FONTANA — The Summit boys basketball team only has four seniors, so it had to depend on its youngsters on Wednesday night in the biggest game of the season.
The kiddie corps came through splendidly for the SkyHawks in a 73-68 victory against Grand Terrace. The win gave Summit the Sunkist League title. Grand Terrace finished second.
Sophomore Ethan Barcelo scored a game-high 23 points for Summit (18-10 overall, 7-1 league). Junior Baraka Thompson contributed 14 points before fouling out late in the game, and sophomore Makhai Davis chipped in with 11 points.
“It was Senior Night, and we have four seniors,” Summit coach John Romagnoli said. “Ethan Barcelo is a sophomore and he’s come through for us all year. He’s just nails. He works so hard that his confidence level is really high. (Thompson) is a super talent and when he’s locked in, he’s pretty darned good.”
Tied 65-65 with little over a minute left, Barcelo made an almost impossible 10-footer. He was looking to pass but when the pass wasn’t there, his turnaround shot under heavy pressure made the net dance as Barcelo fell onto his backside.
“I was waiting for Makhai Davis on the backdoor,” Barcelo said. “It was there, but then it wasn’t there. So I took the shot and it was heavily contested, but I made it. It was a big-time shot.”
It wasn’t the last. Barcelo made a 10-footer from the paint with 29.3 seconds left to increase Summit’s lead to 69-65.
Davis added a pair of free throws with 18.1 seconds left to bump Summit’s lead to six points.
Grand Terrace (18-8, 6-2) made a 3-pointer as the clock was running down to keep the Titans in it. But Barcelo’s two free throws with 3.8 ticks left settled the issue.
“It’s amazing,” Barcelo said. “Last year we had seniors who carried us, but this year I have to play a bigger role and tonight I had one of my best games.”
Summit led 36-30 at the half and 55-52 after a 3-point buzzer-beater by Grand Terrace’s Delsyn Price.
Kyle Lowery and Price had 20 points each for Grand Terrace, and Reggie Caldwell added 19.
“We didn’t really play defense when we needed to in the first half,” Grand Terrace coach Patt Mitchell said. “We gave them too many open looks and then we had to fight back and we kind of left the game in the refs’ hands.”
Mitchell was upset because he thought the Titans were cheated out of a second-half timeout. That controversy caused a long delay, as did an incident in the first half when a player vomited on the court and the custodians had to be summoned.
“He said we called three timeouts in the second half, and we only called two,” Mitchell said.
Overall, though, Mitchell cannot quibble too much about his first season at Grand Terrace after coming over from Rancho Verde, where he was an assistant coach.
“It was a great game and it’s been a good season so far,” he said.
Both teams have earned spots in the CIF Southern Section playoffs. The pairings will be released Saturday at noon.
