San Mateo over Hillsdale in basketball OT thriller

Now imagine heartbreak.

The Bearcats escaped a valiant fourth-quarter comeback attempt by the Knights to gain a 71-64 overtime victory at Hillsdale High, pouring it on in the extra period with fine performances by A.J Sampson, who made several key steals and ended with 13 points.

Leonard Johnson filled in underneath beautifully for Yuve Hightower, who was out with a fever, leading the 'Cats in rebounds with 12 and tied with Aaron Anderson for the lead in points at 17.

The final minutes of the contest were rambunctious, fueled by an overachieving Hillsdale team -- the trio of Josh Urbiztondo (22 points), Robby Peters (19, four steals) and Danny Rodriguez (10, 15 rebounds) played the entire game, until Rodriguez fouled out in overtime -- a San Mateo team that played harder than it had all game facing the reality of a loss, and a home crowd whipped up into hysterics by the action.

With one second remaining, Hillsdale sophomore Cris Rochester, who had a breakout game with 18 points, stood at the free throw line for a potential game-winning one-and-one free throw. Josh Urbiztondo had tried to milk the clock and drive for the final shot, but A.J. Sampson stripped the ball and, with the possession arrow pointing to the home team, the tie-up went to Hillsdale.

Rochester's opportunity bounced off the left side of the rim, off the backboard, and landed securely in the hands of San Mateo's Shawn Sapoaga, who had made an alert pass inside to Johnson for a layup for San Mateo's last points in regulation.

"I was pretty worried at the end," said Johnson. "But when he missed that free throw, I knew we were going to win. We couldn't lose -- not to Hillsdale."

The second half saw players step up on both teams, resuling in several outstanding sequences. The intensity of the game escalated halfway through the third quarter, when Rodriguez blocked a shot inside, grabbed it, and outletted to a streaking Urbiztondo. But Urbiztondo's lay-up was swatted from behind by a sprinting Antawn Bowens, who recovered it and sent the fast break back the other way to Sapoaga for a San Mateo basket.

"Things were pretty intense out there," said San Mateo Head Coach Steve Asp. "Hillsdale works hard all the time, and they took it up a notch in the fourth quarter. But we had some guys who stepped up too."

The guards continued the action, with Urbiztondo making a steal two minutes into the fourth, leading a three-on-two break, and -- after pausing to survey his options -- cutting inside against the two defenders and going over both for the bucket.

Sampson countered seconds later, cutting backdoor and receiving a pass from Anderson for an angelic reverse lay-up, one of two on the night.

With the Knights down 44-52, Robby Peters got hot and hit two free-throws, then hit a three-pointer after San Mateo turned it over. He followed that up with a driving lay-up after the 'Cats defense overplayed him on a steal attempt. Finally, Peters hit a three with 1:50 on the clock from 4 feet behind the arc to tie the game at 58-58.

Anderson was the answer for the Bearcats. He hit five threes in the game, but his biggest attempts were misses. Early in both the fourth and the overtime, Anderson was sent falling to the ground on fould from glancing contact by Bryan Snodgrass, giving him a total of six free-throws, three of which he made. And the final one was recovered by the Bearcats to help propel them on to the overtime win.

Afterward, Hillsdale's Dan Rodriguez gave San Mateo credit for a performance worthy of the victory. But explaining how he and his team felt at the moment was more difficult.

"I took it upon myself to work as hard as possible. We all did. And every guy is looking at himself and what he could have done different. But really, we lost as a team."