Sweet role: Howarth's clutch play lifts Grizzlies

First thing Kyle Howarth will tell you is that he's a role player.

So the 6-foot-2 senior forward's role for Granite Bay Tuesday night was pretty simple – play the hero.

Cutting off a back-door screen by teammate Jonathon Davis, Howarth sprinted to the basket, took an inbound pass from Robert Duncan and calmly laid in the game-winning shot with seven seconds to play.

That lifted the Grizzlies past visiting McClymonds of Oakland 56-55 in the CIF Northern California Division I Regional boys basketball playoffs.

The basket – and subsequent missed desperation shot by the Warriors – set off pandemonium in the nearly full Granite Bay gym.

The raucous student rooters stormed the floor, engulfed the players in hugs and lifted Howarth to their shoulders. They serenaded him to chants of "Kyle, Kyle, Kyle!"

The win over one vaunted Bay Area basketball program moves the Grizzlies into a contest Thursday against another.

Seventh-seeded Granite Bay (27-4), in its first NorCal playoff run, will next play at second-seeded De La Salle of Concord on Thursday.

Seniors Duncan and Davis are Granite Bay's stars, and played like it against McClymonds in combining for 36 points and several big plays.

But Granite Bay has had a season for the ages because of players such as Howarth, Jacob Keys, Nathan Brillington and Joe Eyen.

"I'm just a guy who gets rebounds and plays defense, but I can step up and make a shot when we need it," Howarth said.

Howarth, who finished with eight points, said the play initially was set up to go to Davis.

"But they left me wide open and I just put it in," he said. "It was awesome, especially after that loss to Sheldon."

Duncan led all scorers with 24 points, and couldn't believe how open his teammate was on the play.

"We've run that play all year, and it finally paid off," Duncan said. "Our team always stays calm. It showed in that we didn't panic and ran the play right."

Entering the final minute against tall and athletic McClymonds (17-15), it looked as if Granite Bay might be headed to its second heartbreaking loss within seven days.

The Grizzlies lost to Sheldon on an overtime buzzer-beater tipin by Darius Nelson in a Sac-Joaquin Section semifinal last Tuesday.

Granite Bay trailed McClymonds 55-54 with 26.4 seconds to play and with the Warriors' Dalvin Guy at the free throw line.

But the sophomore missed the front end of the one-and-one and Howarth rebounded.

Keys missed a short runner with nine seconds to play, but in the loose-ball battle it went off a McClymonds player out of bounds, leading to the winning play.

"The kids did a great job, especially on the boards in the second half," said Granite Bay coach Jason Sitterud. "They just killed us in the first half."

Call The Bee's Bill Paterson, (916) 326-5506.

• Read more articles by Bill Paterson