Dramatic Swing Leaves Alemany Out on the Run

In slightly more time than it takes Devin Montgomery to burn someone with his cross-over dribble, the Alemany High basketball season ended.

Montgomery and the rest of the Indians were leading their semifinal playoff game one moment, losing it the next.

In a game that featured 20 lead changes and 10 ties, San Dimas outlasted Alemany, 77-72, on the strength of one final, critical 9-0 run in the Southern Section Division III-AA playoffs Friday night at College of the Canyons.

Third-seeded Alemany led, 67-66, with 2:52 left before second-seeded San Dimas scored the next nine points, earning a date with Bishop Montgomery in the championship game at the Pond of Anaheim next Saturday.

Alemany (19-7) made it close with five points in the final 19 seconds, but close doesn’t count for much in the playoffs.

“We battled until the very last second,” Alemany first-year Coach Darryl McDonald said. “Couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Montgomery finished with 20 points against San Dimas (26-3), a team that narrowly lost to Division I-A power Glendora, 64-61.

D.J. Hackett, who has signed to play football at Cal State Northridge, scored 25 points for San Dimas, which trailed near the end of the second quarter, 42-33, but withstood nine Alemany three-pointers.

“I thought we did a good job against all the pressure,” San Dimas Coach Gary Prestesater said. “They hit a lot of three-pointers, but we kept coming back and coming back.”

Josh Smith, who has signed with Azusa Pacific, scored 15 points for San Dimas despite picking up his third foul early in the second quarter.

For Alemany, the season was a far cry from last year, when it won only five games. The Indians shared the Mission League title with Chaminade and advanced to the playoffs for the first time since 1987.

“Great season,” McDonald said. “I told them not to hang their heads.”