CIF DII Sacred Heart Prep Advances

<p>Thursday night PH was in the gym at Sacred Heart Prep. A CIF Division II matchup between sixth-seeded Branson Bulls (30-3) and the home team third seeded Sacred Heart Prep Gators (23-5) It was a double overtime thriller with Charlie Selna hitting a short jumper on the block as time expired to give the Gaters a 55-53 victory and move on to face second-seeded St. Patrick- St. Vincent,  Saturday in a semifinal game. Here’s a list of top players in the game.</p> <p><em><strong>Sacred Heart Prep</strong></em></p> <p><em><strong>Charlie Selna 6’7 unsigned Sr</strong></em>. Also played football At SHP. As I stated above <em><strong>Selna</strong></em> had the game winner in the second overtime to win the game at the buzzer. He had been putting in good work from the start of the game going at  Branson’s  Lukas Prongos. His jump hook with the high release was working. He clogged the paint, limited easy layups, and changed a few shots. He had 10 pts,  5/12, and 7 rebs, 2 blks.</p> <p><em><strong>Aidan Braccia 6’1 2022</strong></em> combo guard continues to impress me with his play. He had two big 3’s in the first half, and played tough defense on<em><strong> Peyton Mullarky</strong></em> one of Branson’s top knock down shooters.<em><strong> Braccia</strong> </em>finished with 13 pts, 4 rebs.</p> <p><em><strong>Jai Deshpande 6’4 Sr</strong></em>, The leading scorer on this team didn’t have his best game scoring,  he did manage to hit key baskets early to finish with 8 pts in the low scoring contest. He can thank his teammates, he has another game. I expect he’ll be ready.</p> <p><em><strong>Emmer Nichols 6’5 2022</strong></em> player also was impressive with his overall play in this game. He had 9 pts to go with 7 rebounds. He too played good solid defense, and was physical with Branson’s top scorers in the first half. </p> <p><em><strong>Everett Banks 6’1 Sr</strong></em> made his contributions coming off the bench and hitting timely shots that led to victory. He hit an elbow jumper right before halftime to extend the Gators lead 23-14 lead. Then he had a key basket in one of the overtimes. 8 pts.</p> <p><em><strong>Branson</strong></em></p> <p>I saw Branson early in the season and they looked like a good lower division III or IV team. Because of their success (30-3) they got bumped up to the higher DII level. They won the NCS Section Title. Div III. </p> <p><em><strong>Payton Mullarky 5’10 Sr</strong></em> has been the teams leader all season. He struggled to make shot in the first half, because<em><strong> Braccia</strong></em> played solid defense on him. He did get it going when Branson mounted a comeback to score 24 pts in the 4th and 2 overtimes, to finish with 11 pts.</p> <p><em><strong>Lukas Prongos 6’5 Sr</strong></em> had an exceptional game. He did everything he could do. He’s  got a good strong body he uses well to attack the rim from different angles, including the baseline and free throw areas. He was dominant at certain times.  He finished with a double double, 21 pts, 11 rebs.</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="775791" first="Miles" last="Keefe"] 6’4 2021. A wiry competitor didn’t get all of his shots to go but was a  contributor for this team. He had the floater in the key working early, and the soft touch mid-range jumper was falling. He looks like a future scorer. he had 14 pts, 6 rebs, and 3 stls.</p> <p><em><strong>Freshman George Gale</strong></em> caught my attention with his late game heroics. The <em><strong>6’4 wiry Freshman</strong></em> knocked down a key 3 in the corner when Branson needed one, he prevented a basket with a nice block, and he grabbed a big rebound, all of this happened in the 4th when Branson was mounting it’s 24 pt come back and force the two overtimes. Good work by the Freshman 3pts, 3 rebs,1 blk.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>