Brock Barrick’s late 3-pointer lifts Knights to 57-54 victory over College Prep
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OAKLAND >> After three College Prep High School 3-pointers tied the game at 54-all with a minute remaining, Brock Barrick answered with his own long-range shot, his third and final 3-pointer of the night lifting the Kelseyville Knights to a hard-fought 57-54 victory over the No. 4-seeded Cougars in the quarterfinal round of the North Coast Section Division 3 playoffs Friday in Oakland.
The victory moves the fifth-seeded Knights (18-10) into the semifinals Tuesday night against No. 1 seed International (19-11) at 7 p.m. at International High School in San Francisco. If Kelseyville wins that one, it means a berth in the Division 3 championship game either Friday, Feb. 28 or Saturday, March 1 against the winner of the other semifinal between No. 2 seed Alhambra and No. 11 Sonoma Valley at a location to be determined.
“It was a fun game, but it was stressful,” Kelseyville head coach Oscar Lopez said of a contest that was trending toward being over late as the Knights opened up an eight-point lead with about two minutes remaining. “I was thinking, ‘Get one more basket and we’ve got this,’ but it didn’t happen.”
College Prep rallied to tie the game on the strength of its 3-point shooting, hitting three straight treys down the stretch. Kelseyville brought the ball inbounds with less than a minute to go and Ryder Leary’s pass found a wide-open Barrick who pump faked as an off-balance College Prep defender flew past him. The Kelseyville senior set himself and calmly stroked a shot that cut through the net with 45.5 seconds remaining.
The Cougars missed a potential tying 3-pointer as the Knights turned to their defense to close it out. Adam Astrup, who provided some huge rebounds off the bench after entering the game midway through the fourth quarter, drew a foul and had a chance to ice the game at the free-throw line, but he missed both shots. However, Kyle Watkins pulled down a huge offensive rebound after the second miss and the Knights were able to close it out.
“We had a couple of guys not playing their best tonight, but others stepped up. Adam Astrup came in with about four minutes left and rebounded really well.”
Watkins, in his fourth year of playing varsity ball, came up big again for the Knights with 23 points, including two 3-pointers.
“He had six points in the fourth quarter and Brock had five,” Lopez said of Watkins. “It’s nice that we can rely on him to get points in the paint, and he also had those two 3-pointers.”
Kelseyville finished with seven 3-pointers overall.
The two teams were never separated by much. The Knights led 18-16 after on quarter, 32-30 at halftime and 43-39 going to the final period.
“New challenges every game,” Lopez said of the Knights’ fifth straight win (throwing out a forfeit loss to Cloverdale).”
A win over International, apart from putting Kelseyville into the sectional championship game, would also lock up a berth in next week’s NorCal playoffs, which is part of the state tournament. Seeding takes place Sunday, March 2 and the Knights, a Division 4 team by enrollment, could end up moving up or moving down, just like they did for the section playoffs.
Apart from pulling down some crucial rebounds for the Knights in the late going, Astrup also finished with eight points. Barrick ended up with 13 points while Leary added five and Gene Holdenried and Jayden Teabo three each.
“The strength of our team is the bench,” Lopez said. “Nothing has changed.”
Looking ahead to Tuesday and beyond, Lopez said the Knights are ready.
“Overall, our group is up to the challenge,” he said.
