Bishop Gorman comes from 13 points down to beat Faith Family in overtime for Holiday Classic title

Down 13 points in the closing seconds of the third quarter, it appeared that Bishop Gorman was on the verge of their first loss of the season.

(Photos by Todd Shurtleff)

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Down 13 points in the closing seconds of the third quarter, it appeared that Bishop Gorman was on the verge of their first loss of the season.

Senior forward Darrion Williams inbounded the ball in front of the Gael’s bench, got it right back and calmly knocked down a three-pointer at the buzzer to cut Faith Family’s lead to ten points heading into the fourth quarter.

“We just talk about one possession at a time whether we’re down, six, eight, ten or 19 like we were to Liberty,” Bishop Gorman head coach Grant Rice said. “These guys believe.”

The Gaels continued their run into the fourth quarter, briefly taking a 61-60 lead after Jason Richardson Jr.’s fourth three-pointer of the night. Faith Family would not go away though, quickly grabbing the lead back. After Faith Family’s Isaiah Jones made both free throws with less than 30 seconds to play, Bishop Gorman called timeout to draw up a play to break the 68-all tie.

Jason Richardson Jr. used a screen at the top of the key, drove left and launched a jump shot that sailed long and couldn’t be rebounded before the game clock expired, sending the game to overtime.

Richardson and Darrion Williams each made their first shot attempts in the overtime period to help the Gaels seize control and win the overtime period, 13-5, to capture the Holiday Classic championship, 81-73.

“We’re a streaky team because we have times where we’ll miss three of four shots in a row, but we’ll have times when we hit five or six in a row,” Rice said. “When we get going, we’re pretty hard to beat.”

The Gaels, ranked No. 21 in the country in the SBLive/SI Power 25 boys basketball rankings, move to 14-0 on the season.

“We’ve had some good teams, but I don’t know if I’ve ever been 14-0 in December,” Rice said. “It’s a pretty good feeling.”

Bishop Gorman’s Darrion Williams was named MVP of the National Division after scoring 21 points in the final and finishing with double digits in all four games of the tournament.

Bishop Gorman's Darrion Williams

“Darrion Williams has been steady all year and Ryan Abelman, those two seniors were awesome,” Rice said.

Jason Richardson Jr. scored a game-high 23 points and was named the SBLive Sports player of the game while Ryan Abelman had three of the Gael’s 15 three-pointers and finished with 13 points in the championship game.

Brandon Walker and Isaiah Jones scored 19 points apiece for Faith Family Academy, which fell to 18-4 with the loss.