Central Catholic boys battle-tested after rugged VOL

Central Catholic’s Peter Hamilton hit the brakes, showed the ball and then deftly pulled it back, allowing his defender to fly by.

Layups don’t get much prettier.

Later, Amrit Dhaliwal pitched a ball into the corner for Daron Bland, whose jumper flipped the scoreboard with less than four minutes left in Wednesday’s Valley Oak League finale with Manteca.

With every offensive punch and loose ball scrum, Central Catholic coach Mike Wilson applauded his team’s effort and hustle.

The Raiders surge into the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV tournament with the momentum generated by a … 54-53 loss?

You bet, said Wilson, impressed by the younger, smaller Raiders’ ability to push a large-school section title contender to the brink in a playoff atmosphere.

“You never ever want to lose, obviously,” Wilson said. “But if you’re going to lose, this would be the way to lose. We fought back. You can’t ask anything more from the kids.

“There were little mistakes. Some shots that were too quick, but as far as effort level goes … after the first quarter they executed the game plan as we asked.”

Little things doomed Central Catholic (21-5, 10-4), which earned the top seed in D-IV will host up to two playoff games – including Wednesday vs. No. 16 Delhi – at its small gym before moving into a spacious new facility next season.

The Raider shot 22 percent from the free-throw line and were badly outrebounded by the Buffaloes (39-22), whose execution in the final minutes proved the difference.

Nevada-bound forward Kenny Wooten had 15 points and15 rebounds, but it was rising junior Tydus Verhoeven that saved the Buffaloes (22-5, 11-3) from fumbling another road win.

Manteca, which surrendered a 15-point lead in a loss at Sierra on Feb. 5, led 23-13 when Dwight Young (11 points) buried a three-pointer with less than four minutes left in the first half.

Then, Central Catholic found its footing – and a speed Manteca couldn’t match.

Peter Hamilton scored nine of his team-high 17 points in the second quarter, including a pump-fake that sent Wooten and his 7-foot wingspan sailing into the back wall.

Jared Rice also got loose for 12 first-half points as the Raiders cut the deficit to 28-26 at the break.

Rice had 16 points and five rebounds, but was just 1 of 5 from the free-throw line. Bland scored all seven of his points in the second half; none bigger than his toes-on-the-line jumper to give Central Catholic its first lead, 50-48, with 3:24 left.

Verhoeven answered Bland’s go-ahead shot with four consecutive points, including a one-handed floater in transition to give Manteca a 52-50 lead. The 6-foot-8 junior charged the lane and spun off Joshua Hamilton, banking his shot off the glass.

After Peter Hamilton buried a three-pointer from the wing with 37 seconds left, Verhoeven found Wooten for the game-winning layup.

Verhoeven finished with 10 points, five rebounds, five assists and six blocks.

“We knew no lead was really safe with them. They can shoot the ball and they can score. They’re averaging like 75 points per game, so we knew they’d come back,” Manteca coach Brett Lewis said. “I truly believe we’ve been in a lot of close games. We’ve been in a lot of loud gyms and packed houses. I think it shows in positions like this. Our guys stepped up.”

The Raiders had two shots to win in the final seconds.

Joshua Hamilton missed a contested runner with 2.8 seconds left. He floated his shot over Wooten’s reach and then had the ball tick off his arm and out of bounds.

After Anand Hundal missed a free throw with 0.7 seconds left, Central Catholic collected the rebound and immediately called timeout. Joshua Hamilton’s heave from three-quarters court crashed off the backboard.

Three of the Raiders’ four league losses were by four points or less, and to the top two playoff seeds – undefeated Weston Ranch twice and now Manteca.

“This one hurts because it’s by one point,” said Peter Hamilton, one of only two seniors honored before the game. “We missed some free throws and had some quick shots, but it’s not a bad loss. We learned a lot from this game. After playing in the VOL, we’re ready for the playoffs.

“We’ve learned we can play with anybody. It doesn’t matter that we’re undersized or a young team like people say. We know we can compete and that we belong on the floor with these guys.”

Wilson will live with the loss because the mistakes are correctable and out of character. Plus, the Raiders played with an edge even his best teams have lacked.

“When we’ve gotten into big games, we haven’t been able to compete,” Wilson said. “When we’ve gotten to (Sleep Train Arena, the site of the section finals), we’ve been scared in the first quarter. This game can help us in the long run.”

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 11:48 PM with the headline "Central Catholic boys battle-tested after rugged VOL."