Drillers find a way to win
| Saturday, Dec 12 2009 11:24 PM
Last Updated Saturday, Dec 12 2009 11:52 PM
Images
Rod Thornburg/Special to The Californian RIDGEVIEW VS BHS B-BALL #3 Tyrone Wallace of BHS and #3 Terraille Smith and #11 James Harper of Ridgeview colide at the Kern Schools Federal Credit Union Basketball Tournament held at North High School.
Rod Thornburg/Special to The Californian RIDGEVIEW VS BHS B-BALL BHS's #4 Marshall Sanders rises high over Ridgeview's # 22 Robert Roberts and #1 Shannon Edwards.
Rod Thornburg/Special to The Californian RIDGEVIEW VS BHS B-BALL Ridgeviews #10 Chad Clark flys over #24 Cody Stapp.
Rod Thornburg/Special to The Californian RIDGEVIEW VS BHS B-BALL BHS's #24 Cody Stapp tries to sto Ridgeview's #? Looks like #14 Rascheel Charleswell from putting points on the board.
Rod Thornburg/Special to The Californian RIDGEVIEW VS BHS B-BALL #15 Deririck Brown of BHS hangs high to bring to points to the board over Ridgeview's #3 Terraille Smith and #22 Robert Roberts
Rod Thornburg/Special to The Californian RIDGEVIEW VS BHS B-BALL BHS's #20 Curtis Leathers and Ridgeview's #2 James Harper or #3 Chad Clark battle for the ball.
Rod Thornburg/Special to The Californian RIDGEVIEW VS BHS B-BALL Ridgeviews #10 Chad Clark flys over #24 Cody Stapp.
Rod Thornburg/Special to The Californian RIDGEVIEW VS BHS B-BALL Both BHS's #3 Tyrone Wallace and #2 Bryson Keeton of Ridgeview scramble after a lose ball during a 16 team varsity boys tournament held at North High School.
Rod Thornburg/Special to The Californian RIDGEVIEW VS BHS B-BALL BHS's #24 Cody Stapp tries to sto Ridgeview's #? Looks like #14 Rascheel Charleswell from putting points on the board.
Rod Thornburg/Special to The Californian RIDGEVIEW VS BHS B-BALL BHS's #4 Marshall Sanders rises high over Ridgeview's # 22 Robert Roberts and #1 Shannon Edwards.
Rod Thornburg/Special to The Californian RIDGEVIEW VS BHS B-BALL #15 Deririck Brown of BHS hangs high to bring to points to the board over Ridgeview's #3 Terraille Smith and #22 Robert Roberts
Rod Thornburg/Special to The Californian RIDGEVIEW VS BHS B-BALL #3 Tyrone Wallace of BHS and #3 Terraille Smith and #11 James Harper of Ridgeview colide at the Kern Schools Federal Credit Union Basketball Tournament held at North High School.
Rod Thornburg/Special to The Californian RIDGEVIEW VS BHS B-BALL BHS's #20 Curtis Leathers and Ridgeview's #2 James Harper or #3 Chad Clark battle for the ball.
Rod Thornburg/Special to The Californian RIDGEVIEW VS BHS B-BALL Ridgeviews #10 Chad Clark flys over #24 Cody Stapp.
Rod Thornburg/Special to The Californian RIDGEVIEW VS BHS B-BALL Ridgeviews #10 Chad Clark flys over #24 Cody Stapp.
Rod Thornburg/Special to The Californian RIDGEVIEW VS BHS B-BALL Ridgeview #44 Kyrie Wilson and #14 Rascheel Charleswell tries to stop BHS' #20 Curtis Leathers from making a point basket.
Rod Thornburg/Special to The Californian RIDGEVIEW VS BHS B-BALL Ridgeview #44 Kyrie Wilson and #14 Rascheel Charleswell tries to stop BHS' #20 Curtis Leathers from making a point basket.
Somewhere in the middle of a whirlwind game that had more ups and downs than an empty egg carton, Bakersfield High senior Tim Billingsley channeled his inner Al Davis.
"I just thought we needed to win," Billingsley said. "We had to find a way to just win."
The Drillers did just that, outlasting Ridgeview 78-72 on Saturday night at North for the championship of the Lloyd Williams Kern Schools Federal Credit Union Shootout.
It might take a while to decipher all those words, but it boils down to this: The Drillers (5-3) won an exciting, fast-paced game to take a tournament that included most of the city's top teams.
"We know they're very talented, and we think we have some talent too," BHS coach Greg Burt said. "We just kind of pulled it out at the end."
Ridgeview (8-1) lost its first game despite 27 points, 12 rebounds and 5 steals from Robert Roberts. The Wolf Pack was playing without starting center Kaylin Evans, a returning All-Area player who drew two technical fouls in a semifinal win against Stockdale on Friday.
"We don't feel like there's a better team in town than us," Ridgeview coach Bobby Sharp said. "We're very confident in who we are. We enjoyed the opportunity to play these guys, but having Kaylin would have changed the direction at the rim."
Burt and Billingsley both said they wished Evans could have played.
"Of course," Billingsley said. "Would have made it a more exciting game."
Really, Saturday was exciting enough, and it was the Drillers' night. Billingsley scored 17 points, including a 3-pointer with 4:34 left that gave BHS the lead for good at 66-63.
Derrick Brown and Tyrone Wallace, two sophomores, added 21 and 17, respectively. Wallace was named the tournament MVP.
"I didn't know they'd be this good this soon," Burt said. "I thought it would happen, but second tournament of the year, those kids played great. I know there will be peaks and valleys, but I'm very impressed with both of them."
That could describe the whole game. The Drillers opened hot from long range, burying five 3-pointers in the first quarter en route to a 29-12 lead.
That took Ridgeview out of its zone defense, and the Wolf Pack started to use its athleticism to climb back in the game. Roberts scored 10 points in the second quarter, including back-to-back buckets that capped an 8-0 run that cut the lead to three.
"I'm really proud of our kids, because we were (17) down when they came out firing," Sharp said. "... We were right there."
Roberts had 10 more points in the third quarter, and the Wolf Pack surge continued. Ridgeview tied the game for the first time with 1:24 left in the quarter on Chad Clark's 3-pointer and took the lead a few seconds later when Roberts stole the ball and emphatically jammed it home.
"We kind of lost our composure until the fourth quarter," Burt said. "Then we kind of figured out how to attack them."
The game got really fun late -- starting with Clark's 3 and ending with Billingsley's, there were six lead changes and four ties. But through it all, Bakersfield kept coming.
"It was defense," Billingsley said. "We just kept playing D. That's what wins you championships."
Cody Stapp added 14 points, 11 rebounds and four steals for the Drillers.
"We've been on him, because he hasn't been rebounding like this," Burt said. "We need that if we're going to compete with teams like Ridgeview."
Clark had 15 points and James Harper 13 for the Wolf Pack, which will get Evans back for next week's Garces Holiday Hoops Festival.
Stockdale 87, East 52
The Mustangs stormed back from a close loss to Ridgeview in the semifinals to claim third place behind Jordan Burris' 18 points.
The Nevada-bound Burris scored all of them in the first half, then helped distribute as 13 different Mustangs scored.
Stockdale (3-1) had lost 58-52 to Ridgeview in Friday's semifinals but jumped to a 26-8 lead after a quarter and never looked back.
"I thought this was make or break, really," Mustangs coach Oliver Brown said. "You lose the chance for a championship, and you kind of have nothing to play for. ... But we called today a seperation game. Can we seperate from teams in the city? I think we did that."
Domonique Stancil and Rob Johnson led East with 16 points each.
