HAYWARD — Tariq Weiser caught the inbounds pass in the backcourt, dribbled past a defender along the right sideline near midcourt and drove toward the basket.
The Bellarmine senior split two defenders and took the shot with his left hand as Moreau Catholic star LeBrie Goudy-Lee leaped to block it.
The ball hit the center of the backboard and fell through the hoop as time was about to expire.
Bellarmine, a 13th seed, went on the road and stunned fourth-seeded Moreau 62-60 on Tuesday night in the first round of the CIF Northern California Division II regional.
The Bells advance to the quarterfinals Thursday at fifth-seeded Vanden-Fairfield, which had its own dramatic finish in a 51-49 win over Priory.
Moreau’s season came to an end with back-to-back crushing defeats, the one Tuesday following an overtime loss to Clayton Valley Charter in a section championship game Saturday.
Weiser’s basket went in with two seconds left.
But by the time Moreau tried to inbound the ball, time ran out and Bellarmine players sprinted onto the court to celebrate the victory, which came four years after Moreau handed the Bells a double-overtime defeat in a first-round regional game in the same gym.
“I’ve hit a couple of game-winners before, but they’ve never been on this big of a stage,” Weiser said.
Bellarmine coach Alex Sarrett, in his first season after taking over from the program’s longtime leader, Patrick Schneider, said there was no doubt the ball was going to Weiser.
“Got to go with your senior guy and have him make a play,” Sarrett said. “I’m really happy for him. I am really proud of him. He’s come a long way. It’s great to see that victory happen for him.”
The win seemed unthinkable when Moreau played a flawless first quarter to build a 22-7 lead.
But Sarrett switched to a zone at the start of the second quarter, a decision that turned around the game.
By halftime, Bellarmine had cut the deficit to 27-25.
The teams went back and forth in the third quarter and play only intensified down the stretch.
Nick Corbett, a 6-foot-6, 245-pound power forward, was a handful for Moreau. He scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half.
When Moreau (23-7) prevented him from pivoting in the post, the big guy found open teammates for baskets.
“We’ve been playing in and out of me all season,” Corbett said. “We plan to keep doing that for the rest of the postseason. When we’re shooting it and making it, it’s unstoppable.”
Moreau opened a seven-point lead early in the final quarter, but Bellarmine (15-13) answered with a 7-0 run to pull even 53-53 with 3 1/2 minutes to go. Two baskets by Julian Gospich, who finished with 14 points, and a 3-pointer by Weiser erased the deficit.
Jesse Ybarra’s two free throws with 1:05 left put Moreau on top 60-57.
Again, Bellarmine responded, this time on a three-point play by Corbett with 40.5 seconds remaining.
Moreau had a chance to break the tie when Ybarra stepped to the line with 8.4 seconds left. But the senior’s foul shots did not fall this time and Bellarmine called timeout with 6.9 seconds to play.
“We drew up a play for me to come off a screen from our big man Nick,” said Weiser, who had 10 points. “I got it and I saw two (defenders) and I was like, ‘I am going to split them. If they come to me, I am going to kick it out to the corner.’ They didn’t really come up on me, so I was like, ‘Hey, there is the basket. Go shoot it.’”
So he did.
And it went in.
In the Moreau locker room, the heartbroken players sat together somberly on benches as longtime coach Frank Knight recounted what happened to reporters in his office — a bad second quarter, a rough time at the foul line (13 of 24 as a team).
“It’s one of those things where it came down to one bucket,” Knight said. “I thought we played well in the first quarter. We played terrible in the second quarter when they went zone. Third quarter I thought we played evenly all the way through. Then the fourth quarter they made one more bucket than we did.”
Robert Morgan had 19 points and Goudy-Lee added 17 to lead Moreau.
For Bellarmine, Will Corbett had 14 points, joining brother Nick, Gospich and Weiser in double figures.
Sarrett couldn’t say enough about his team’s effort.
“That was an incredible effort by my boys,” he said. “That’s a great team. Frank’s a great coach. We’re really lucky to come out of here with a win. It was hard fought.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com