From the sports archives: San Mateo High School boys’ basketball team nips Sequoia on buzzer beater

"Ed-die, Ed-die, Ed-die!"

When the dog pile at mid-court finally cleared, San Mateo's Eduardo Trujillo emerged from the pack as the Bearcats' newest hero in their heart-pounding 34-33 win over the Cherokees.

"That was the biggest shot I've ever had," Trujillo said. "It's crazy to make a shot like that."

Trujillo is referring to his layup which came with the buzzer sounding that gave his Bearcats the victory. The shot came after Sequoia's Julian Berterro had made a lay-up of his own with 8.3 seconds left to put his team ahead. But San Mateo came down the court and Darren Fong was fouled on his drive to the hoop. On the ensuing inbound play with 0.8 seconds to play, Trujillo was all alone under the basket when he put up the shot that got the friendly home roll as it sat atop the cylinder.

It seems as though the universe conspired to make Trujillo the hero last night -- after the foul on Fong and a timeout, the Bearcats tried to substitute for Trujillo after the allotted time. Forced to stay in the game, the forward made the best of it.

It's a was frantic finish in the game that saw five lead changes in the fourth quarter --four in the game's final 47 seconds.

"I was trying to find an open spot," Trujillo said. "My point guard trusted me and I was wide open. It was a fairy tale from there."

Considering the seasons both teams have undergone, Friday night's win must have felt like Cloud Nine for the Bearcats.

The storybook-finish masked the fact that both teams struggled offensively for the night. San Mateo and Sequoia combined for 12 points on 22 percent shooting in the first quarter with the Cherokees leading 8-4 after one.

Things picked up for the Bearcats in the second quarter behind six points off the bench for Jordan Wong. Wong was a spark for the Bearcats the entire night, finishing with 14 points.

Sequoia ended the first half having shot 6 for 29 from the field, but found themselves tied at 15 because of their ability to rebound the basketball. Leading the way on the glass was James Beekley, who had seven first half rebounds.

The second half was a back-and-forth affair with no team leading by more than three at any point during the game's final 16 minutes -- and Matt Elliot's pretty dish to Berterro under the hoop for a layup tied things up at 26 after three, setting the stage for a wild fourth quarter.

The quarter began with a 3-pointer by Fanor Padilla to put the Cherokees up. San Mateo responded immediately with a long distance call of their own by Donovan Washington to tie things up again.

Fanor put Sequoia ahead again with a pretty floater in the lane at 31-29. From that point, it seems the game would revolve around Trujillo. He'd miss the second of his two free throws, with an air ball no less, that would have tied things up again. But it was his layup with 47.7 seconds left that gave the Bearcats the 32-31 lead. And then with less than a second left, after almost being subbed for, Trujillo hits what he called the shot of his life.

"That's high school basketball," said Sequoia coach Fine Lauese. "You win some, you lose some. Overall I thought it was a great game."

Trujillo finished with seven points for the night, five in the fourth quarter. Berterro led the way for Sequoia with 13 points and eight rebounds.

"I'm happy about the win," said San Mateo coach Julian Hudson. "We really lucked out. I'll take it. We executed at times and at times we didn't. We just have to be consistent."