SAN JOSE - Whew. Giuseppi Benedetti ended 36 minutes of pulse-pounding basketball action on Thursday night by draining a 13-footer with one second left to lift St. Francis past host Bellarmine 64-63 in overtime.
The tense victory in this heated rivalry game was the first for the Lancers in West Catholic Athletic League play.
St. Francis personnel had to restrain its jubilant fans from storming the court after the sudden victory. On the other end of the floor, the Bells could only look on helplessly.
"I saw them go to the corner and I was wide open and I just took the shot and it went in." Benedetti, a 6-foot-4 sophomore guard, said above the din. "The team had confidence in me and I'm just feeling good right now."
St. Francis' game-winning shot came on an inbounds play with 4.2 seconds left. Benedetti got loose in the middle of the key after a pick was set when two Bell defenders mistakenly followed one man. Benedetti calmly took the pass in the middle of the key and delivered a dagger through the collective heart of the Bells.
"It was a clutch play and it was the first thing we walked through today downstairs," Bells coach Patrick Schneider said. "It was disappointing to not follow our responsibilities on that play. We sent two after the receiver."
However, for Schneider the tough loss didn't dismiss the fact his team rebounded nicely from a 24-point loss suffered Tuesday night to St. Ignatius; nor that it rallied from 10 down against the Lancers to tie the game 56-56 with 19.2 seconds left in regulation on two clutch free throws by Amador Nazarov.
"It's a two-point shot (Benedetti's) that changes so much about how we feel about the game," Schneider said. "But it can't blind us to the reality of how hard these guys played for each other."
Curtis Witt's two free throws with 3:16 left in regulation put St. Francis up 53-43. The Lancers still held a 56-51 lead until just over a minute left when Kyle Owens swished a 3-pointer for the Bells to make it 56-54. Then Nazarov got fouled following a rebound with 19.2 seconds left and coolly tied things up.
The Bells took an early 60-57 lead in OT, but St. Francis tied it 60-60 on Witt's 3-pointer with 2:26 left. It was still tied, 62-62 with 11 seconds left when Nazarov made another free throw to nudge the Bells in the lead. That margin held up until Benedetti's last-second shot that won't soon be forgotten by anyone in the packed house.
"I was really pumped," Benedetti said. "It's really crazy. Bellarmine vs. St. Francis is a big rivalry."
Witt led St. Francis (11-3, 1-3 WCAL) with 15 points, Brian Garrett had nine and Alex Frazier and Noah Stapes eight apiece. Also for the Lancers, 6-foot-8 sophomore Peter Hewitt blocked four shots and Benedetti had seven rebounds.
Masa Swain led Bellarmine (7-6, 1-3) with 17 points, Dylan Tarpening had 16 and Owens 10.
St. Francis hosts Archbishop Riordan on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Bellarmine is at Serra.
"Our league is spectacular because there's no time for self-pity or self-doubt or self-anything," Schneider said.
