Santa Rosa Rallies, Holds Off Cerritos in the Final Moments to Advance to Semifinals

Visalia, Calif. - Two of the state's more experienced head coaches went toe-to-toe in a quarterfinal game of the 3C2A State Championship tournament at College of the Sequoias in Visalia.

In the end, it was Santa Rosa rallying for an 89-81 victory. With the win, the Bear Cubs advance to the semifinals tomorrow against Fullerton, the south's top-seeded team at 5 pm.

Cerritos head coach Russ May was making his second consecutive appearance in the state championship tournament. Now in his 17th season, May has taken a program who he played for to 13 post-season appearances. In 1999, as an assistant at Cerritos, he won a state title.

On the other sideline you had Santa Rosa's Craig McMillan, a 12-time coach of the year who is in his 25th season. He won a state championship in 2014. Like May, McMillan was a stellar player having won two high school championships before playing at the University of Arizona where he was a two-time Pac-10 champion and played in the NCAA Final Four.

Both coaches led their respective squads to conference championship this season.

Experts expected a classic chess match and that is what the two teams delivered.

May said shot selection and not getting loss on defense would be key for the Falcons. Meanwhile, McMillan said controlling the boards on both ends on the floor was key for the Bear Cubs, the north's #2 seeded team.

Cerritos (26-5), the south's #3 seeded team got off to a fast start, eventually taking a nine-point lead with six minutes remaining in the first half and extending it to 10, its largest lead of the half, with 5:37 left. Santa Rosa (27-4), which brought an 11-game win streak into the quarterfinal game, managed to get within four points at halftime 47-43.

A lot of the first half scoring early was in the paint as the two teams combined to score 22 points in the paint. Both teams were efficient on offense. Cerritos finished the half, 16 of 24 — 66.7 percent — from the floor and 11 of 16 — 68.8 percent from the three-point line. In fact, at half, Cerritos Dorian Tate and Kamaury Washington had 14 and 12 points, respectively.

Santa Rosa was equal to Cerritos' offensive attack, making 16 of 22 shots — 72.7 percent and 5 of 9 — 55.6 percent — three pointers.  Santa Rosa got 17 first-half points from Spencer Langowski and 10 from Travis Hightower. Cerritos dominated the first half rebounding battle, securing 11 to Santa Rosa's 4 — all defensive.

Both teams seemed to be more deliberate in the second half. After seven minutes, both colleges had scored just 12 points apiece. Santa Rosa would get within one with just under 17 minutes remaining on a three-point play by Hightower. But Cerritos would answer, rebuilding its lead to 59-53 with 14:23 left. With 11:45 remaining, Cerritos had a five-point lead at 60-55.

Again, Santa Rosa would make a run, getting within three at 63-60 with 10 minutes left. But, Cerritos answered, taking a 68-62 lead with under 10 minutes left. With just over 4:41 left, Santa Rosa managed to take its first lead of the game at 73-72.

With 3:25 left, and the game tied at 76-76, Santa Rosa went on a 7-2 run to take an 83-78 lead. But again, Cerritos would fight back, getting within two at 83-81 with less than a minute left.

However, three consecutive turnovers by Cerritos in the final seconds, one leading to a steal and dunk by Gavn Early, sealed the win for the Bear Cubs.

McMillan created his team's late-game defensive effort for the win.

"First, Cerritos is a damn good team," said McMillan. "Down the stretch I think our defensive intensity picked up. We were able to get some stops and turnovers especially late which helped.

"We had a burst of energy late and with Hightower hitting those three and the other players making plays it helped our energy down the stretch."

Cerritos was led by Washington who finished with 21 points. Teammates Tate and Blake Brewer added 17 and 13, respectively. Santa Rosa had four of its five starters score in double figures led by Hightower with 26 on 10 of 13 shooting; 3 of 4 from the three-point line; and 3 of 5 from the free throw line. Lagowski finished with 21, after scoring 17 in the first half. Early added 15 and Amari Gray had 12, eight coming on free throws.

Release by Robert Schmidt, 3C2A Championship SID