HS boys basketball playoffs: Whitney overcomes Rio Americano in overtime
The Whitney Wildcats had their hands full with Rio Americano’s Ian Engh.
Rio’s senior guard poured in 25 points through three quarters in the opening of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoffs Wednesday night while it appeared while the home team was disjointed and unable to stop his barrage of 3-pointers.
“We’ve played against him for four years,” Whitney head coach Nick French said of Engh. “I keep telling him, ‘When are you going to graduate?’ He’s a warrior. He just has supreme confidence.”
Engh added 8 more points in the fourth quarter to finish with a game-high 33, but Whitney (20-9) ended with a flurry while slowing down Engh’s prolific scoring. The No. 5 seed overcame a 5-point deficit heading into the fourth quarter to finish with a 65-55 win in overtime and avoid the upset from No. 12 Rio Americano (16-11).
The win included Whitney shutting out Rio, and Engh, in a four-minute overtime period. The Wildcats in the fourth quarter and overtime got 16 points, including four 3-pointers from junior sharpshooter Saahill Sabnis. He finished with 19 points, and helped his team advance to the second round of the playoffs on Friday, where Whitney will take on the winner between No. 4-seeded Woodcreek and No. 13 Lodi.
“It just opens up everything for us,” French said of Sabnis’ late-game 3-point shooting. “We’ve always had good shooters in this program, but I’ve never had a shooter who makes a shot and brings everybody’s confidence level up. So we needed him to do it. That’s his job. He’s one of the best shooters I’ve ever coached and one of the best shooters in the section. He’s gotta make 3s.”
Rio made nine 3s in the first three quarters, but then the Wildcats defense stiffened and the Raiders made just two in the fourth quarter before failing to score a point in overtime.
Rio had a chance to put the game away in the final moment. Engh was trapped on the right hand and had the ball stolen, leaving Raiders coaches and fans wanting a foul called.
It gave Whitney the ball down 55-53 with 16.6 seconds left, and Sabnis made a layup to tie the game at 55-55 with 1.7 seconds remaining. Engh had a clean look at a half-court shot to win it at the buzzer, but it was long off the backboard.
Whitney cruised from there, getting a pair of 3s from Sabnis and making four free-throws while outscoring Rio in overtime 10-0.
The Wildcats move on after finishing third in the Sierra Foothill Conference in the regular season behind regional blue bloods Folsom and Jesuit.
“Survive and advance,” French said. “That’s all it is. Every team in this bracket is really, really good. As disappointed as I was in how we played in the first half and third quarter, I was really proud of my team at the end.”
