GARDEN GROVE — Tenacity, grit and a clutch 3-pointer from Michael Montejo with 90 seconds remaining in the game were the deciding factors in Katella’s come-from-behind, 63-61 victory over Garden Grove in an Orange Coast League boys basketball game Wednesday at Garden Grove High School.
After leading briefly, 4-0, in the first quarter, the Knights (11-5, 2-0) fell behind to the Argonauts (11-10, 0-1) and eventually faced a double-digit deficit in the third quarter.
The Knights had been lacking in the rebounding department for much of the first half and then started crashing the boards in the third quarter, especially on the offensive end, scoring second-chance points and inching closer.
Michael Montejo, who led Katella with 23 points, then made a steal on the Garden Grove end of the court and hit a 3-pointer, putting the Knights back ahead to stay at 62-61, with one-minute, 25-seconds remaining.
“I had made a bad pass,” Montejo said. “It was a turnover, but in my mind, I didn’t feel sorry for myself. I was thinking, all right I’ve got to get it back. That’s what I was really focused on.”
On his 3-pointer, the sophomore said he knew the ball was going in the basketball from the second it left has hands.
“That just felt really good,” Montejo said.
Montejo and Joseph Damian, who scored 13 points for Katella, combined for 12 of the Knights’ 15 points in the fourth.
Damian scored off an offensive rebound to get the Knights to within four and then scored off of a steal, was fouled, and hit the free throw to make it a one-point game, 58-57.
Garden Grove’s Drue Anzi, who came into the game tied for fifth in the county in 3-pointers and has close to 1,100 points in his career, hit a 3-pointer to put the Argonauts ahead 61-57 with five minutes remaining.
But the Argonauts were held scoreless the rest of the way.
Garden Grove missed shots on its next two possessions, setting the stage for Montejo’s 3-pointer, putting the Knights ahead, 62-61.
The Knights added a free throw and then ran down the clock to 2.1 seconds.
Garden Grove’s Ethan Juarez managed to get off a shot from half court.
The shot came close, bouncing off the backboard to the front of the rim before hitting the floor.
“I just feel like we stuck together as a team and we were built for this,” Damian said of the comeback. “(Coach Carlo Davis) taught us we’re bult for these moments.”
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