From milestones to mayhem, it was an incredible Game of the Week

It was supposed to be about milestones. Instead, it was about mayhem. This was no mundane Monday night encounter as the Maranatha Mustangs prevailed 79-74 over the Como Park Cougars in an epic Game of the Week. Part MMA fight, part circus, it was one of the most chaotic, most frenetic, most entertaining games you will ever see. As the college coach sitting next to me said late in the second half, "This is a game we will remember five years from now." There was plenty of talent on display – some of it really, really young – and the intensity level was completely over the top. Maranatha coach Chris Buerman was at his animated best. Como coach Alexis Gray-Lawson was louder than ever. The fans were engaged, noisy and obnoxious. It was great! "They think I'm crazy and Chris is just as crazy as me," Gray-Lawson said after it was all over. "Our teams mirror each other so well. I knew it was going to be high-paced, I knew it was going to be up and down. We like to be like that and they do, too." Como Park came out running and gunning, and Maranatha was caught off guard. Cougars' senior Makayla Van Nett opened the scoring on a floater less than a minute in and then started launching threes from beyond the arc – waaaaay beyond the arc! Van Nett is a highly accomplished sharpshooter and, despite being ice-cold of late, quickly showed why she has been one of the state's top three-point shooters for four years. By the midway point of the first half, Van Nett had three triples and 13 points as the visitors led by more than a dozen. "We were definitely flat, but Como came out and gave us a good little punch that reminded us we needed to be here to compete," Buerman said. "With Van Nett you have to be aware of where she is on the court at all times. If you lose her, she is going to make you pay." Maranatha eventually got its act together, chipping away at the lead and coming back to within two points at the break. The Mustangs juggled their rotations in the second half so there were fewer mismatches. "We got our little guards against their little guards, and our bigs against their bigs, and we just started running," Buerman said. Fighting on the playground Maranatha opened the second half with a 10-1 spurt. When senior Jaclyn Jarnot buried a corner three, the game was paused to celebrate her 2,000th career point. It's an important milestone, to be sure, but nobody wanted to interrupt the pinball game on the floor. When play resumed, the Mustangs stretched the lead to as much as 15. It was Maranatha's bench that sparked the turnaround, including 7th grader Chloe Jarnot, Jaclyn's younger sister. She used her superior speed and quickness on defense to inspire her bigger, more experienced teammates. On the other side, 7th grader Shania Nichols, Van Nett's younger sister, was defending like an angry pit bull. It was like a bare-knuckle scrap on the junior high playground. "Shania is so different from the other kids. She just has this spark. She has this dog in her," Gray-Lawson said. "She's not going to give you nothing easy. She has this spiciness, and when she's on the floor the other kids can be extra spicy. I mean, she's only in 7th grade. It's crazy that she has that mentality." Como made a push, forcing turnovers and completing some big plays. Senior Raiyne Adams displayed a level of commitment seldom seen from Como this season. The Cougars came close but by the time Van Nett hit her sixth three of the night with just seconds remaining it was too late. The circus was over. Gray-Lawson said it was one of the most exiting games she has ever been involved in and, believe me, the Como coach knows a little something about big games. She won a California state high school championship at Oakland Tech, played in the McDonald's All America game, was one of the best players in the history of Pac 12 California-Berkley, and won a gold medal playing with Maya Moore at the World University Games. Oh, she also played with Phoenix in the WNBA. "I mean, there is no bigger atmosphere than what we played in right here," she said. "It was just fun, and the kids really got into it." "I hate moral victories but we needed that" Despite the loss, Gray-Lawson wasn't unhappy afterwards. She has been frustrated by her team's lack of intensity in recent weeks. The junior high kids – Nichols (Van Nett), Ronnie Porter, K'Lynn Asberry and Jada James – have been dialed in by the seniors have not. "It wasn't a win, but it was a huge win for us," she said. "I think Maranatha is one of the best teams that we have played in the last two years. You put them against Mahtomedi or DeLaSalle and they win the game in my honest opinion. When you play a team like that and only lose by five, to me that's a moral victory. I hate moral victories but we needed that. At the end of the day, we are the underdogs and the last time we were the underdogs we went to state." Jarnot had 22 points for Maranatha while senior Kylie Post had 20. Junior Breianna Smestad and 8th grader Desiree Ware contributed 11 each. Adams scored 16 points for Como Park while Van Nett had 33. Ironically, we thought Van Nett needed just 22 points to hit the 2,000-point career mark herself, but it was discovered before the game that there had been a mathematical error and her magic number was actually 48. That's OK, though. I'm not sure anyone in the gym could have handled another ounce of excitement.