ANTIOCH, Calif. – Dwayne Burns said he knew from the moment it left his fingertips it was good. So did his coach, as did his teammates.
The 5-foot-11, 195-pound senior guard took the ball from near midcourt, drove around one defender and with two others surrounded him, somehow got off a 12-foot runner in the lane that banked home with 0.6 seconds left, giving
Liberty (Brentwood) a 66-65 Bay Valley Athletic League win over host
Deer Valley (Antioch) Friday night.
Dwayne Burns made the game-winning
shot versus Deer Valley under severe
pressure.
File photo by Ernie Abrea
Though superbly defended, Burns and the Lions (19-5, 6-2 BVAL) were supremely confident in the make because: A. Burns has been making clutch shots all season and B. Liberty, which hasn't won a league title since 1985, appears on a mission.
The Lions simply would not take "oh no you won't" or a combined 40-point effort from Deer Valley's talented backcourt of
Kendall Smith and
Olajuwon Garner for an answer.
Liberty was carried all night by 6-2 junior
Brandon White (27 points) but Burns (12 points) made the play at the end while knocking off the first-place Wolverines (17-7, 7-1), who came in ranked fifth in the North Coast Section. Liberty was No. 11.
"He's been making big plays down the stretch for all us all season," said Liberty coach Jon Heinz. "No reason for him to stop now."
Said Burns: "I knew it was good when it left my fingertips. When coach set up the play during the timeout I knew it was going to work. I always listen to my coach."
Burns made a 3-pointer down the stretch to send the first meeting between the two teams into overtime, a 71-69 Deer Valley win. He also made a game-winning jumper against Heritage to win 46-44.
On Friday, after a Deer Valley turnover on its own baseline with 11 seconds left, Heinz called timeout and set up a play for Burns off a high screen near the top of the key. Burns seemed to dribble too long near midcourt and instead of driving at about six seconds remaining, he left about at four.
He had virtually all the Wolverines surrounding him with hands in his face when the shot banked softly home. He was fouled out the play and after Burns missed the free throw on purpose, Smith's three-quarter court shot didn't draw iron.
"There's nothing we could have done better defensively on that last one," Deer Valley coach LeChet Phillips said. "You have to take your hats off to Dwayne Burns. The kid made a tough shot."
One of the hands not in Burns' face was 6-9 junior Marcus Lee, who fouled out with 1:12 remaining. Lee, who averages 13.5 points, 14.8 rebounds and 9.3 blocks per game, played only 16 minutes all night due to foul trouble.
He finished with eight points and only one bucket, a putback with 1:34 left to put Deer Valley up 65-62. But he fouled out 22 seconds later after White drove hard drive to the basket. White made one of two free throws and Juwan Blakeley made another free throw for Liberty with 50.1 seconds left before Burns' heroics.
Deer Valley, which was also hampered by four fouls from its other big man
Noah LaBonte, looked like it took control with a brilliant third quarter when it scored 27 points to take a 57-51 lead.
The Wolverines went small and Garner and Smith combined for 18 of the points, while
Dylan Williams and
Nsimba Webster came off the bench to give their team energy. The pace of the game was all Deer Valley.
But White was simply superb all night and wouldn't let his deep and scrappy team down. He scored 10 in the first quarter, four in the second, six in the third and seven in the fourth.
Deer Valley's Kendall Smith had
a team-high 22 points.
File photo by Ernie Abrea
Phillips wasn't please afterward, but saw perhaps a silver lining.
"It's good this happened now and not in the playoffs," he said. "If we're going to lose this is a good time for it to happen. We lost our composure and didn't take good shots down the stretch.
"But we still control our destiny."
Indeed, a win at Freedom (19-5) Tuesday and at home Friday at Pittsburg would secure the title for the Wolverines. If Freedom wins Tuesday however, that would set up a possible league-title game between Liberty and Freedom next Friday.
"That would be something else," Heinz said.
As the final buzzer sounded Friday, many of the Liberty faithful on hand stormed the court.
Heinz, who in five seasons has done a terrific job turning around a dormant program, called it the school's biggest win in 27 years. The Lions were just 4-21 two seasons ago before an 11-15 campaign last season.
"It's not just big for us, but for entire Liberty High School community," Heinz said. "We have a bunch of scrappy, hard-working kids and all that hard work is paying off."
Liberty 66, Deer Valley 65Liberty (19-5, 6-2)Brown 0 0-2 0, Burns 5 1-2 12, Blakeley 1 1-2 3, White 10 7-10 27, Jones 3 0-0 7, Galloway 0 0-0 0, Meeks 2 1-4 5, Cortez 2 0-0 4, Worley 4 0-0 8. 27 10-20 66.
Deer Valley (17-7, 7-1)Smith 6 8-15 22, Garner 7 0-0 18, Robinson 3 0-0 6, Lee 1 6-8 8, Bershell 2 0-0 4, Williams 1 0-0 3, Webster 2 0-0 4. Totals 22 14-23 65.
Liberty 13 22 16 15 - 66
Deer Valley 14 16 27 8 - 65
3-point goals: Garner 4, Smith 2, Burns, Jones, Williams.
Fouled out: Lee, Brown, Galloway.
