SANTA CLARITA — The Golden Valley boys basketball team broke its longest active losing streak in dramatic fashion Wednesday.
The Grizzlies defeated West Ranch, 60-56, in overtime, ending a 15-year run without a win over the Wildcats.
The win also forces a tiebreaker between Golden Valley (17-11, 7-5) and West Ranch (12-14, 7-5) for fourth-place in the Foothill League. The fourth-place team receives the league’s final guaranteed spot in the CIF-SS playoffs, while the fifth-place team will need an at-large berth to get into the playoffs. Teams must have a .500-or-better overall record to receive an at-large berth.
The Grizzlies put the finishing touches on the senior night win with some clutch free throw shooting and crafty playmaking in overtime.
“The fight that they have in them is remarkable,” said Grizzlies coach Chris Printz. “Especially when you consider that we’re pretty young team. We only have three seniors and a lot of guys on the court are underclassmen, so to keep their poise is really impressive. This is just a great group of kids, this is an unbelievable group.”
Grizzlies sophomore Donovan Webb knocked down three shots from the free throw line and added a layup in overtime. Webb finished with 13 points, six rebounds, three assists and a trio of steals.
Golden Valley desperately needed a spark on offense early in the game, and junior Zach Christoffersen filled that role.
The junior couldn’t be stopped in the second quarter. After hitting one from deep in the first quarter, Christoffersen knocked down five 3-pointers in the second period, including three straight that sent the Golden Valley crowd into a frenzy.
“It’s happened to me before, but I don’t know how to describe it,” Christoffersen said of his scoring spree. “It’s a crazy feeling, like everything I throw up will just go in. I’d like to give props to my teammates on that, because they were able to get me the shots that I needed.”
Christoffersen scored all 17 of the Grizzlies’ points in the second quarter and tallied a game-high 22 points.
Golden Valley’s passing led to numerous open shots late in the game via backdoor cuts against the West Ranch defense.
Four Grizzlies finished with multiple assists, including senior Kenyen Andrews, who had four assists and five rebounds.
The Grizzlies got off to slow starts in the first two quarters. The team had seven turnovers early on before dominating the turnover battle in the second half.
West Ranch took advantage of the rut in the second quarter with a 10-0 run that put the Wildcats up 23-10 before Christoffersen exploded from deep late in the quarter.
Wildcats forward Prince Okonkwo did most of the work on the glass, where he brought in a game-high 15 rebounds along with 11 points.
The Grizzlies were undersized but attacked Okonkwo in the paint, getting the big in foul trouble early on. Webb made one of the plays of the night late in the fourth with a smooth drive to the rim where he converted the and-one through Okonkwo’s fifth foul.
West Ranch got a nice boost from junior point guard Alessandro Matera, whose quick feet and scoring kept his team ahead for most of the night.
Matera totaled 16 points, seve rebounds, six assists and two steals.
Junior Connor Peterson added 11 points and a pair of steals for West Ranch, which has gone to overtime in three of its last five outings.
Golden Valley snapped a three-game losing streak, and Printz likes his team’s chances of making it to the postseason, either with a guaranteed spot or as an at-large team.
“I think either way we’re in,” Printz said. “I think if five teams from the Foothill league don’t get in, there’s something wrong with the system, because these five teams have battled each other all year. And we’ve had to deal with Hart and Castaic as well, and those aren’t easy. So I think all five teams are in and for our guys, that’s gonna be a great experience.”
“We play in such a tough league,” he added, “and we played a really competitive nonleague schedule as well so, we’re ready. We’re not afraid of anybody, we understand our limitations but we also understand kind of how to overcome them. Just give us a shot and we feel confident.”
Both teams will await the league’s coin flip to decide the fourth-place tiebreaker, and then the CIF-SS playoff pairings will be released Saturday.
“(Tonight’s) huge. It gives us a big boost going into the playoffs,” Christoffersen said. “We could get a CIF title, and I’m fully confident in that.”