Abigon completes the comeback in the final seconds

Published 12:00 am Thursday, January 22, 2015

TROUTDALE — Portland CC guard Tay Arigbon saw exactly what he was hoping for when the Panthers inbounded the ball from the sideline with the score tied and 10 ticks on the clock.

“I had a one-on-one matchup coming out of the inbounds play, and that gave me room to operate,” he said.

Arigbon, a Grant High graduate, had a clear path down the baseline with his defender shading toward the middle of the court. He was fouled from behind just before he reached the rim, sending him to the free-throw line with 7.4 seconds to play.

Saints’ players along the bench implored the home crowd to get loud, and it appeared it might just work when Arigbon saw his first attempt spin out. But his second try rattled home to put the Panthers up by a point.

“I know I’m a good free-throw shooter,” Arigbon said. “I let that first one slip, but I knew I had the ability to hit the next one.”

Mt. Hood CC had a similar plan on its end of the court, putting the ball into the hands of Oleg Marandyuk with 4.3 seconds left. He dribbled into a crowd and drew contact 12 feet from the hoop, but no whistle sounded and Portland latched onto the loose ball to finish out the 77-75 win.

The Panthers evened their record early in the South Region season, heading into Saturday’s 4 p.m. home game against Lane.

The teams traded the lead five times in the first half before Mt. Hood built an eight-point margin shortly after the break. The Saints hit their first five shots of the second half — four of those coming in the paint — along with a 3 from the corner by Jamal Muhammad.

Despite the hot hand, Mt. Hood gave up 14 turnovers on the night, most of them coming early in the half, leading to fastbreak buckets that helped Portland stay within striking distance.

The Panthers made a late surge when Braden Taylor converted a reverse layin, and Arigbon sneaked in close to the hoop to tie the score 68-68 as the clock dipped under three minutes. Trevon Eisenhut hit a 3-pointer on a kickout from David Medina to put Portland in front.

The Panthers led 75-72 in the final minute when Mike Gregory pulled up for an 18-footer that doinked the front of the rim only to crawl its way over and trickle through the net.

Mt. Hood appeared headed for overtime when Oleg Marandyuk sidestepped a defender and scored on a putback at the front of the rim to knot the score 75-75 with 15.2 seconds to play.

Arigbon led the Panthers with 26 points, while Gregory put up 21. Marandyuk tallied a game-high 27 points.

• The Portland women’s team overcame an early double-digit hole to score a 70-61 win over Mt. Hood in the night’s first game. Shyanne Ackles finished with a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds, while Milan Woods added 15 points and Diamond Bolden had 14. The win pushed the Panthers (8-8) into the top half of the South Region standings.

View a photo gallery from the men’s game at daveball.exposuremanager.com.