Memorial Outlasts Clovis West, Wins Open Division In Wild Finish

Clovis West guard Jarren Carr (in white) plays tough defense on Memorial’s TJ Hall Jr in a 51-49 win for the Panthers Saturday, Feb. 29. (Gabriel Camarillo/Clovis Roundup)

Clovis West saw yet another memorable finish at Selland Arena Saturday night, with the game in the balance until the final seconds.

Unfortunately for the Golden Eagles, they came up one shot short.

San Joaquin Memorial and Clovis West battled for a full 32 minutes, going back-and-forth until Memorial junior Jaden Geron sunk a free throw with 3.8 seconds remaining to secure a 51-49 victory over Clovis West. With the win, Memorial captured the first ever Central Section Open Division boys basketball championship.

“That’s an explosive offensive team there [in Clovis West] and they got a great player [in Cole Anderson] who will go on to play big time college ball,” said Memorial head coach Brad Rosnovsky. “We weren’t great offensively… We just kept getting stops and rebounds and I’m so proud of our kids.”

Memorial blitzed Clovis West in the first quarter with its paint attack. Geron scored seven points in the quarter, muscling his way to the rim and hitting a three-point shot.

The Golden Eagles could not hit from three-point range in the opening period and shot 3-for-14 (21 percent) from the floor. Those early shooting woes put Clovis West in an 18-8 hole.

It would be a different story in the second quarter, when Cole Anderson shot back-to-back three-pointers to cut into Memorial’s lead. Anderson scored a total of eight points in the quarter, with Jarren Carr chipping in six, as the Golden Eagles tied the game at 26 at halftime.

The hotly-contested battle continued into the second half, where Clovis West took a brief 33-32 lead on an Isaac Martinez three-pointer in the third quarter.

Memorial answered with an 8-0 run fueled by sophomore Joseph Hunter, who scored eight points total in the third quarter to push the Panthers ahead 42-37 heading into the final period.

In the fourth quarter, Anderson knocked down a three to cut the Panthers’ lead to 46-44, then hit one of two free throws to make it 50-47 Memorial.

The score stayed there for quite a while, as both defenses buckled up, made stops and set up a wild ending.

Clovis West head coach Vance Walberg called his final three timeouts in the remaining 1:35 of play, yet the Golden Eagles did not score on any of their out-of-timeout plays.

Clovis West caught a lucky break when Memorial turned the ball over on an inbounds pass with 10.5 seconds left, giving Clovis West a fourth chance to cut the lead or tie the game.

Anderson attempted an off-balance shot and missed, but Preston Killbert tipped it in with 3.8 seconds left to make it 50-49 Memorial.

Walberg immediately called timeout – except Clovis West had used all of them up, resulting in technical free throws from Geron.

Geron hit one of two from the charity stripe, then was fouled again and missed the front end of the one-and-one.

Clovis West attempted a last-ditch heave in the final second, but it was wide left, sending Memorial’s bench and crowd into a frenzy as the Panthers celebrated an Open Division title win for the ages.

The Panthers were led in scoring by Geron (16 points) and Hunter (14 points), with each grabbing nine rebounds.

Clovis West saw Anderson (16 points) lead the way scoring, but overall for the Golden Eagles, it was an inefficient night shooting the basketball. Clovis West finished the game shooting 32 percent from the field and 27 percent from three-point range, in a game where neither offense was consistent.

Nonetheless, both teams will be tough outs in the upcoming state basketball tournament, with seedings being announced March 1 and first round games beginning March 3.

 

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Gabriel Camarillo has written for the Clovis Roundup since August 2019 and follows high school athletics, Fresno State football and former Clovis Unified student-athletes. Gabe also writes for The Collegian as a staff sports writer and works at One Putt Broadcasting as a board op for 940 ESPN radio.