Arenas Gives Greatest Gifts in Grant Win

While a good portion of the nation’s youth was ripping open gifts, Gilbert Arenas was ripping off jump shots on Christmas Eve.

Short, medium, long range. All by his lonesome at the local elementary school.

The Grant High shooting guard put in almost two hours the night before Christmas.

Maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise when he scored 33 points, including an off-balance, one-handed three-pointer that sent his team into a second overtime Monday night against Crespi.

Arenas wasn’t finished.

He scored the game-winner on a layup with five seconds left to give Grant a 79-78 double-overtime victory in a quarterfinal game of the Chaminade tournament.

“Not totally unexpected,” Grant Coach Howard Levine said.

Then again, Arenas could stand on his head, spin a basketball with his feet and recite the lyrics to the fight song for Arizona, where he has signed a letter of intent, and nobody would look twice.

Outstanding plays are nothing new for the 6-foot-4 Arenas, but the one he made at the end of the first overtime was especially memorable.

With the clock winding down and Grant trailing, 70-67, Arenas dribbled down the left sideline, pulled up at the three-point line and, with Crespi defender Blake Tibbetts draped over him, threw in an off-balance shot with his right hand.

“It was magic or something,” Arenas said.

Levine saw it coming.

“The concentration he had all the way from 10 feet behind halfcourt, to halfcourt, to the three-point line, was supreme,” Levine said. “His eyes became riveted to the rim. The great players have that kind of concentration.”

For the most part, Arenas, who had broken the 40-point barrier the four previous games, was guarded well by Tibbetts as Grant (9-2), ranked No. 6 in the region by The Times, fell behind by as many as 10 in the third quarter.

Crespi (7-3) hurt itself with poor free-throw shooting, making only six of 13 in the fourth quarter.

Still, Crespi, ranked No. 10, took a 58-56 lead with 1:01 left in regulation on a free throw by Pat Dornan.

Arenas forced overtime when he rebounded his own shot and scored with six seconds left.

Then came his three-pointer in the extra session, foiling a strong effort by Crespi’s Tim McDonough, who made three three-pointers in the first overtime.

“The most incredible shot I’ve seen in high school,” Crespi Coach Dick Dornan said. “He had no room, he just shot it up.”

He followed it up with an easy layup at the end of the second overtime, with help from point guard Rashad Winston, who scooped up a loose ball near the top of the key and whipped it down low to an open Arenas.

McDonough and Marcin Jagoda each scored 21 points for Crespi.