As the final buzzer blared, the celebration began, and a sea of red and yellow clad students engulfed the Rams to revel in the 62-54 win and the reality of a 2006 Blossom Valley Athletic League Santa Teresa Division boys basketball championship. The last time the Rams hung a basketball banner in the gym was a 2003 BVAL West Valley Division championship.

The win, coupled with a clutch 53-52 win over Evergreen Valley earlier in the week, left the Rams 12-2 in the division and tied with Prospect for first place. Willow Glen now takes a 19-6 season record into the Central Coast Section Division III playoffs where the Rams will visit St. Francis (12-14) on Feb. 23, 7 p.m. The winner advances to the quarterfinals on Feb. 25 at St. Ignatius against either Jefferson (12-14), Hillsdale (14-12) or No. 1 seed Riordan (17-11).

Although the Rams enjoyed a double digit lead throughout much of the second and third quarters, the Chargers would not give up. They battled and scratched their way back. After Leland's David Farsai was fouled as he hit a driving lay-up and then dropped in the free throw to put three points up the old fashioned way with 45 seconds left in the game, the Rams were holding onto only a six point advantage.

Willow Glen's Hienock Habte swished four of six free throw attempts down the stretch to hold off the surging Chargers who got only one more bucket from Farsai in the final minute of the game. Farsai led the Chargers, pouring in 30 points, while Habte was tops for the Rams, finding the range on 19 points.

"The second quarter was the difference," Leland coach Dave Frandsen said. "We switched to a zone defense and thought that would work, but we couldn't cover all their shooters." Those shooters were led by the red hot hand of Steven Skavdahl who burned the nets for nine points (three buckets from beyond the three-point perimeter) of the 20 scored by the Rams in the quarter. He finished the night with five three-balls and a total of 17 points. The Rams' barrage gave them a 38-24 bulge at the half.

The Chargers changed defensive tactics in the third quarter and began to play a very aggressive man-to-man that eventually begin to slow the Rams offensively and allow the Chargers to whittle away at the lead. However, as Willow Glen coach Todd Meeker pointed out, "Skavdahl hit some big shots just when we needed them and gave us a lift when we seemed to be slowing down."

Farsai kept up his blistering pace in the third quarter and he got solid support from Navdeep Rai, who rattled the rim for eight points in the quarter as part of his 14-point total. Rai's three-pointer and a pair of buckets by Farsai closed out the quarter with a 7-0 run for the Chargers and brought them to within 52-43 headed into the final stanza.

"Every time we made a mistake, they found it," Frandsen said. "We didn't rebound very well. They just got to the boards better than us. It was also hard adjusting to the noise of the crowd and tough to communicate. We had not played in that atmosphere all season but it was a great one to play in."

The Rams had a third player in double figures with Kyle Schroeder banging in 10 points. Lawrence Montepio dropped in nine points and kept the Chargers off balance with his slashing drives to the hoop. Billy Hahn added four points and Brian Chunn contributed three.

The Rams had to get past Evergreen Valley earlier in the week to keep their championship hopes alive and that proved to be a challenging task as well before Willow Glen pulled out a 53-52 win.

"That was really a big game for us," Meeker explained. "We lost big time against them in the first round and I didn't know how our kids would respond. We got out to an early lead and that was good."

In fact, the Rams led the whole way until Evergreen tied it up with 23 seconds left in the game. Meeker set up a play that the Rams ran to perfection but Hahn was fouled as he took the shot with seven seconds remaining on the clock. He converted one of two free throw attempts to put Willow Glen up 53-52 but leaving the door open for Evergreen.

The Cougars drained a final shot as the buzzer went off but the referee waved it off, indicating that the shot was taken after time had expired. Once again the home court was filled with jubilant fans as the Rams title hopes remained alive and the show down with Leland was set up.

Habte sizzled the nets for 20 points, while snagging six rebounds and dealing out six assists. Schroeder banged in 11 points and worked the paint for eight boards. Skavdahl tossed in a pair of three-pointers in his nine-point total and handed out four assists. Hahn hit five points and Chunn and Montepio added three each. Daniel O'Shaughnessy contributed two points.