Boys’ basketball: Long Beach Poly wins at the buzzer, 61-59
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There were 13 lead changes, and a capacity crowd of more than 2,600 people who made it into the gym at Cerritos College were treated to a basketball classic on Friday night in a CIF Southern California Open Division first-round playoff game between Long Beach Poly and St. John Bosco.
With 10.6 seconds left in a tied game, Poly inbounded the ball and gave it to its standout senior, Roschon Prince. He drove to the basket, ran over St. John Bosco’s Darien Williams while trying to shoot and the ball ended up in the hands of Jordan Bell, who scored as the buzzer sounded, giving Poly a 61-59 victory.
Prince finished with 25 points and Bell had 12 points and 13 rebounds. Poly received a huge second half from Brandon Staton, who scored all 10 of his points in the final two quarters and helped bail out the Jackrabbits when they fell behind by 11 points in the third quarter.
Isaac Hamilton had 22 points and Tyler Dorsey 16 for St. John Bosco.
In another Open Division game, Westchester went on the road and knocked off Fresno Bullard, 60-58. Westchester will play at top-seeded Etiwanda on Tuesday.
Santa Ana Mater Dei defeated El Camino Real, 79-54, and will host Poly on Tuesday. Stanley Johnson scored 23 points and Elijah Brown had 21 points.
-- Eric Sondheimer