the floor or the foul line, but
Cambridge held the lead, 10 – 7, at the end of the quarter.
The
Eagles continued their offensive efforts with more success in the second
quarter. Supported by solid work by Andre
Larsen on defense, the Eagles achieved considerable momentum when Flores raced
ahead of the Knights down the court, reaching the key with only Hurtado left
between him and the net.
Flores plunged forward, colliding with Hurtado
and flinging the ball into the net on his way down towards the floor.
Josiah Canaviri scored in a similar
fashion a few moments later, and a long jumper from the top of the key by
Larsen gave the Eagles the lead over Cambridge. Mercado quickly tied the score
again, but a fantastic lay-up by Cesar Flores in the dying seconds of gave the
Christian Learning boys a slim 15 – 13 lead at the half. They had outscored Cambridge 8-3 in the second
quarter.
Eagle fans rejoiced, and Coach Victor Coronado
hustled the Knights outside the gym for a serious discussion.
Whatever he told them, it worked. When
the Knights re-entered the arena, they did so with renewed confidence.
Cambridge would go on to outscore the Eagles 26-11 in the second half, and
allowed their rivals only four points in the third quarter, both on baskets by
Wesley Ordoñez.
The near-stalemate in which the second
half began was finally broken when Hurtado plowed through three Eagle defenders
like a tank, scoring two points, and picking up a foul. He made the free throw
to complete the three-point play, and this seemed to ignite a Cambridge scoring
drive.
After that Mercado found no competition
underneath the net, and together with some fine shooting by Gabriel Alonso, the
Knights began to pull away from the Eagles, and led 27-19 at the end of the
third quarter.
This trend continued in the fourth
quarter, but all bets seemed to be off when first Paniagua, and then Mercado
fouled out, leaving Cambridge without its only two tall players.
Even so, the Eagles failed to breach the
Knight's defense. A flurry of foul calls, loudly complained about by the large
Cambridge contingent present, gave the
Eagles no less than twelve free throw opportunities in the second half, of
which they made only one. Shot after shot bounced off the rim or missed the net
altogether, spoiling a perfect opportunity to narrow the gap.
Cambridge, by contrast, got only three foul
shots in the second half, all after a player was fouled while making a successful
lay-up attempt, and made all three.
As the clock began to run down,
the Eagles threw themselves at their opponent's net with increasing fervor, but
their shots somehow failed to end up in the net. With a nine-point lead, 31-22,
the Knights began to stall, going into four corners mode, dribbling and passing
the ball around the perimeter to run down the clock.
But when Paniagua and then Mercado
fouled out, that nine-point lead began to look vulnerable, and a basket by
Larsen cut it to seven.
At this point Hurtado, only a tenth grader but
a long-time veteran of SCISL basketball wars, took it upon himself to secure the
trophy for the Knights. The chunky player – and “tank” overwhelmingly suggests
itself as the appropriate simile, took control of the ball and hurtled down the
court, a seemingly unstoppable force, and not meeting an immovable object.
Four times he drove the ball to the basket at
high speed, and each time the Eagle fans moaned. Twice he put the ball in the
basket with an artistic flair, picking up a foul, and making the foul shot.
Two last-minute baskets by Canaviri and
Haziel Martinez could not save the Eagles, and Hurtado put the final nail in
the Eagle coffin swishing in a three-point shot in the final seconds. Of
Cambridge’s 12 points in the final quarter, Hurtado scored ten.
When
the buzzer sounded, the Cambridge fans spilled onto the court as the Knights
celebrated their long anticipated return to stardom with a victory lap around
the gym. The Eagles stayed silent in the huddle as the victorious Knights
dumped water on their coach and cut down the net from one rim.
After four long years of second- third- and
fourth-place disappointment, the Knights were again number one. The Eagles had fought hard, but were done
in by Cambridge's superior defense and their own inability to make free throws.
(Jesse Mann is a senior at Christian Learning and managing editor of the website.) )
