From Deseret News archives:
High school basketball: Waterford snaps Judge's streak
Behind another impressive game from junior big man Neal Monsen, and a gutty defensive effort from everyone, Waterford halted Judge Memorial's 41-game region winning streak as Vincent Otiede's rebound putback in the waning seconds sealed the 43-41 victory.
"This is a big win. They're a good team," said Otiede, whose 11 points were second only to Monsen's 24. "Coach always tells me to crash weak side, and that's what I did. The ball came to me and I just put it in the hoop."
When Monsen's baseline hook shot rattled off the rim, Otiede was in perfect position to coral the offensive rebound and break the 41-41 deadlock on a layup with 3.2 seconds remaining. The Ravens, however, had to sweat out a few timeouts and Judge guard Stallon Saldivar's desperation 3-pointer bouncing off the rim before they could celebrate the biggest win in school history.
It was Judge's first region loss since falling to Wasatch in mid-February back in 2005.
"No one comes in here and wins that doesn't believe they can win, and we believed we could win if we played a certain way," said Waterford coach Reid Monson.
It was a very methodical approach, but the Ravens got the job done. Defensively they were fantastic holding Judge to under 35 percent shooting, but even more impressive was the offensive patience. Despite constant double- and triple-teams being thrown at the 6-foot-10 Neal Monsen, the game plan was still to have everything go through him.
Even when things weren't going well, Waterford stuck with the game plan and now it's tied with Judge at 8-1 in Region 10 with one game remaining.
The game was tight throughout with neither team leading by more than six. The Bulldogs were at their best early in the third quarter when they scored on three straight possessions to open up a 23-18 lead. They couldn't get anything going the rest of the quarter as Waterford regained the 28-27 lead.
Waterford maintained the momentum well into the fourth quarter scoring on five of its first six possessions to increase its cushion to 39-33 with 3:34 remaining.
That's when the pressure of the moment got to the Ravens. Over the next two minutes they missed four straight free throws opening the door for Judge to tie the game at 39-39 on back-to-back 3-pointers from Zach Myaer and Danny Franks.
"We stayed together as a team even when a couple big shots went in," said coach Monsen. "I told them big shots are going to go in at some point and you have to be strong enough mentally and physically to stay with it."
Waterford regained the lead on a pair of free throws from Neal Monsen, but Saldivar responded with a tough pull-up jumper to level the score again with 27 seconds remaining.
The Ravens' coach opted not to call a timeout in the final 27 seconds, and it ultimately paid off as Otiede was in the right place at the right time.
E-mail: jedward@desnews.com
