Boys Hoops: Lancers Blow 20-Point Lead, Lose in OT

A 20-point lead for La Salle in the second half did not equal a victory for the Lancers on Tuesday night. Buckley’s Anurag Choudhury hit an off-balance 3-pointer with a second to go in regulation to force overtime, and Buckley rode a strong showing in overtime to advance into the semifinals of the CIF-Southern Section Division 4A boys basketball playoffs with a 64-57 win over La Salle.

La Salle saw its lead slip away with cold shooting and a large number of turnovers in the second half. After taking a 38-18 lead, Buckley outscored the Lancers 46-19 to close out the game.

“It was everything that got to us,” La Salle’s Gary Mkrtichyan said. “Don’t get me wrong, we did play a great game. We just got into foul trouble early, and they beat us to the boards near the end.”

The Lancers’ loss marks the third-consecutive time, and the fifth time in six years, that the Lancers had lost a quarterfinal game in the playoffs. No loss though had felt as tough as this, though.

“We played great for two and a half quarters,” La Salle coach Steve Goldstein said. “We didn’t make good decisions. We had too many turnovers, and each one took shots out of our hand. At the end, looking back, all we needed was to draw a foul, knock in a free throw and the game would have probably been ours. It unfortunately was not the case, and it just mounted in overtime.”

The Lancers got off to a very hot start, going 4-for-6 from beyond the arc in the first quarter. Israel Lacy had two 3s in the period. Ian Schuler got the crowd roaring, nailing a jumper from the baseline to put La Salle up 18-10 once the first buzzer sounded. Buckley only managed six points during the second quarter, finding itself down 30-16 at halftime.

Schuler’s jumper near the middle of the third quarter put La Salle up 38-18. But Nick De Bonfilhs responded for Buckley, scoring the team’s final seven points of the quarter to cap a 15-2 run.

Up 49-39, the Lancers failed to make a bucket in the final 2:30 of regulation, making way for a Griffin comeback.

Buckley’s Larry Bush found a hole in the paint, laying one off the glass with 90 seconds left down 49-44. Tyler Carter-Coppin also had a layin to cut the lead to three with 35 seconds left.

La Salle had its chance to end the game. Following a Buckley turnover, Lacy threw an errant pass out of bounds to Darryl Oliver, giving Buckley one final shot to send the game to overtime. Choudhury then nailed his contested 3 from the corner with a second to go.

La Salle committed back-to-back turnovers to begin overtime. Buckley worked the boards in the extra frame and controlled the clock for most of the period. Larry Bush’s putback with a minute to go gave the Griffins an eight-point lead. La Salle had no answer, only managing two field goals in the extra period.

Mkrtichyan and Lacy led the Lancers with 13 points. Carter-Coppin had 23 points for Buckley, while De Bonfilhs had 14.  

“I’ve never had a team play its best basketball in the playoffs,” Goldstein said. “We never really came together, but I never had seen a team transform so quickly, especially when it did matter most.”