Sports
Big Comeback Lifts Islanders Over Point Loma
A key block by Harley Ralph sets up Daniel Hebert's 3-pointer as Coronado pulls out a 42-40 win.
Point Loma High guard Tez Wright was heading in for an easy breakaway layup, which would have put the Pointers up by four with 1:35 to go.
But racing down the court was Coronado’s Harley Ralph.
The 6-foot-3 junior timed his leap perfectly and rejected Wright’s layup off the backboard. Moments later Daniel Hebert sank the fourth 3-pointer of the final quarter for Coronado, and the Islanders hung on for a dramatic 42-40 come-from-behind victory Friday night over the visiting Pointers in a Central League game.
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“I was just trying to time my jump and get a good block,” said Ralph, who finished with 13 points and four rebounds. “Then we hit the 3-pointer and that was huge. All the 3-pointers we hit were big. That’s what really got us going.”
Coronado (15-4, 3-0) has now won four straight and 15 out of its last 16 contests. The defending Central League champions are perfect in league play.
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“It feels good to be undefeated,” Ralph said. “We're going to try to keep it going and get some more wins.”
The Islanders trailed by seven points entering the final quarter and didn’t score for nearly three minutes before going on a 17-8 run to close the game. Hebert hit two of the 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and finished with a game-high 17 points.
Point Loma (5-7, 1-2) had a chance to win the game and then a chance to tie it in the final seconds. With five ticks left, the Pointers’ Kohl Meyer fired up a 3-pointer, but it missed everything and the ball fell right into the hands of teammate Nate George under the rim. George then missed the putback as the horn sounded, allowing Coronado to escape with the victory.
Coronado opened the game on an 11-2 run and led 15-4 early in the second quarter. But the Islanders went cold and would only score 10 more points over the next 16 minutes, before scoring 17 points in the final 5:37 of the game.
Point Loma used a 3-point flurry of its own to climb back into the game in the second quarter. The Pointers hit four from beyond the arc, including Marquis Clifford’s with 1:26 to go before halftime to give the Pointers a 22-19 lead. Point Loma’s largest lead was by eight points early in the fourth quarter.
