Victory Scores 30, Aptos Beats Santa Cruz in Double Overtime

Aptos relied on senior standouts Danny Victory and Jake Harrell to get past visiting Santa Cruz on Saturday night in a tense game that went to double-overtime. 

“We hit our shots and just went off of that,” said Harrell. “That was what gave us that momentum, the team playing together.”

The game got off to a sloppy start for both teams with five combined turnovers before slick passing by Aptos beat the Santa Cruz press and allowed Harrell to score a layup, the first field goal of the game, nearly three minutes in. 

Santa Cruz jumped out to a 21-12 lead in the second quarter thanks to the play of Clayton Conroy, who scored 17 points in the game, and Jamie Saint John who contributed 19.

Then Victory started to find his stroke from behind the three-point line, where he scored many of his game high 30 points.

“I was just shooting the ball trying to get my team in the game,” said Victory.

Santa Cruz used an aggressive inside game to keep the edge going into the half, 34-31, despite two technical fouls that were called against them in the waning minutes of the second quarter.

The third quarter saw much of the same with Santa Cruz fighting to keep the lead while Victory dialed in his perimeter game and Harrell played well inside. Santa Cruz held onto the lead until the fourth quarter when Victory drained a three-pointer, followed by two free throws to give Aptos a 50-47 edge.

In the fourth, Jonah Hodges lobbed a beautiful alley-oop pass to Chris Martin for two points and then hit a three pointer of his own to give Santa Cruz the lead back. 

Victory responded with a three pointer to tie the game with 40 seconds remaining and the home crowd erupted. The 63-63 score held until the end of regulation sending the game to overtime. 

Aptos led in overtime with a few seconds remaining on the clock and Santa Cruz inbounding the ball. Hodges found Conroy open under the hoop to tie the game and send it to a second overtime. 

In the second overtime, Santa Cruz held a one point lead with one minute left. Victory again answered the bell by hitting a crucial three pointer to give Aptos the lead. Harrell sealed the victory by knocking down a pair of free throws moments later.

The victory gives Aptos a share of the league title along with regular season champion Santa Cruz, but more importantly, Aptos earned a 2-1 season edge against Santa Cruz.

“This is huge. It shows that we can play and beat teams that have huge records. The favorites. We know we can play with the best,” said Harrell.

Both teams now await their ranking as they enter the CCS playoffs, which will begin next week.

“We feel like we’re getting better as a team,” said Aptos coach Joseph Smith. “We think that going forward, we’re confident.”

The win gives Aptos momentum going into the playoffs although both teams will start with a clean slate.

“We want to use it as good energy instead of letting us down. We want to use it to push us forward,” said Santa Cruz point guard, Hodges.

Both teams were already headed to the playoffs regardless of the outcome of the game but it could affect which team gets higher seeding. 

It also meant something special to Victory besides an outstanding clutch performance.

“It feels good. It’s my first league championship,” he said.

Community Television of Santa Cruz County broadcast the game locally. Replays can be seen on Comcast channel 25, Charter channel 71 and AT&T channel 99 Sundays at 7 p.m. or at www.communitytv.org on demand