From the sports archives: Hillsdale survives Urban in Nor Cal opener

“I thought we were in control,” said Hillsdale head coach Brett Stevenson. “We had the right pace.”

There almost wasn’t a Thursday night game for Hillsdale, however. The Knights had a 19-point lead to start the fourth quarter, but the 12th-seeded Blues outscored the Knights 31-12, getting a pair of free throws from Jaydon Aquino to tie the score at 61-all.

Hillsdale lost starting point guard Matt Chan to fouls late in the fourth and then saw Shawn Cotton Jr. head to the bench with his fifth foul with 2:14 left in the first overtime.

But a pair of Knights who haven’t received a lot of acknowledgment this season came through in the clutch. Reece Nobida made 1 of 2 free throws with 1.5 seconds left in the first overtime to send it to a second.

Down 77-76 with 17 seconds left in the second overtime, Oliver Crank grabbed the rebound off a Calvin Mader-Clark 3-point attempt with under five seconds to play, was fouled and went to the line to shoot 2 with 1.5 seconds left.

Crank made the first one. Urban called a timeout. When Crank stepped back to free throw line, the crowd was mostly silent.

The last thing heard was Crank’s second attempt rippling the net and the crowd erupted.

The Blues got off a halfcourt shot that was nowhere close and the Knights escaped with the win.

“Honestly, I felt loose,” Crank said of his game-tying and winning free throws. “My best friend Reece Nobida came up to me and cracked a joke. … I just went up there (to the free throw line) and do what I do.”

Those two free throws gave Crank a team-high 20 points. Cotton added 19 and Mader-Clark chipped in with 15.

“[Crank] is hard-wired to compete,” Stevenson said. “He’s just a special, special player.”

There was really only one reason the game went to overtime — Urban’s junior guard Bryce Smith, who dominated in the second half overtime.

“We knew [Smith] was a heck of a player, averaging 26 a game,” Stevenson said.

Tuesday, Smith doubled his average, finishing with a mind-boggling 52 points.

“He’s a great player,” Crank said. “He was a tough guard.”

Smith connected on 16 field goals, including five 3s, and then was 13 for 13 from the line.

Smith scored 18 points through the first three quarters before going off in the fourth. Of Urban’s 31 fourth-quarter points, Smith accounted for 21 of them. He scored 34 points in the fourth quarter and overtime and the Knights simply didn’t have an answer for him.

“We tried everything,” Stevenson said. “Foul trouble hurt us. That impacted us in the fourth quarter.”

Aquino knocked down a pair of free throws for the Blues with 11 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. Hillsdale led 65-63 before Smith drove to the basket, converted the layup and drew the foul — which was then compounded by a technical foul against the Knights. Smith hit all three free throws and the Blues led 68-65 with 2:04 left in the first overtime — their first lead of the game.

Despite being without their starting point and shooting guards, the Knights rallied. Mader-Clark knocked down a pair of free throws with 1:44 left. A Crank turnaround jumper with 15 seconds left gave the Knights a 69-68 advantage.

But Smith struck again for the Blues, knocking down a floater in the lane to put Urban up 70-69 with 2.4 seconds left.

After a timeout, Hillsdale had to inbound the ball under its own basket. Mader-Clark sent a baseball pass three-quarters the length of the court, where the shortest player on the court, 5-6 guard Nobida, was fouled going for the ball, sending him to the line with 1.5 seconds remaining.

He got the most important one out of the way, knocking down the first try but failed on the second. Urban grabbed the rebound and called timeout, but its last-second shot fell short and the teams went to a second overtime.

Hillsdale got two huge baskets from Nick Robinson — a layup from the block followed by a putback on his second try to give Hillsdale a 74-72 lead. The Knights were up 76-74 when, guess who? Smith knocked down another floater to tie it again. Josh Spieth then went to the line for the Blues and split a pair of free throws with 17 seconds left for a 77-76 lead, setting up Crank’s heroics.

“I saw Calvin’s shot (was short) and I knew I had to get to the rim,” Crank said. “The ball came right to me.”

The first three quarters, however, Hillsdale appeared in control. Cotton got off to a hot start for the Knights, scoring 10 points in the first quarter as they used a 10-0 run over the final 2:47 of the quarter to lead 16-8 after one period.

The Knights then scored the first 5 points of the second to push their lead to 21-8 with 4:54 before halftime. Hillsdale then closed the half on a 5-0 run to lead 28-17 at the break.

It seemed the Knights might have put the Blues away in the third, outscoring Urban 21-13 to lead 49-30 going into the fourth.

“I don’t think it was our best fourth quarter,” Stevenson said. “We didn’t finish the game (in regulation), but we finished in OT and that’s what’s most important.”