Burbank’s Best Shot Not Quite Enough

OXNARD —  The postgame vote said Juni Williams’ shot looked like a game-winner.

Heck, the three-point shot, which was launched with about two seconds left, went straight as a ruler.

It hit the rim and sailed up--no problem--before hitting the rim again on the way down.

Big problem.

The ball bounced out and Buena High found itself, for once, on the winning side of a close game, a 74-72 victory over Burbank in a first-round game of the Southern Section Division I-A basketball playoffs Friday at Buena.

“It looked straight to me,” said Williams, who helped lead Burbank back from a 17-point deficit. “But it doesn’t count unless we win.”

Buena also thought it looked good.

“To tell the truth, I thought it was going in,” said Gerard Bolden, who was guarding Williams on the play and knows a thing or two about clutch shots.

After all, Bolden kissed in an off-balance bank shot with seven seconds left to put Buena (16-9) ahead.

Buena turned the tide on a nasty season-long streak in which it lost four games in overtime and three other games at the buzzer.

“It’s about time,” said Buena Coach Glen Hannah. “It’s been our typical scenario, but usually it ends the other way.”

Buena plays Capistrano Valley, which defeated Aliso Niguel, 67-48, Tuesday night at a site to be determined.

Thanks in big part to 6-foot-6 center Ceneka Shaw, Buena found itself leading in the second quarter, 46-29.

Shaw dominated inside, throwing down 21 first-half points, and made a memorable statement on a fastbreak, turning an off-the-backboard pass from Bolden into a thundering first-quarter dunk.

Burbank (14-11) trailed at the half, 46-33.

That’s when Burbank Coach Ron Quarterman verbally challenged his players and cranked up the full-court press in the second half.

It worked.

Buena, which had only two turnovers in the first half, committed eight in the second half.

“We were going away from the ball and they were stepping toward the ball,” Hannah said.

Said Shaw, who finished with 29 points: “We got out of our game in the second half.”

Add that to a white-hot Burbank offense, which made its first seven shots in the fourth quarter, and things became interesting.

“We’ve made them all exciting,” said Hannah, who got 14 points each from Ryan Howery and John Tobias.

Matt Baker scored 22 points and Williams had 16 for Burbank.

“We had it to win, but we didn’t,” Quarterman said. “That’s the game.”