Walter's Basketball Showdown

Cougars hang tough in section final
SACRAMENTO — The Weston Ranch High boys basketball team played with No. 4 Sacramento until the final seconds Friday night before falling, 62-58.
Had it not been for a questionable technical foul call by the officiating crew with less than two minutes remaining, the Cougars could have traveled back to Stockton with its first ever section title.

After the Dragons were called for a shot-clock violation at the 1:46 mark of the fourth quarter, the officials didn’t properly whistle the play dead.

James Nunnally headed up court with the basketball, and was called for a delay of game technical foul.
After the foul, Sacramento’s Fred Ellis sank two free throws, creating a four-point swing in what was at the time a three-point game.

“That just an awful way to lose a section championship game,” Weston Ranch head coach Bill Slikker said. “That call was (wrong). Their explanation was (not acceptbale). We’ve played three playoff games up to this point, and the refs let the kids play. To make that call in that situation was just (wrong).”

Nunnally went right to work putting his stamp on the game in the first quarter, scoring seven points and finding two open teammates for assists.
After a uncharacteristic 3-point performance in the semifinals against Natomas, Vinny Devencenzi wasted little time eclipsing that mark.
The Cougars shooting guard was good on his first attempt from the arc and finished the first half with eight points.

Walter Jackson and Jerrell Walker had their hands full with Sacramento’s big front court, leaving the supporting cast to pick up any loose rebounds.

Brandon Silva, Mic’ael Thomas and Nunnally didn’t dissapoint, grabbing eight defensive rebounds in the first half and limiting the Dragons second-chance opportunities.
The Dragons started the second period on a 10-4 run behind six points from Shaun Thomas, four of which came by way of offensive putbacks.

The Cougars responded, closing out the half on a 13-0 run that would turn a seven-point defecit at the 4:50 mark to a six-point advantage heading into the locker room.
The run was highlighted by six points from James Nunnally, including a rim-rattling two-handed dunk with 30 seconds left.

Nunnally finished the half with 15 points, five rebounds and three assists.

“We did a lot of good things in the first half. We stopped (Cervante) Burrell from driving, and we limited Ellis,” Slikker said.
The Cougars started the second half up six, and extended their lead to 10 after a pair of Khiry Thomas free throws made the score 45-35 with two minutes remaining in the third period.
Weston Ranch had very little trouble playing against the Dragon’s size advantage.
On offense they refused to turn the ball over, and crisp passing led to open shots almost every time up the court.

On the defensive end, they limited the Dragon's open looks, and sent them to the line rather give up any open layups.
Burrell pulled the Dragons to within seven with thirty seconds left on a nifty spinning layup in the lane.
He cut the Cougars lead to five at 47-42 heading into the fourth when he stole an inbounds pass and converted a layup with four seconds left.
The Dragons took back the lead at the 4:36 mark of the fourth when Brandon Curtis sunk two free throws making the score 50-49.
Sacramento extended its advantage to 53-49 when Fred Ellis converted one of two free throw attempts with three minutes left.
Ellis made it 55-49, moments later with a jump hook from left of the key.
Nunnally returned the favor next time up the court converting a layup and drawing contact for the and-1 free throw.
At the 2:07 mark, Sacramento head coach Derek Swafford called a timeout.
With the score at 55-52, Dragons, the section title was still anyone’s for the taking.
After Ellis sank the technical free throws, both teams exchanged buckets for the final two minutes.
The Cougars worked the Dragons lead to two with six seconds left on a Devencenzi putback.
On the inbounds, however, the Dragons avoided all Cougar defenders and were able to cap off the game with a Jhonte Simpson dunk at the buzzer.

“The season’s not over, that’s the good news,” Slikker said. “We played hard tonight and fought to the end. We had some trouble with Burrell in the second half and we let them back into the game.
“You don’t want to blame the officiating, we had every opportunity to win the game.”
Nunnally finished the game with a game-high 23 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Devencenzi dropped in 16, while Jackson netted 15.

The Cougars next compete in the California Interscholastic Federation Northern California Regional Championships which starts Thursday.
By BRANDON PETERSEN
Staff reporter for the
Manteca (Calif.) Bulletin

http://www.mantecabulletin.com/articles/2007/03/03/sports/sports2.txt

By Michael Sudhalter
Record Staff Writer
March 03, 2007 6:00 AM
SACRAMENTO -The Weston Ranch High boys basketball team was about six minutes away from winning its first section championship in school history.

That didn't happen as No. 1 Sacramento mounted a 27-13 second-half rally to defeat the No. 7 Cougars 62-58 in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championship game on Friday night at Arco Arena.

"When you're in a championship game, you need everything to go your way and not everything did go our way," Cougars coach Bill Slikker said. "No question we had our opportunities. We missed a couple of gimmes underneath."

Weston Ranch (24-8), however, will live to play another day. It will open the California Interscholastic Federation Northern California Division III playoffs on the road next week.
"It hurts, but we could have lost two rounds ago or three rounds ago, but we're moving on," Slikker said.

Weston Ranch appeared to be in control when it built a 45-35 lead late in the third quarter, but the Dragons (25-5) slowly chipped away at their league.
The Cougars got within 55-52 with 1:46 remaining when junior forward James Nunnally received a technical foul for delay of game.

"With a minute (and 46 seconds) in a championship game, you don't make that call - pure and simple," Slikker said. "That ended up being a four-point swing."
Nunnally scored 15 of his game-high 23 points in the first half. He also had eight rebounds and four assists.

Earlier in the game, Nunnally fueled a 13-0 run to give the Cougars a 31-25 halftime lead.
Sacramento senior center Fred Ellis picked up his game over the final 16 minutes, scoring 16 of his 21 points. He also had nine rebounds.

The Dragons also received some balanced scoring with Cervante Burrell and Shaun Thomas scoring 12 points apiece. Brandon Curtis contributed 11 points.
Walter Jackson and Vinnie Devencenzi had 13 and 12 points, respectively, for the Cougars.

Weston Ranch outshot the Dragons 46.7 percent to 37.1 and shot 62.5 percent in the first quarter.

Before this season, Weston Ranch had not gone further than the section semifinals; where it lost last season to Foothill.

Two years ago, the Cougars finished 1-24 in their inaugural varsity season. They won a share of the Valley Oak League title last season and took second in the league this year.

The victory marked Sacramento's third section championship. The Dragons also won in 1996 and 2005.
Last season, the Dragons lost to St. Mary's in the section title game and the NorCal championship game.