Orange Lutheran's late rally fell just short in a 52-51 loss to Pacifica Christian in the CIF State Regional Final on Tuesday night.

 

In front of a capacity crowd, the Lancers and the Tritons fought for a spot in the CIF State Final in Sacramento on Saturday afternoon.  


The Lancers were fighting from behind for most of the evening.  Down 15-8 in the first quarter, OLu finished the quarter on a 6-0 run to close the gap to 2.  At halftime, the Tritons had extended that lead back up to 7, 32-25.  

 

Out of the break, they widened that lead to 13 when OLu took a timeout to regroup.  And regroup they did.  Over the next minute, the Lancers hit three consecutive 3-pointers, the first one by junior Andrew Nagy and then back-to-back by senior Javon Smith.  The deficit was cut to 4, and the sprint to the finish was on. 

 

It went back and forth throughout the final quarter, and OLu took the lead with just over 90 seconds left when Cannon Potter made a free throw to make it 51-50.  After the Tritons took the lead back, 52-51, they had a free throw opportunity with 9 seconds left that was missed.  OLu called a timeout to set up a final shot with 4 seconds remaining.  Zion Paelo's shot was blocked, ending the game. 

 

Potter led OLu with 14 points, and Paleo had 11. 

 

OLu finishes the season with a record of 23-12 and a runner-up finish in the CIF-SS and the CIF State Regional brackets.