What a birthday party.
Foothills Falcon Tyler Ziehl celebrated his 18th birthday by scoring the final five points for the Falcons as they edged Calgary’s Winston Churchill Bulldogs 91-90 in the final of their home tournament Saturday night.
“Today is my birthday and yesterday was Adam’s (Falcon Adam Pahl),” Ziehl said. “I’m pretty happy, but I’m going to sleep. I’m pretty tired after this.”
He and the near capacity crowd had every right to be sleepy.
The Falcons Classic final was exhausting to watch.
The Bulldogs – the ninth ranked 4A team in the province — had taken an 87-86 lead when Moreau Amadou picked up a loose ball and slam dunked the Dogs in front with just over a minute left.
The Falcons worked the ball down the court and an alert Pahl, who was heavily guarded underneath the basket, hit a wide-open Ziehl who canned the three to put the Falcons back up 89-87 with 52 seconds left.
Ziehl admitted it’s Pahl who is the sharpshooter.
“Usually it is the other way around,” Ziehl said with a smile. “I was able to get to the right spot and Adam made a perfect pass.”
The Falcons would force an errant shot and Ziehl would give the Falcons a 91-87 lead with 25 seconds left.
“I was pretty stoked (after the three) but I got back on defence and we had a solid defensive possession,” Ziehl said. “I came down and hit a two which was big.”
However, the Dogs aren’t no. 9 because they rollover when the going gets tough.
Churchill point guard Matt Fullerton went down and jacked up a three with about 10 seconds left to cut the lead to 91-90.
Then bedlam erupted.
The Falcons inbounded the pass, but the clock failed to run. With the fans shouting “Clock, Clock, Clock,” Foothills guard Josh Derochie made an errant pass that went out of bounds as his legs cramped and the Bulldogs were given possession.
However, how much time was left on the clock was a mystery Stephen Hawking would have struggled with.
Churchill was given possession just inside half-court with an agreed-upon five seconds left, but Foothills stingy defence prevented Fullerton from getting off a shot.
When a lazy pass fell into Pahl’s arm just before the buzzer, the Falcons had pulled off their biggest win of the year.
“We had a play drawn up and I was going to penetrate or kick to a guy,” said Fullerton who finished with 28 points. “I came off a double-screen, dribbled, didn’t have a lane to shoot in and I got off a bad pass that Adam got.
“Foothills played really hard and they deserved it.”
The pass was the lone mistake Derochie made in the game.
The levelheaded Grade 11 guard was named the Falcons player of the game, thanks to his stingy defence.
“It came down to not letting him (Fullerton) get the ball, their offence is him,” Derochie said. “All I did was not ever leave him.”
The smooth ball-handling Derochie had nine points while running the offence with precision and eyeing the court like a Falcon looking for a rabbit.
Fullerton tipped his head to Derochie’s play.
“I came off tons of screens and that made it hard for him,” Fullerton said. “He played really good defence. He’s a great player.”
David Kent-Canalejo turned in another workmanlike performance for Foothills. He contributed 15 points in the victory. Peter Baker finished with 16 points, which included four bombs from beyond the arc. Pahl led the Falcons with 21 points.
It was the best Falcons game coach Amron Gwilliam had never seen.
The easy-going head coach was tossed six-minutes into the game after continuing to argue with an official he felt was missing the aggressive Ziehl getting roughed up under the basket.
Foothills advanced to Saturday’s final by downing the Ernest Manning Griffins 71-63 earlier that afternoon. Pahl finished with 32 points, while Ziehl and Derochie turned in 14 and 13, respectively.
The Falcons opened the tournament by downing their cross-town rivals the Holy Trinity Academy Knights 92-73 Friday night.
The Falcons are in Chestermere tonight to play their 4A zone rivals the Lakers Feb. 22. They play in the Notre Dame tournament this weekend in Calgary.
