PHOTOS: Portola wins a thriller over Beckman on Hashemi’s bucket; moves into first

Portola’s Mohsen Hashemi is mobbed by teammates after hitting the eventual game-winner. (Photo: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone)

Portola center Mohsen Hashemi put on quite a performance Friday night in a Pacific Coast League showdown against Beckman, scoring 19 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

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But the senior forward saved his biggest play for the final seconds. Hashemi followed his own missed shot with a close-range basket with one second remaining and the Bulldogs escaped with a thrilling 37-35 victory in front of a big crowd at Beckman.

The victory puts Portola (13-11, 5-1) in first place in the Pacific Coast League ahead of defending champion Beckman (12-12, 4-2).

“We were going to kind of run a lob play at first,” Hashemi said. “And then they switched into a man, so one of our main plays is a screen and we ran that. I missed the first shot, I got it, went in and it was crazy. That shot was crazy, I don’t even know how I got that.”

Portola celebrated as if it had won, but Beckman still got the ball in the backcourt with less than a second left after a timeout, but an inbounds pass was intercepted.

Then, the real celebration began.

“I am so happy, we have worked so hard for this,” Hashemi said. “The past four years has been so hard and everyone just put in all the effort. We came in and we were so ready for them. I think everyone came in and did a good job and we just played really well as a team.”

Portola held a 28-16 lead at halftime, but Beckman got back into the contest, outscoring the Bulldogs 13-3 in the third quarter.

Beckman, behind the solid play of Ethan Bozzo, who wound up with 15 points, rallied in the fourth quarter and took a 34-33 lead on Bozzo’s basket and free throw with 4:15 left.

The final four minutes was wild with players diving for loose balls and the students from both sections cheering loudly. But in the end, Portola made the big play.

“That was obviously not the way we wanted to play our second half,” said Portola Coach Brian Smith. “We couldn’t get anything to fall. But it was just a battle both sides. Both sides fought and played really, really hard. I’m proud of our guys. We got a stop when we needed it.

“We actually drew up another play on the out of bounds, but when we saw what they were doing we made the adjustment right away, we got Mohsen the ball and he was just relentless in there. Definitely a big moment for him. We’re just glad to finally win a close game.”

Soma Doherty added six points for Portola, which will be out to win its first league title in its second year of varsity competition.

“I’ll take that,” Smith said of his squad being in first place. “We have to stay very humble and still work hard. We have a lot of work to do in this league, because of any given night, another team can beat you.”

It marked Beckman’s second straight league loss.

“Another tough game for us offensively,” said Beckman Coach John Goins. “We got away from what works best for us in the first half and had to dig out of a 12-point deficit at half. I was very happy with our defense in the second half.

“We only gave up five points over the first 15 minutes of the half and ended up taking the lead with about a minute or so left. Unfortunately they came up with a timely bucket to tie, we didn’t answer, and we had a miscommunication with our defensive strategy on their final possession, which falls on me.

“Both teams played their hearts out and the last team that scored won; a truly great high school game. Now we just hope some luck comes our way while we try our best to take next four games in hopes for a tie.” 

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