July 29, 2008 — Sixth-seeded Legacy gave third-seeded Guidance all they could handle Monday night in the opening game of the Continental Basketball Association 2008 playoffs, but it was not enough as they came up just short in their upset bid 78-75.
An enthusiastic, medium-size crowd braved the warm St. Croix Central High school gymnasium for the opening round of the playoffs. If the first game was any indication of the rest of the post season, fans are going to be in for a treat of highly contested games.
The first quarter was tightly contested, with both teams using mini runs to exchange the lead throughout. However, with seven seconds left in the opening period and his team down one at 23-22, Rakeem Christmas took a pass from Lamar Bough and exploded to the basket for a slam dunk as time expired to give his team the lead at 24-23.
Guidance outscored the young Legacy squad 15-8 to start the second quarter, and held a 38-32 lead with 3:50 left in the half. But Legacy responded mightily, closing out the first half with a 13-2 run, highlighted by a three at the buzzer by C. Belle to give his team a surprising five-point lead at the half at 45-40. Bough had the hot hand for Legacy in the second quarter, scoring 12 points in the period to help propel his team to the five-point lead.
If not for an exciting but unsuccessful comeback by Legacy in the fourth period, the game could have very well been over in the third quarter, as Legacy came out flat at the start of the second half. Combined with some good defense by Guidance, they just could not buy a basket for most of the early going. Meanwhile, the veteran third-seeded squad had no such problems as they opened the second half with a 12-0 run to take the lead at 52-45. With eight tough points on the inside by Houston Penn and a couple of threes from Nigel Bridgewater, they went on to outscore Legacy 20-6 in the quarter to take a 60-51 lead at the end of three quarters.
Legacy could have easily thrown in the towel in the third quarter after being outplayed so badly. But, to their credit, the youngsters had no quit in them. They came out of the gate with a purpose, outscoring the higher-seeded team 16-7, topped by two free throws by Christmas, and the game was all tied up at 67. This run woke up Legacy's fans, who were quiet for most of the second half to this point. After one of two free throws by Stephen O'Reilly and a basket by S. Edwards, Legacy now found themselves with a three-point edge at 70-67. After an exchange of baskets, the score was 72-69 legacy with 1:48 left in the game, and the fans smelled an upset.
It was not to be, however, as with the score at 72-70 after a Guidance free throw, a steal by Guidance and a long three by Bridgewater, his sixth of the game, gave the veteran squad the lead for good at 73-72. Guidance would go on to outscore legacy 5-3 to end the game and avoid the upset, 78-75.
Mathew Ogarro led Guidance with a game-high 22 points. Nine of those points came on 9-of-10 clutch free-throw shooting with the game on the line in its latter stages. Bridgewater netted 20 and Penn dropped in 10, also for Guidance. For Legacy, it was O'Reilly leading the way with 19 points, while Edwards had 11 and Christmas finished with 10.
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