Freshman Micah Visoria swished a 22-foot 3-pointer as time expired in triple overtime to bring Roosevelt an OIA Division II boys basketball championship Thursday night at McKinley.
The Rough Riders made an inbounds pass with 7.9 seconds left and tried to work it inside. That plan didn’t work, so point guard Jared Elwin dished out to Visoria on the wing and he let it fly for the 45-43 victory.
“That was one of my most amazing shots ever,” Visoria said. “I just threw it up and it went in. I’ve never felt this before. I just want to run like 50 laps around the gym. I came into the championship real nervous, but I knew we could beat Kalani and we did.”
The Falcons (6-8) grabbed a 43-40 lead on Kapaa Nishimura’s power drive with 1:50 to go in the third OT. Elwin’s two free throws with 1:10 left cut it to one point, setting up Visoria’s shot.
Just before that winning play, Kalani’s Micah Kawano nearly sealed the win with a steal attempt that he came within an inch of securing. Instead, the ball squirted out of bounds as he dove and almost saved it, giving the Rough Riders (6-8) one more chance. And that’s all they needed.
“I’m trying not to think about that we didn’t get it done,” said Kawano, who grabbed a pile of crunch-time rebounds and also contributed to the Falcons’ cause with his continuous hustle. “Both teams played a helluva game. We’re not done yet. We’re still (like Roosevelt) in the states. We can still get that. It just makes wanting to win the states that much (more important).”
Roosevelt scratched back from a 28-20 deficit late in the third quarter with an 8-0 run, tying it up 28-all with 10 seconds left in regulation on Nayton Koki’s inside bucket.
Jason Talbo’s steal and layup knotted the score at 34 with 1:17 to go in the first OT and that’s how the stanza ended. Talbo was fouled on the play, but missed his free throw.
With two seconds remaining in the second OT, Elwin came up huge for Roosevelt by nailing a 3-pointer for a 40-40 tie.
Roosevelt coach Steve Hathaway calmly took a sip from his Hydro Flask with 40 seconds to go in the third OT with his team down by one, 43-42. He had just given his final instructions during a timeout and waited patiently. It didn’t go as he planned, though everything worked out in the end.
“We were trying to work for something more inside,” Hathaway said about the winning play. “I trust Micah with the ball any day. He’s the best shooter that I’ve ever coached. From where we started the year and as young as we are, man, it’s huge. It’s huge. We lose to Kaimuki by 30, we lose to these guys (Kalani) by 12. It’s coming around. We’re starting to play better.”
