Prospectors hang on to beat Pumas

Some 200 Maria Carrillo students wore T-shirts Thursday night that read simply: "We Believe." On the other side of the gym, a like number of Piner students wore T-shirts imprinted with, "Believe the Hype."

Students and fans packed Maria Carrillo for what was arguably the most important basketball game in Carrillo's 12-year history. Piner, a perennial North Bay League contender, blasted Carrillo on the Prospectors' court nearly one month ago. The Pumas wanted to return the favor.

With a possible share of first place at stake, the "Believe the Hype" proved to be the winning slogan.

Piner built a 15-point lead, and then withstood a furious Carrillo rally led by Justin Herold to win in heart-stopping fashion, 58-57.

Down 58-55 with nine seconds remaining in the game, the Pumas' Andrew Corsberg fired from beyond the arc and narrowly missed. Herold, who had a game-high 30 points, tipped in the errant shot for the final points as the buzzer sounded.

"When it left his hand, I thought it was good," said Maria Carrillo coach Jerry Deakins.

The win threw the NBL into a virtual three-way tie when Montgomery defeated Cardinal Newman in double-overtime by the same 58-57 score. Piner is 19-5 overall and 10-3 in league. Carrillo fell to 16-7, 9-3. Newman is also 10-3.

Herold had another monster game in his match up with Lucas Devenny. Herold finished with a game-high 30 and added 14 rebounds.

"That was great game," said Piner coach Mike Erickson. "We were up by 15, then got into some foul trouble, and Herold went to work. I don't think he missed in the second half. For juniors, he and Devenny are two of the best big men to come out of Sonoma County in a long time."

Devenny had 29 points and nine rebounds, despite double and triple teams. On several occasions, as he was smothered with bodies down low, he kicked the ball out for open jumpers. Andrew Flohr, who had six points, was the recipient of Devenny's generosity for two easy buckets.

"Flohr has been struggling," Erickson said. "Tonight he battled, played hard and he made a couple of big shots for us.

Piner guard Mario Pascal also made a couple of strategic jumpers late in the game. One from the baseline with under two minutes left and another earlier in the game that temporarily stopped a Pumas' rally.

"This is a huge win for us after a couple of losses," Pascal said. "We had to grind it out. It's a big win going into the playoffs."

Piner used two nice runs in the first half to gain a 30-20 advantage at the intermission. Leading 11-10, the Prospectors went on a 7-2 run beginning late in the first quarter and continuing into the second period to lead 18-10. Mark Robinson stopped the bleeding for the Pumas with a jumper in the lane.

Piner came right back and put together a 12-4 run led by Devenny inside and guards Mario Pascal and Scott Tinsew on the outside. Devenny had four points in the spurt. Pascal capped the rally with a long trey for the Prospectors biggest lead, 30-16, with under two minutes left in the half.

Carrillo scored the final points of the half, two foul shots by Herold and a base-line jumper by Diego Hall.

Deakins said the key to the Pumas comeback was getting back to their game plan.

"We didn't run it in the first half," he said. "We got back to our plan in the second half. We tried some different things this time, we made a few changes."