PHOTOS: Tustin wins at the buzzer in critical Empire League game against Cypress

Tustin’s Tobey Schmidt goes up for a shot as Dylan Higa of Cypress defends Friday night. (Photos: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone).

Tustin High School’s boys basketball team survived a furious fourth quarter rally by Cypress to capture a last-second 57-55 Empire League victory Friday night in a battle of two teams that entered the game tied for second place in the league with two weeks remaining in the regular season.

Cypress tied the game 55-55 when Mickey Kadawaki made two free throws with about six seconds remaining. Tustin, without any timeouts remaining, pushed the ball the length of the court to 6-6 senior Pablo Magallanes, who under defensive pressure banked in a close-range shot at the buzzer, setting off a big celebration from Tustin players and other students.

“My team played a great game,” said Magallanes who had seven points and eight rebounds. “I felt everybody kept their poise and kept pushing and tried their hardest and kept giving 100 percent. It means so much, we’re second in league and we’re trying to get a good playoff spot and keep pushing forward.”

“Instead of Eli (Nyeazi) taking it out and Wasi (Khan) bringing it up, we flipped it and had Wasi take it out and give it to Eli and try to get the ball advanced as fast as we can and he drew two defenders and found Pablo and it was appropriate that Pablo finished it off because he was very active tonight,” said Tustin Coach Ringo Bossenmeyer. “His activity was everything and we’re going to need that for the next five games.”

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Tustin (18-6, 4-1) was led by senior Tobey Schmidt, who scored 18 points and made four 3-pointers, including a critical three-pointer in the final stanza. Nyeazi added eight points for the Tillers.

Cypress (11-11, 3-2) was led by Kody Papke, who had 17 points and three 3-pointers. Devon Washington had nine points and Dylan Higa had eight points for the Centurions.

Tustin led 34-26 at halftime and 45-33 after three quarters. The Tillers (18-6, 4-1) led by 13 with six minutes left before Cypress came charging back. Papke led the way scoring 12 points in the final stanza.

“It was a good comeback, but we weren’t paying attention to detail at the beginning,” said Cypress Coach Derek Mitchell. “We had missed assignments, not covering guys we should have covered. Number three (Schmidt) had three or four three’s in the first half.

“I’m proud of our guys, they grinded it out. We didn’t get back in transition and they beat us at our game. Congratulations to Coach Bossenmeyer. Tustin is always well coached. Hopefully we get them back at our house next Thursday (Thursday in a make-up game).”

Mitchell was pleased with the play of Papke.

“He’s our senior leader, we look for him in clutch situations like this and he delivered. I thought Mickey did a good job of hitting those two free throws at the end. We had our opportunities.”

Bossenmeyer, the Tustin coach, was pleased with the play of Schmidt, who was Tustin’s starting quarterback last season.

“He makes shots for us, he gets hands on balls and he can take care of the ball, he’s doing so much for us you don’t even notice, other than making shots,” Bossenmeyer said. “The amazing thing about him, because he’s been in so many pressure situations on the football field, nothing phases him and he doesn’t go on the roller coaster ride. His composure is beyond impressive.”

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com

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