Technical foul helps Skyhawks complete rally

Nick Christensen

Friday, Feb. 11, 2005 | 10:14 a.m.

It's getting old to Rob Pisano, this whole furious-charge-at-the-end thing.

But unlike last week's late rally, which fell short in an overtime loss to Green Valley, Pisano's Silverado boys' basketball team this time pulled off the late surge, outscoring Coronado 26-6 in the fourth quarter for a 74-70 victory Thursday.

With the win, Silverado clinched the second seed in the Southeast Division.

The comeback came after Coronado had outscored the Skyhawks 45-21 in the second and third periods. A large part of that was because of the Cougars' extremely hot 3-point shooting -- 8-for-17 in the second quarter and 4-for-11 in the third -- and when Silverado stepped up the tempo in the fourth, Coronado stopped getting clean looks.

"We never quit, no matter how bad it gets," said Skyhawks guard Heiden Ratner, who led all scorers with 33 points. "We do get tired of it, but we stay physical, play our hardest. We can pull a victory off no matter how far we get down."

It was Ratner's layup with 2:32 left in the fourth quarter that was the turning point of the game, and both teams' seasons.

After mounting an 11-4 run to start the quarter, Ratner took a drive inside and was fouled on a layup, which he made.

Coronado coach Paul Berg was called for a technical foul for arguing the call, and the resulting two foul shot attempts gave Ratner a chance to bring the Skyhawks within one.

Ratner hit all three free throws and Chad Robinson hit a jumper to give Silverado a lead they didn't give back. Kyle Rath had seven points in the fourth quarter, including Silverado's last three points from the free throw line.

"We play two quarters a game," Pisano said. "If we could put four quarters together, we could be dangerous in the playoffs."

Silverado will host a playoff game for the first time since the school opened in 1993, when it faces Eldorado in the Sunrise Region quarterfinals on Monday.

Coronado, which would have won that second seed and sent Silverado back to fourth with a victory, will open at Rancho instead.