By Pete Borello

R. Alan Hwang/Special to the Town Crier Pinewood School’s Michel Nofal goes up for a shot over Valley Christian’s Cameron Knapp in last week’s playoff semifinal.

The final five seconds punctuated what went wrong for Pinewood School in the second half of last week’s Central Coast Section Division V boys basketball semifinal.

Instead of getting off a potentially game-tying 3-pointer, the 11th-seeded Panthers made another turnover that led to another easy basket for No. 2 Valley Christian-Dublin. Pinewood’s Michel Nofal got stripped from behind and Tyler Johnson made a layup at the buzzer to give the Vikings a 42-37 victory March 1 at De Anza College.

It was the 11th turnover of the half for the Panthers, who came into it leading 19-14. Valley Christian pulled ahead for the first time at 25-22 on a 3-point play by Josh Mines with 2:16 left in the third quarter. Pinewood would never recapture the lead.

“They made plays in the third quarter and at the end,” coach Andrew Slayton said of the Vikings, who outscored his Panthers 13-6 in the third. “They just made plays and came up with loose balls.”

Pinewood’s six turnovers in the quarter doubled the number of shots it took. The Panthers’ only field goal came on a 3-pointer by forward Tim Wang, who finished with a game-high 16 points.

Wang scored eight points in the fourth to keep Pinewood within striking distance. But Valley Christian always seemed to have a response. The Vikings countered Wang’s jump-stop drive to open the fourth with back-to-back turnaround jumpers from Balraj Athwal. When Wang followed with two free throws, Cameron Knapp scored inside off a nice pass from a slashing Ryan Christensen to give Valley Christian a 33-29 advantage.

The Vikings pushed their lead to 40-32 with just under two minutes to play, as Johnson knocked down a free throw after being fouled on a successful drive. The center totaled 15 points, primarily on drives and putbacks.

“(Johnson) hurt us,” Slayton said. “He’s quick and gets on the boards. He’s a tough guy to cover for our big guys, who aren’t as quick.”

Pinewood scored the next five points - with Wang draining his second 3-pointer and center Nick Fraioli following up a Nofal miss - to close within 40-37. Valley Christian then committed a rare turnover, leaving the Panthers with nearly 30 seconds to take the tying shot. They instead turned the ball over and Valley Christian escaped with the victory.

Not an easy way to lose for a Pinewood team that came into the game playing its best basketball of the season. The Panthers (15-12) won at No. 6 St. Francis of Watsonville in the first round of the playoffs and pulled off an overtime upset of No. 3 Mid-Peninsula in the quarterfinals.

“We had a great season, with a great group of guys,” Slayton said. “We found out that we can win playoff games and close games; we stepped up and made big plays. It was fun to see. But tonight, we came up a little short.”

Pinewood started its game against Valley Christian (18-10) with such promise, leading 11-2 after the initial quarter. Nofal scored the first seven points, capped by a 3-pointer from the top of the key. The forward finished with 10 points and was the only Panther other than Wang to score in double digits.

“We controlled the tempo in the first quarter,” Slayton said, “but then we lost a little bit of control of the game and they got going.”

Valley Christian scored the first two baskets of the second quarter and got as close as 17-14 when Athwal sank a free throw with 23 seconds remaining. Fraioli answered for Pinewood, getting a layin off a drive-and-dish play from point guard Johnny Capin with two seconds to go.

For the game, Pinewood shot the ball better than Valley Christian from the field (45.8 to 40.9 percent), 3-point range (57.1 to 11.1) and foul line (84.6 to 66.7). The Vikings took 20 more shots, however, and scored 28 points in the paint. They also had just four turnovers, compared with 17 for the Panthers.

This marked the third meeting between these teams this year; they split their two Private Schools Athletic League games.

“We had two close games with them before, and I knew we had a chance to win it,” Slayton said. “It was tough.”