EAGLES WIN FINAL HOME GAME IN DOUBLE OVERTIME, 56-53

Southwest (14-4) honored its six seniors in pre-game ceremonies, then gave their fans their money's worth in a thrilling 56-53 double overtime victory over visiting Hialeah Gardens. The Eagles led 13-5 after first quarter, 24-16 at the half, and 31-26 after the third period. The Gladiators (11-10), coached by former Eagle Marcos Molina, took a 40-37 lead with 2:40 remaining in regulation. Michael Juachon's basket with 1:50 left, the next-to-last field goal for Southwest in the game, cut the lead to one. The Eagles hit 5-of-6 free throws, the last with 9 seconds on the clock, to go up 44-42, but Alejandro Sanchez of Hialeah Gardens penetrated for a layup with 3 ticks left to send the game into overtime. In the first extra period, Southwest won the tap and ran its Celtics offense without taking a shot until Oscar Blanco was fouled at the 1:20 mark. Blanco made one of two free throws to make it 45-44 and a Ray Lleonart free throw 33 seconds later made it 46-44. The Gladiators hit one of two foul shots with 27 second left but Lleonart did the same with 19.7 left to put the Eagles up 47-45. With 2 seconds left Sanchez rebounded an air ball and laid it in at the buzzer to force a second overtime. Gio Gonzalez hit a two-pointer and two free throws to give Southwest a 53-51 lead with one minute on the clock. Leo Torres, who was two rebounds short of a double-double, hit two from the charity stripe to make the lead four with 28 seconds left. Hialeah Gardens answered with a basket with 20 seconds left and Lleonart hit a foul shot at 0:10.6 to complete the scoring. The Gladiators had one final possession but came up short. The scoring:
Leo Torres 16
Gio Gonzalez 12
Ray Lleonart 11
Michael Juachon 9
Oscar Blanco 6
Alex Felipe 2

NEXT WEEK'S CORAL PARK GAME IS CANCELED

With Southwest now scheduled to play in the GMAC tournament next week, the Wednesday home game against Coral Park has been canceled. The Eagles will most likely play Booker T. Washington on the road at 7:30pm, but the brackets will be officially announced Monday morning. If Southwest wins Tuesday night's GMAC quarterfinal game, it will advance to a semifinal on Wednesday. Should the eagles advance to the tournament championship game, it will cause the cancellation of the final regular season game at Hialeah Gardens.