FULLERTON 7 In a game filled with tall boys and bigger goals, the littlest man on the court came up with the biggest shot.

Diminutive point guard Mike Pagan made a 10-foot floater in the key with 2.2 seconds left to lead Verbum Dei/s boys basketball team past St. Joseph 56-55 in the CIF Southern California Division IV Regional Championship at Cal State Fullerton on Saturday night.

The jumper, which bounded around the rim before going in, sent the Verbum Dei section into hysterics and sent the Knights packing after one of the best runs in school history.

"I don/t even know what to say at this point," said the 5-foot-7 Pagan, who led the Eagles (21-9) with 16 points. "Just Š wow."

The winning shot ended a tooth-and-nail struggle for the two teams, the respective Division IV champs from the Southern Section. Verbum Dei, the Division IV-A champ, erased an eight-point deficit late in the third quarter and held St. Joseph to 10 points in the final eight minutes of action; The Knights 7 the champion of Division IV-AA 7 saw a 19-game win streak ended despite a heroic performance from Stewart Kussler, who had a game-high 18 points in the defeat.

"It/s just a heartbreaking way to end the season," said the 6-4 senior of his final game for the Knights (29-4). "It/s disappointing that we don/t get to go up to ARCO Arena (site of next week/s state title game), but it was still a fun time."

This marked the second time that the Knights had reached the SoCal Regional title game, but unlike the Knights/ 1990 trip, a 91-65 thrashing by Santa Clara of Oxnard, this game would be much closer throughout.

The 1990 Knights boys team won the CIF Southern Section Division II-A title.

Despite the Knights entering the game as the No. 1 seed in SoCal/s Division IV, they came into Saturday/s contest as the smaller team: the Eagles/ frontcourt featured three starters over 6-6, including 6-8 forwards Matt Shaw and Lowell Grissom, along with 6-6 swingman Brandon Anderson. With Kussler as the Knights/ tallest player at 6-4, Verbum Dei entered with the height advantage. Despite that, though, the Knights were able to out-rebound the Eagles 38-28.

"That shows our determination, our hustle," said Kussler of the 10-board advantage. "It shows how willing we were to work in order to win this game."

The final two minutes of play were gut-wrenching for all those on hand, as the teams battled down the stretch, each taking possession of the lead in the final 80 seconds. The sequence began when Kussler hit a tough 12-footer over Grissom with 1:07 to go, tying the game at 53. On the next possession, Grissom hit the front end of a one-and-one with 46.6 seconds left to push Verbum Dei ahead 54-53. After a Knights timeout, St. Joseph went ahead when Brian McConkey put back a missed layup by Andrew Schmalbach with 16.5 seconds to go, sending the Knights/ cheering section into a frenzy.

"I just wanted him to stay strong down low, and he did," Knights coach Ed Torres said of McConkey and his putback. "It was a clutch putback made under a lot of pressure. He/s played well all year, so I had a lot of confidence in him."

After Verbum Dei called a timeout with 8.5 seconds left, the game came down to one possession, and Pagan was ready for the opportunity in a tough situation. On the inbounds play, Pagan broke down the middle and floated the ball over three defenders, getting three hops on the rim before it fell in.

"I knew (Eagles coach DeAnthony Langston) was setting something up for me, and I didn/t come all this way to lose," Pagan said. "I knew it was going in, but you have to think like that in order to win."

Torres said that he/d prepared his team for Pagan to take the final shot.

"We wanted to double-team (Pagan) once he got the ball," said Torres, who won two SoCal regional titles as the Knights/ girls coach along with the 1991 Division IV state title. "We wanted to keep him from taking the last shot, and we wanted to take away their 3-point shooter (Vince Fuller) so that he couldn/t drive the lane and kick it out. He just split the trap before we got there."

The game had a slower pace than both teams were used to, with St. Joseph/s 17-point third quarter the highest-scoring period in the game. The Knights threw a zone at the Eagles most of the night, and held Verbum Dei to 39.6 percent (21-for-53) from the field, including a 5-for-16 mark in the first quarter. St. Joseph shot 42.6 percent (20 of 47) from the field.

"We knew they were going to try to put up a lot of shots from the outside in order to open up the middle," Torres said of the zone.

It worked for the large part, as Shaw only managed 11 points and five rebounds, while Grissom was held to nine points and four boards. Fuller, though, had his big moments from outside; the junior hit three 3-pointers for nine points, including two key 20-footers in the fourth quarter, the second of which put the Eagles up 52-49 with 2:22 left.

Ryan Adlesh, locked in a man-to-man battle with Pagan for most of the night, was the only other Knight in double figures apart from Kussler, managing 12 points in the defeat. Joe Tilley, the Knights/ only other senior apart from Kussler, added seven points and eight rebounds in the loss.

"Down to the wire, last possession Š even though it/s bad that we lost, that/s how a CIF championship game should be," Tilley said.

St. Joseph/s 61, Valley Christian 35

STOCKTON 7 Senior guard Alex Harris scored 19 points as St. Joseph/s of Alameda ran away from Valley Christian 61-35 to win the Division IV NorCal boys championship Saturday.

The Pilots (28-6) started quickly and never looked back as they defeated the Warriors to move into the Division IV state championship next Saturday against Los Angeles Verbum Dei.

St. Joseph/s of Alameda will face Verbum Dei for the state Division IV title.

March 14, 2004