Boys basketball: Marin Catholic wins overtime thriller against University

When University High blazed an 11-0 run late in the third quarter and forged a seven-point lead, some might have figured Marin Catholic’s Cinderella start to the season had finally struck midnight.

Instead, however, the Wildcats (11-2) turned back the clock and danced the night away after battling back Tuesday for a thrilling 96-95 overtime victory in the title game of the Bambauer Classic in front of a loud capacity crowd in Kentfield.

University of San Francisco (10-3) is annually one of the top basketball programs in the North Bay, not to mention the Red Devils feature Lucas Lau, a virtual scoring machine.

None of the aforementioned concerns seemed to trouble the Wildcats, who pocketed the victory on a pair of clutch Henry Dibble free throws with 2.2 seconds remaining in overtime.

“Everybody on this team has their strengths and everybody counts on each other,” said MC point guard Joe Hammond, who had 10 assists and was named the tournament’s most valuable player. “Everybody buys into the system and that’s what makes it work.”

Working overtime in overtime, most notably, was MC’s Bentley Morrow, who scored on a putback to pull MC within 94-91 inside the final minute then later made the defensive play of the game.

Lau was virtually unstoppable all game every time he drove to the basket and scored a game-high 38 points. He was at it again in the extra period scoring five quick points to put the Red Devils ahead by as many as five points.

Morrow’s putback cut the lead to three then University split a pair of free throws to lead 95-91. Dibble missed a 3-pointer for MC but Oliver Myers came up with the rebound and passed the ball back out to Dibble who connected from deep to pull MC within 95-94 inside the final 25 seconds.

Lau drove quickly to the hoop on University’s next possession but Morrow swatted the shot away to help MC come up with a critical stop.

“Lau is a great player,” Morrow said. “All you could do on defense was try to disrupt his shot and try not to foul him.”

Marin Catholic’s initial shot for the game-winner rattled out, but Dibble climbed the ladder to corral an offensive rebound. He was fouled on the play which led to his game-winning free throws.

“The guys on this team don’t quit,” Hammond said. “We’re never done until the clock says 0.0. We were down 10 to De La Salle in the De La Salle Tournament and came back and won. We believe we can always come back.”

Not surprisingly, the major contributors were many in MC’s first Bambauer tournament title since 2011.

Jack Herman (23 points) led the team in scoring for the second consecutive game dropping in nine of the Wildcats’ 24 first-period points. He also had three offensive rebounds and a steal.

Morrow excelled from one end of the court to the other, scoring 18 points, grabbing a team-high six rebounds, dishing three assists and notching two blocked shots.

Myers was the outside shooting wizard of the night, canning six three-pointers and collecting 20 points.

Dibble’s big night included five rebounds, two blocked shots and 13 points.

The fifth Marin Catholic player to reach double-figures in scoring was Chase Williams, who was especially effective in the first half when he had all 10 of his points, five rebounds and two steals.

“We knew this game was going to be (a shootout),” MC coach Kevin Vasquez said. “University plays the same style as we do and this is one of the best coached teams out there. So us coming out on the right side of this one is a testament to the new program here and how the team has bought into it.”