OIA Girls Basketball
Roosevelt tops Kaiser, 50-49, in OIA playoff buzzer-beater


Wes Nakama
January 24, 2012, 10:18pm

  

Tue, Jan 24, 2012 @ Kaiser

Roosevelt

50

Kaiser

49

Final 1 2 3 4  
Roosevelt (10-6, 11-8) 9 19111150
Kaiser (10-1, 13-5) 14 13 12 1049
Chandler Arce 13 pts  2 3pm
Chelsea Wong 12 pts


Tati Mariano went coast-to-coast in 8.5 seconds and scored a layup off a spin move as time expired tonight to lift Roosevelt to a pulsating 50-49 victory over Kaiser in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association girls basketball playoffs.

A crowd of about 250 at Kaiser watched the Rough Riders, seeded No. 4 in the OIA Red Conference, improve to 10-4 and advance to Saturday's 6 p.m. semifinal at West runner-up Pearl City (11-1). The East runner-up Cougars fell to 11-2 and will play host to East No 3 Kahuku (11-3) in a 6 p.m. losers bracket game Thursday.

Kaiser took a 49-48 lead on Chandler Arce's runner from about eight feet out with 10 seconds remaining, and Roosevelt called timeout with 8.5 ticks showing on the clock.

Mariano received the inbounds pass and went coast-to-coast, making a reverse spin move into the lane and dropping a left-handed shot through the net a split-second before the buzzer.

"I was just thinking, 'Draw the foul,' " said Mariano, who looked up at the clock while crossing midcourt and saw about five seconds left. "I wanted to draw the foul, but I was able to get to the rim so I just shot it."

Cougars coach Simon Bitanga said he had hoped to trap the Rough Riders in the backcourt immediately after the inbounds pass, but that never materialized.

"We were supposed to trap, but somehow we stayed in man," Bitanga said. "But (Roosevelt) deserved to win, congratulations to them."

Kaiser led 9-3 and 17-11 early in the game, but Starr Rivera's layup two minutes into the second period started Roosevelt on a 12-2 run capped by Chelsea Wong's layup that made it 23-19 with 2:13 left.

The Rough Riders clung to a 28-27 halftime lead, but Arce's jumper with 21 seconds remaining in the third period tied it at 39-39 entering the fourth.

Roosevelt went up, 48-45, on Rivera's two free throws with 43.5 seconds, but the Cougars closed it to 48-47 on a layup by Darcey Goulsby 19 ticks later, and Arce gave them the lead after Mariano missed the front end of a 1-and-1.

That set up her coast-to-coast drive moments later.

"The main thing was to get the ball in," Rough Riders coach Hinano Higa said. "We were hoping to get fouled and get to the free throw line, and we had five guards in there to get fouled off the dribble. But Tati can get to the basket, she has good moves to get there."

Wong led Roosevelt with 12 points and Mariano and Rivera each added 10 points.

Arce led all scorers with 13 points, Goulsby added 12 points and Micaela Bitanga finished with 11 points.



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