We've got one more game recap of the final day's action at the Impact Basketball/Pasadena Stars Fall Spectacular Tournament November 13. This was a barnburner between the SV Cagers and the Westsiders in 14U semifinal play. These two teams were evenly matched and appropriately the game wasn't settled until after an overtime.

	Photo by Dave Keefer
	Wes White gets ready to power one up between #34 Alex Tiffin and #22 Nicholas Kahui-Bruen.

14U Semifinal: SV Cagers 64, Westsiders 61(OT)

We arrived at the tournament during an earlier quarterfinal game and watched the Westsiders annihilate the Westside Rebels 79-24. We hadn't seen the SV Cagers play against this level of talent before and wondered if they could hang. Most folks seemed to be talking about a Westsiders vs. RC Bulls match-up for the championship game. But first the Cagers would have their chance against the Westsiders, and what a game!

They battled back and forth early on as they sparred for control. The Westsiders edged out to an 18-14 lead but it was rare for either team to lead by more than that the rest of the way. And the lead would change sides several times. The Cagers grabbed a 22-20 lead and extended it to 24-21 on Grant Keller's basket. Back came the Westsiders to tie it at 26-26 on a three-pointer by Ray Berry. They then regained the lead 28-26 as Kurt Davis rang up a deuce. The half ended at 28-27.

Photo by Dave Keefer
Daniel Cox

The Westsiders kept the lead until Keller made a nice move and scored with his left hand to make it 31-30 for the Cagers. The Westsiders answered but Alex Tiffin converted a layin to put the Cagers back in the lead for a while. Keller scored on another drive, Daniel Cox hit a jumper, and the Cagers would up the lead to 42-36.

Then Derek Brown asserted himself for the Westsiders. Brown is a new member of the squad and, once he settles in the rotation, this team will be even better. He hit two consecutive three-pointers and the Westsiders only trailed 44-42. He soon would hit a go-ahead layin to make it 46-45. Donnie McFrazier finished a fastbreak with a layup and when Brown tacked on two free throws a little later, the Westsiders led 52-47 and had just wrapped up a 16-5 run. Were the Westsiders taking control?

	Photo by Dave Keefer
	Derek Brown scores on a layup.

Nope. The only time either team took control was when the clock ran out and a final score was shown on the scoreboard. The fun was just beginning. The Cagers answered the Westsiders' run with five quick points and tied it 52-52 on a James Whalen three-ball with 3:00 on the clock. Then Keller gave them the lead 54-52 with a bucket.

Back came the Westsiders with a clutch trey from Davis. That 55-54 lead evaporated with a Tiffin basket and Keller extended the Cagers' lead to 58-55 with a gutsy drive in traffic with 40 seconds left. Wes White missed a jumper with 19 seconds left and the Westsiders had to start fouling. It took three fouls to get into the bonus. Things didn't look too good for the Westsiders with only 12 seconds left and Whalen at the line with a one-and-one.

He missed the front end but the Cagers got the rebound. That advantage soon vanished when the Westsiders grabbed a steal and had a chance to tie with a three-pointer. Brown set up behind the arc and got a pass. With defenders flying by he calmly launched a three with time running out. Nothing but net and on to overtime.

Photo by Dave Keefer
Mark Friedman

Interestingly, only one field goal was scored by either team in overtime and it wasn't made by the winning team. But the four-minute extra frame was certainly not boring. It remained 58-58 until Keller went to the line at the 2:17 mark for a one-and-one. He hit both and the Cagers led 60-58. White had a chance to tie for the Westsiders with a one-and-one trip to the stripe with 1:21 left. He made only the first so the Cagers kept the lead 60-59.

With both teams unable to hit their field goal attempts (the defenses were working hard), free-throw shooting became critical. Although the Cagers missed the front end of their next opportunity, Cox got the rebound and was fouled. He then hit both ends with 28 seconds left and the Cagers were up by three at 62-59. Tim Douglas got the only field goal in OT when he drove in for a layup for the Westsiders, who now trailed 62-61 with 15 seconds left.

	Photo by Dave Keefer
	Nicholas Kahui-Bruen

Cox was immediately fouled and he again came through by hitting both ends of the one-and-one. Down by three, the Westsiders weren't done yet. They were armed with 12 seconds and a sharpshooter named Brown was available for another chance to hit a tying three-pointer. He got the chance with 5 seconds left but this time the shot didn't fall. The Cagers got the rebound and ran out the clock.

Brown and Cox each led their team with 27 points in two great efforts. White added 10 points for the Westsiders and the Cagers were helped by 13 points (Keller) and 11 points (Tiffin, Whalen). The scoresheet was hard to decipher. At any rate quite a team effort given by both squads.