Maranatha Over Tahquitz in Another Nail-Biter; Minutemen onto Division 1-AA Semi’s After 56-55 Victory in Hemet

Maranatha coach Tim Tucker is going to need a vacation after this basketball season.

Hopefully for Tucker, that isn’t for a couple more weeks as the Minutemen continue to win nailbiters.

Some 96 hours after defeating St. John Bosco in overtime, Maranatha got a 56-55 victory in the CIF-SS Division 1-AA quarterfinals at Tahquitz of Hemet Tuesday night.

But not before there was some drama.

Holding that one-point, 56-55 lead with 29 seconds to play, eventually the ball got into Tahquitz’s best shooter, Jordan Williams’ hands.

Williams averages 21 points a game and he got off a 3-point attempt, but it was no good.

Maranatha (17-9) is now onto the semifinals, where they will host Cantwell-Sacred Heart on Friday at 7.

The Cardinals (15-14) defeated Santa Monica, 62-57, in another Tuesday quarterfinal.

Terrance Lang again came up big for the Minutemen.

Lang finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Chris Austin scored 14 points and grabbed 8 rebounds.

Point guard Sean Espinosa is what Tucker calls the backbone of the team.

Espinosa had 12 points, 6 assists and 3 rebounds.

“Terrance played hard and refused to lose,” Tucker said. “I think we had 15-20 lead changes and I couldn’t take much more. We rebounded well and had several offensive put backs..Marcus (Reedy) was timely on the boards.”

But Tucker saved his best for his point guard.

“Sean’s leadership and big plays and big shots are so timely,” Tucker said. “We needed a senior point guard to settle us down. If we’re not getting it from Lang or Austin, Sean knocks down shots when we need them most.”

Also scoring for Maranatha, included Skyye DeCatur, who had 6, Jesse Elrod and Josh Kim added 3 points and Marcus Reedy had a bucket for the Minutemen.

Box Score:
Maranatha: 15-21-11-9-(56)
Tahquitz: 16-21-7-11-(55)