Foothill hangs on, moves into Gatorade Division championship
Foothill’s Collin Russell streaked down the right sideline Saturday and Dylan Hushaw hit him in stride with a game-winning bomb.
It wasn’t a touchdown pass, but the final inbound that allowed the Falcons to hang on for a 77-75 boys basketball victory over Timpanogos (Utah) in the Tarkanian Classic at Bishop Gorman.
“I knew they were going to gamble,” Foothill coach Paul DeSantis said. “I knew we were going to get one of those open. We just said whoever was open, we were just going to throw it up and worst comes to worst we tip the ball and the game’s over.”
The Timberwolves made things interesting down the stretch, and Colin Christensen hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to two with two seconds remaining. Timpanogos called timeout, but Hushaw’s baseball pass allowed the Falcons to run out the clock.
Russell’s reception was far from his biggest contribution. Foothill led by 15 at one point in the second half before the Timberwolves began to chip away behind Matt Norman,who scored 19 of his 30 points in the second half.
But Russell hit a 3-pointer from the left wing to push the lead back to 72-65 with 2:31 to play.
“It was a dagger,” DeSantis said. “He puts in a lot of work and he comes through in big games for us a lot.”
Russell had 14 points and Hushaw scored 19. Jace Roquemore added 16 points and five assists, but his biggest contribution may have been rebounding. The 6-foot-5-inch senior had nine rebounds, eight coming in the second half.
“I’m really proud of him, because we’re asking him to do stuff he’s not used to doing,” DeSantis said. “He’s used to playing so much on the perimeter, but we don’t have a lot of size, so I’m asking him to get down there and get dirty.”
The Falcons play Timpview (Utah) for the Gatorade Division championship at 1:20 p.m. on Saturday at Gorman.
“They need the experience if they’re going to take it to the next level for what we want to do,” DeSantis said. “In order to learn how to be a champion, you’ve got to be playing on the big stage.”
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Contact prep sports editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4597. Follow @DamonSeiters on Twitter.
