Boys Basketball: Gauchos Top Berkeley, the Final Seconds

While no one play was bigger than another in the boys basketball team's unofficial ACCAL clinching 66-65 victory over host Berkeley Thursday evening, the final two possession of the game ultimately sealed the deal for the Gauchos.

Here is a quick look back at the sequence:

Berkeley 65, El Cerrito 64: After forcing a traveling violation, the Gauchos earned possession down by a point with 21.8 seconds left on the clock.

Point guard Bobby Syvanthong, who coach Michael Booker called "the league MVP" after the game, dribbled past half court before calling timeout to set up a final play.

During the break, a stunt by the El Cerrito cheersquad went terribly wrong when a cheerleader was dropped while performing a maneuver. The Paramedics were called and the young lady was carried out on a stretcher with her neck immobilized and all. Play was stopped for roughly 20 minutes and when the game finally resumed, the large crowd in attendance ratcheted up its noise once again.

The Gauchos inbounded the ball into the hands of their senior point guard. Syvanthong surveyed the Berkeley defense (man-to-man) before taking a couple of dribbles towards the left wing. Syvanthong then dribbled hard back towards the middle of the floor, crossing over Yellowjackets' guard B.T. Shabazz.

Seconds later, Syvanthong found himself in the middle of the lane and as he let go a floater. The ball bounced off the back rim, bounced against the backboard and began to fall off the left side of the bucket. With Syvanthong drawing Berkeley defenders, however, forward Justin Johnson was able to find some room down on the low block and calmly went up and put the ball back in the hoop to give El Cerrito a 66-65 lead with 12.3 seconds left in the game.

"(Booker) drew up a play but it didn't work," Syvanthong said. "He told me to drive to the rim if Berkeley went man-to-man. I drove and missed, but my teammate was there. I was happy."

El Cerrito 66, Berkeley 65: The Yellowjackets also brought the ball past halfcourt before calling a timeout to set up a play.

With 4.2 seconds left in the game, Berkeley inbounded the ball into the hands of its best player in junior forward Langston Morris-Walker. Morris-Walker caught the ball at the top of the key, but was immediately doubled by Syvanthong and fellow guard Marcellus Pippins.

Morris-Walker then saw a flashing Jalil Eppenger, who had found some room near the right elbow. Eppenger quickly turned and fired. But, the long arms of center Eric Nelson was just enough to disrupt the shot, as Eppenger's try hit the front of the rim and rolled out just as the buzzer expired to set off a wild celebration by the Gauchos.

"Our goal was to stop ball, straight up," Nelson said.

To read a full recap of the game, click .

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