Final seconds and in need of a win? Call Tornga
Published 8:00 pm Saturday, February 28, 2004
An intentional foul in the final second of a tied playoff basketball game Thursday night gave South Whidbey senior Travis Tornga his second chance in two games to be the hero.
In making two free throws to give the Falcons a 57-55 first-round district playoff victory over Mount Baker, Tornga proved that he wears his heroic mantel well. In just two games over the past week, Tornga and his teammates have raised a team that seemed destined to sit out the post season to the status of state tournament hopeful.
Against the Mountaineers at Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon, the Falcons spent all but a few seconds of the game trailing, but never by much. Having lost to Mount Baker twice this season — 62-51 on Feb. 10 and 75-70 on Jan. 9 — they stayed close or even throughout. In the first quarter, South Whidbey knotted the game for the first time at 9-9 when senior Kyle McGillen nailed a three-pointer four minutes in.
Then, taking a 15-13 deficit into the second quarter, the Falcons waged an uneven battle of defenses. Against a tight Mount Baker zone, the Falcons managed to tie the game at 21-21 on the strength of two Tornga treys, but were completely shut out of the lane as the Mountaineers forced repeated turnovers. On the other side of the equation, Mount Baker found holes in the Falcons’ man-to-man coverage to go up 33-23 by halftime.
During the break, the Falcons came up with a deliberate way of breaking through the Mountaineer blockade.
“That zone bothered us,” said South Whidbey head coach Andy Davis. “We became more patient in the second half.”
Working the perimeter, the Falcons started the second half with lengthy pass plays and started to comeback on two Paul Edgeman field goals in the opening minutes. That was all the offense Edgeman, a 6-6 senior forward, had on the night. But throughout the remainder of the game, he put on a defensive show, making several tips at the rim to rob the Mountaineers of scarce points, and grabbing a game-high nine rebounds.
By the start of the fourth, South Whidbey had closed the gap to 41-35. With 60 seconds of the resumption of play, the margin narrowed to 41-39, then to 43-43 with 4:40 to go. From there, the two teams traded shots, with the Falcons gaining on free throws. Into the bonus early, South Whidbey was on a pace to hit 14-of-17, compared to the Mountaineers’ 2-of-7 shooting from the free throw line. Mount Baker never made it into the bonus in the second half.
Two plays proved to be Mount Baker’s undoing. With one minute to go, a Mountaineer defender fouled McGillen under the basket in a play that even Coach Davis admits could have been called as a charge against his player. Making the 1-and-1, McGillen took the Falcons to a 55-52 lead. Seconds later, the Mountaineers answered with a three pointer from the sideline to knot the score at 55-55.
A South Whidbey timeout produced one final play. Bringing the ball down with 25 seconds on the clock, the Falcons set up another plodding pass play before dishing the ball off to Tornga, who ran around the right side and went for the layup only to be blocked and knocked to the ground by a Mountaineer on an intentional foul with one second remaining. Tornga went on to hit the front and back half of the 1-and-1 for the victory.
Tornga said after the game that the entire play was set up to work one way or another.
“We just planned to go in until we got something,” he said.
Coming into the tournament, the Falcons were the sixth seed. Mount Baker, at 12-7, had lost a coin toss tiebreaker for the second seed.
With the victory, South Whidbey goes on to play 15-5 defending state champion Nooksack Valley today at Mount Vernon High School. The winner of that game earns a trip to the state tournament and will play for the district championship.
