Article - CIF Sac-Joaquin

A three-point shot made by Placer’s Joe Manley with 5:08 to play brought Placer to within one point of the lead against West Park on Wednesday night, 43-42. But the game didn’t come down to the last second. West Park’s 6-foot-8 big man Tallis Toure hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give West Park its biggest lead and Placer went a full four minutes and 28 seconds before scoring another point with 40 seconds remaining, and by then, West Park led by 13 and the game was over. West Park's 59-49 victory earned the school its first league basketball title and they celebrated by cutting down the net. West Park is 9-0 in the Foothill Valley League while Placer dropped to 7-2 with both losses to the Panthers. “A couple of possessions here and there; they made some and we didn’t,” Placer coach Nate Swesey said. West Park coach John Hunter was pleased with the play of his team. “It’s our first league title and we’re pretty dang proud of that right now,” Hunter said. “The guys have been wanting to accomplish this and they’ve done it. The guys believed tonight. It was a heck of an effort from Placer. They’ve been around a long time and have won a lot of big games, and we knew we’d get their best effort. “We had to find a way to get it done. The guys came through and played as a team.” Toure scored a game-high 19 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter. His two 3-pointers broke the game open, but he had help. Jaden Jackson hit four 3-pointers scored 12 points, nine coming in the first half to keep his team in it. Andre Anderson finished with eight points, six coming in the first half, as his drives to the basket and high-lofted shots came back down through the hoop. The big boost came from Mason Johnson, who scored all 11 of his points in the second half. “Tallis made a lot of big shots, there’s no doubt about it, but Mason Johnson stepped up,” Hunter said. “Westin Wade stepped up. Every guy stepped up big and we relied on our defense to get the job done.” Johnson added, “They key to the win was we just played like ourselves and did our jobs. We didn’t let anything they did change how we played; we just did our thing. “It’s our first basketball league title in school history. We love making history and we’re looking forward to making more.” Kobe Espina led the Hillmen with 16 points. DeAndre Howard scored nine points, while Kannon Rector scored seven. Both teams play again Friday, West Park at Lincoln and Placer at Oakmont, and then it’s on to the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs next week. “We’ve had a great season,” Swesey said. “We’ve got one more game at Oakmont and we’re hoping to get a home game for the playoffs and we’ll go from there." Added Hunter, “We’ve got another game against Lincoln to take care and we’ll play where they put us and play whoever they put us against.”

West Park pulls away from Placer, claims first league title