1/23/10- Royals Done In By Buzzer Beater

El Cajon, CA- Eight seconds away from earning a win, Hope International watched it slip away on a missed three with the rebound put back as time expired to hand San Diego Christian a 74-73 victory.  Senior Marcellus Cullors had a team high 22 points, including 6 of the last 8 points that put the Royals up by one late in the game, and 9 rebounds.

The Royals opened the game with a 6-4 lead before the Hawks answered with a three to take their first lead of the game.  However, the Royals immediately responded by taking back the lead on a layup by Freshman Kris Rosales.  The lead would remain with the Royals, though the Hawks forced a tie on several occasions, until halftime when the y held a seven point lead 40-33.

Cullors had half of his 22 points at the break.  Rosales and Senior Marko Torovic both added eight first half points.

After the break, a three pointer by Cullors and the exchange of two pointers gave the Royals their first double digit leads.

But the Hawks used a 9-0 run to get back in the game as Viktor Asaciovas hit 6 of his 10 points for the Hawks during that stretch.  The next four plus minutes saw the Royals not surrender the lead but again allow two ties with the second one coming at 57-57.

The Hawks hit a three at the 8:54 mark to take a lead they would not surrender until 1:10 left in the game.  In fact with 2:42 to play San Diego Christian built a six point lead.

Cullors was not ready to go away yet as he buried a three from the left wing to bring Hope International within three.  After Cullors created a steal on the defensive end, he drove hard to the rim and managed to get the layup to fall while being fouled.  Cullors missed the “and one” but Torovic grabbed the offensive rebound and his put back gave the Royals a 71-70 lead with 1:10 to play.

An offensive foul at the other end put the advantage in favor of the Royals as they just needed to knock down their free throws to secure the win.  Junior Richard Merical knocked down both of his free throws to give the Royals a 73-70 lead.

The Hawks eventually made a jumper to climb within one and then fouled Cullors with eight seconds left to set up a one and one at the free throw line. 

Unfortunately, the free throw bounced around on the rim several times before coming off.  With the defensive rebound, the Hawks were off to the races.  Marcus Miller airmailed a three pointer attempt from 30 feet out but Jason Starr found himself in the right place at the right time as he grabbed the errant shot and kissed a shot off the glass just before time on the clock read triple 0’s.

Especially the way the game ended, a tougher pill to shallow for the Royals was knowing that they outshot the Hawks (56% to 46%) and outrebounded them 29-25.

The Royals fall to 4-14, 0-9 GSAC on the season as the Hawks move up to 4-15, 2-7 GSAC.

On Tuesday, the Royals will close out the first half of GSAC play as they head to Biola.  Tip-off with the Eagles is scheduled for 7:30 pm in La Mirada.

>> Back to Men's Basketball Home Page