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Camarillo's comeback falls just short in CIF-SS Div. 3AA boys basketball semifinal

loren ledin, ventura county star
·4 min read
Camarillo's Jack Bannon (22) splits the La Serna defense while rising to the rim during a CIF-Southern Section Division 3AA semifinal game Friday night at Camarillo High. La Serna won, 41-38.
Camarillo's Jack Bannon (22) splits the La Serna defense while rising to the rim during a CIF-Southern Section Division 3AA semifinal game Friday night at Camarillo High. La Serna won, 41-38.

Say this for the Camarillo High boys basketball team: No matter the situation, it will never fold.

Four days after coming back from an 11-point deficit in the second half to take down the No. 2 seed, the Scorpions nearly erased a 12-point disadvantage against No. 3-seeded La Serna.

A furious rally in the fourth quarter — which included three consecutive 3-pointers from Chase Aronowitz and a key three-point play by Marcos Jaquez — cut the deficit to two points with 2:51 remaining and a single point with 9.7 second left in regulation.

"We're never going to quit," says Jaquez, the Scorpions' 6-foot-3 senior forward. "The coaches won't let us do that. We won't let ourselves do that. We always believe in ourselves. We always believe we can come back and win."

On this night, in the semifinals of the CIF-Southern Section Division 3AA playoffs, Team Resilience's final push landed heartbreakingly short.

La Serna got a short jumper in the lane from Zach Leila with 1:09 left to push the lead to four, and Daniel Angulo netted two free throws with 9.3 seconds on the clock for a 41-38 lead, which proved to be the winning margin.

Tyler Hook's attempt at the game-tying 3-pointer glanced off the rim as time expired, and Camarillo's fourth trek to the CIF-SS semifinals ended in a painful loss on its home court.

More:Buena pushes top seed before running out steam in Div. 3AA boys basketball semifinal

"It's hurts," said Aronowitz, whose breakout season includes a program-record 131 3-point field goals. "I really wanted to win this game, for myself and the team. We tried to fight back, but we dug ourselves too big a hole."

Camarillo coach Brendan Garrett, as usual, loved his team's dig-down-deep fight.

"Our guys will always believe in themselves and they're never going to quit," he said. "We were able to settle down in the second half and played a lot better. We gave ourselves a shot, but we came up a short against a very good team."

Camarillo, which engineered a playoff push after finishing third in the Coastal Canyon League, moves to 19-13 overall. The Scorpions aren't done yet.

Camarillo has qualified for the CIF-State SoCal Regionals, and will learn its placement a week from Sunday.

La Serna improves to 27-5 overall and will take on top-seeded St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy, which beat Buena in the other semifinal, for the Division 3AA championship.

"We get a chance to keep playing and show what we can do," said Jaquez.

Aronowitz led the Scorpions with 15 points on five 3-pointers and Jaquez finished with nine points, including a rebound bucket for a 3-point play inside 10 seconds. Hook had eight points, including a pair of treys.

Camarillo's Chase Aronowitz shoots a 3-pointer against La Serna during a CIF-Southern Section Division 3AA semifinal game Friday night at Camarillo High. La Serna won, 41-38.
Camarillo's Chase Aronowitz shoots a 3-pointer against La Serna during a CIF-Southern Section Division 3AA semifinal game Friday night at Camarillo High. La Serna won, 41-38.

The first half featured a sloppy start for Camarillo.

The Scorpions committed eight turnovers in the first quarter and three more in the second to fall behind 7-5 after one quarter and 18-11 at halftime. La Serna's own shooting woes kept Camarillo within striking distance.

In the second half, there was just one Camarillo turnover, which enabled the Scorpions to claw back.

"That's what we always seem to do," said Jaquez. "We start slow and play better in the second half. We did it again tonight."

The largest deficit was 28-16, midway through the third period. The disadvantage was 30-22 after three quarters.

Back-to-back baskets by Jack Bannon coupled with three consecutive 3-pointers by Aronowitz sparked a 13-7 run that cut the deficit to 37-35 with 2:51 left in regulation.

Trailing 39-35 with 33 seconds on the clock, Camarillo got an opening when La Serna missed the front end of a one-and-one at the free-throw line. Jaquez took advantage with an offensive rebound and putback basket and made free throw with 9.7 seconds left.

The Camarillo bench and crowd cheer on the Scorpions during their CIF-Southern Section Division 3AA semifinal game against visiting La Serna on Friday night at Camarillo High. La Serna won, 41-38.
The Camarillo bench and crowd cheer on the Scorpions during their CIF-Southern Section Division 3AA semifinal game against visiting La Serna on Friday night at Camarillo High. La Serna won, 41-38.

But La Serna held on by making two free throws at the other end, and Camarillo's last-second shot went astray.

Garrett said Aronowitz was the "No. 1 option" to take the final shot, but La Serna defenders covered him up.

"I would have liked the final shot," said Aronowitz, "but we took what was there."

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Camarillo's comeback falls just short in Div. 3AA basketball semifinal