On Dec. 12, the Archie Williams boys varsity basketball team defeated the San Rafael Bulldogs. The Falcons pulled through in a heated game, coming out on top over the Bulldogs to seal another non-league win.
As the Falcons tipped off against the Bulldogs, the two teams kept it close, scoring back and forth throughout the first quarter. The Falcons pulled ahead to end the quarter with a 16-13 lead.
The Falcons came out firing in the second quarter with a three-pointer from senior Julian Nichol to kickstart the Falcons offense. Coming off the first quarter the Falcon defense proved to be a problem for the Bulldogs, but San Rafael wouldn’t go down without a fight. The Falcons worked hard to keep their lead for most of the quarter, and in the end still only had a six-point lead over the Bulldogs at 27-21.
After a halftime performance by the Archie Williams Bridge program, the Falcons looked to stay patient offensively and keep their commanding lead against San Rafael. This was the Falcon’s most dominant quarter as they stayed ahead in score the entire time. However, the Bulldogs still kept it close, and the third quarter ended with the Falcons leading 40-35.
“When we have leads we need to keep those leads and not force turnovers and stay patient offensively,” said senior Owen Bugas.
Coming off a close third quarter with the Falcons up 40-35, the scoring was alternating between both teams at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The Falcons continued their offensive dominance in an attempt to pull away from the Bulldogs and developed a comfortable lead of 10 points as the quarter was coming to a close. The Bulldogs weren’t done yet and ended up scoring a rapid 13 points to tie the game at 50-50, sending the game to overtime.
The Falcons struggled to start overtime, with sophomores Grady Stewart and Brian Wright fouled out early. The Falcons and Bulldogs continued to battle on the court as neither team could pull away from the other. With under a minute remaining San Rafael fouled sophomore Ephraim Sohn to give him two free throws. He converted both of them, giving the Falcons a three-point lead with 30 seconds left.
The Bulldogs were quick to respond and dribbled down the court, draining a contested three-pointer to tie the game with 20 seconds remaining. The Falcons had one more possession to win the game. With less than a second remaining, sophomore center Alex Hamblet scored a putback layup, giving the Falcons a 60-58 overtime victory.
“It’s tough to win overtime games when the team comes back like that, but our team came up clutch with our defense and resiliency,” said head coach Russel Bower.
The Falcons play their next game on the road on Dec. 15 against the Tamalpais Hawks, where Archie Williams Dance Troupe will perform at halftime.
