Summit vs Hillside 3/7/2005
 1st2nd3rd4thTOTAL
Summit1714181261
Hillside92315956
PlayerSHOTSFG3PTFTAFTMPOINTSREBs
James Johnson175253197
Wellington Smith12131141515
Maurice Torres152320135
Mike Dugan6110054
Josh Sussman42041510
John Alpizar3003224
Travis Marchell1102022
Peter Melcon0000000
Game Totals5812927106147
Do you believe? For the second year in a row Summit eliminated favored Hillside from the Group 2 tournament. This time in the Sectional Finals. A feat that most outsiders felt was highly improbable.

The first quarter was all Summit. Hillside seemed to be focused on Wellington Smith and as a result others were able to get free to score. Summit's 17 points came from James Johnson (6 pts.), Mike Dugan (5 pts), Josh Sussman (4 pts.) and Maurice Torres (2 pts.). Hillside seemed to be in shock. The 2nd quarter began with Summit growing the lead to 11 points (25-14), but then the roof caved in. Hillside went on a 3-point spree, hitting 4 in a row to tie the game at 31 each. A Hillside FG with 3 seconds left in the half gave Hillside its first lead of the game and all the momentum as the half ended.

The 3rd quarter was a seesaw 8 minutes with the lead changing often. In the final minutes of the quarter Hillside took a 47-44 lead. Johnson drained a three and followed up with a layup to put Summit ahead 49-47 as the quarter ended. Johnson and Smith each scored 7 points in the quarter.

Hillside scored the first 3 FGs of the 4th quarter to put them ahead 53-49. Summit regained the lead at 55-53 behind field goals by Torres and Smith and a pair of free throws by Smith. Then with 2:25 on the clock Torres hit a huge 3 pointer to put Summit up by 5 points. Summit had a chance to add to the lead but missed 4 consecutive free throws. Meanwhile Hillside connected on 3 free throws to cut the margin to 2 points with 49 second left in the game. With 29 seconds left Johnson hit on the second of two free throws to make it a 3 point game. Hillside rushed down and got off two 3-point tries, but Johnson came up with the ball and was fouled. With only 7 second on the clock, Johnson drained both free throws to put the game away.

Summit's abysmal performance from the foul line almost cost the game down the stretch. Until Johnson's final 2 free throws Summit had connected on only 3 of 11 4th quarter tries. Luckily for Summit, Hillside wasn't much better as they managed only 4 of 10 4th quarter free throws.

Johnson led the Summit scoring with 19 points. Smith (15 pts.) and Torres (13 pts.) were also in double digits. Smith had a big defensive with 15 rebounds easily breaking the single season rebound record set by Jeff Hartlaub 40 years ago. Sussman also had a big night on the boards with 10 rebounds.

Summit's next game will be Thursday (3/9) against Englewood., 8PM at Vernon HS.