Mountain View at Centennial game recap

It was clear from the beginning of the game that Mountain View’s approach was to make someone other than Centennial’s Faruk Huskic beat them. Huskic, who has put up big numbers this year both in scoring and rebounding, would face a defense normally reserved for high scoring guards. The Mavericks ran a diamond and one zone with Brandon Luedtke assigned to man up against Huskic.

Centennial worked through the unique defense by getting contributions from others. Patrick Manning was the go to guy in the first quarter while Landon Kissinger came off the bench to keep the Patriots going in the second quarter. Meanwhile, Centennial’s Daryl Robertson was assigned to guard Mountain View’s big player, Tyson Percifield. Percifield still managed to score 9 in the first half and the teams went into half time tied at 22.

The third quarter was all Centennial. Manning added 7 more while Nick Saras was doing a little bit of everything. Centennial was up 39-29 at the end of the third quarter.

Big players pick big times to step up and for Percifield that time came in the fourth quarter. He would score 11 in the quarter, hitting his third three pointer with 2:10 to go to pull Mountain View within 1. Luedtke would make two free throws to give the Mavericks their first lead of the game. Huskic would answer with a drive and score to regain the lead. After a layup by Zach Cooper for Mountain View gave them a 1 point lead again, Manning would hit 1 of 2 free throws to tie the game at 49. Mountain View ran a play to get Percifield the ball for a last second attempt but Centennial’s defense stepped up and the game would go into overtime.

OT would start with 2 points by Percifield that was answered by Manning. Cooper hit a 3 with 1:20 to go but Centennial’s EJ Lietzinger would answer with a 3-pointer of his own. After each team had empty possessions, Mountain View got the ball with :30 to go. This time they would not take any chances and immediately got the ball in Percifield’s hand. He drove from the right top of the key to his left and with :04 to go hit the game winning shot. He finished with 25 points.

Mountain View 56, Centennial 54

Here’s a video recap including the last second shot