The Mountain View High boys basketball team will try to win its second Central Coast Section Division II title in three years when it faces Leland at 6 p.m. Saturday at Santa Clara High.
The third-seeded Spartans (22-4 overall) advanced to the final by edging No. 7 Aragon 80-75 in double overtime Thursday night at Gunn. Top-seeded Leland (24-2) took the floor next, squeaking by No. 4 Leigh 57-54 in the other semifinal.
Mountain View led Aragon 34-23 after a Will Dominguez dunk with 6:30 left in the third period, but the Dons – who upset No. 2 Valley Christian in the quarterfinals – closed the quarter on a 20-8 run to pull ahead. Their one-point lead grew to four on Sam Manu’s 3-pointer with 5:22 remaining in the fourth.
The Spartans played from behind the rest of the quarter, cutting the deficit to one on a pair of free throws by Sam Tobin (team-high 30 points) with 1:21 left and tying the game at 58 when Jake Pappas split two foul shots with 5.6 seconds to go.
That led to overtime, in which Mountain View reclaimed the lead on its first possession when Pappas split two more free throws. The advantage grew to 63-58 after Jailen Daniel-Dalton made a putback and Dominguez scored from the low block.
Aragon (12-15) answered again, however, as Manu scored five points in the final 4.4 seconds to force a second OT. The senior buried a 3 and, after Tobin split free throws, caught an inbound pass at midcourt over a Mountain View defender and drove for a layin that just beat the buzzer.
The Spartans struck first in the second OT – Dominguez drained two free throws to put them up 69-67 – but Manu quickly put his team back on top with a 3. That would be the Dons’ last lead.
Mountain View scored the next seven points, starting with Jack Resnick’s layin off a steal. Daniel-Dalton then sank two foul shots and Pappas made a baseline drive and one out of two free throws on the Spartans’ ensuing possessions. This pushed the Spartans’ advantage to 76-70 with 30 seconds to play.
“I’m proud of our guys for keeping their composure,” Mountain View coach Kevin Mack said. “They didn’t break, which was great to see.”
