Miles Bulldogs Save Season With Wild Comeback Win Over Christoval

SAN ANGELO, TX — The Miles Bulldogs simply refused to let their season end Tuesday.

Trailing by 11 points in the fourth quarter, Miles stormed back to steal a 66-65 win over Christoval in the opening round of the Class 2A Division II playoffs at San Angelo Central's Babe Didrikson Gym.

Miles was down by eight points with about two minutes remaining and used a 9-0 run to take a 64-63 lead with 19 seconds left, setting up a frantic finish.

Christoval went back on top on a layup by Ethan Busch with eight seconds to play before Miles raced down the court for one last chance.

Cooper Ellison was fouled on a drive to the basket with 0.6 seconds remaining, and the Miles senior calmly stepped to the free-throw line and swished both free throws to give the Bulldogs the lead.

When a desperation full-court pass by Christoval failed, Miles’ players and coaches began celebrating an improbable win.

“If there was anybody in this gym I wanted at the line, it was him,” Miles head coach Gerald Butts said of Ellison, who had a game-high 24 points. “He’s money. He can handle the pressure, and he’s handled the situation before, so it’s not new to him. He’s doing everything he can to keep this season going as far as the playoffs.”

“I just tried to block out the noise,” Ellison said of his mindset at the free-throw line. “I tried to do it how it is in practice. We shoot like 40 every day at the end of practice.”

Ethan James added 20 points for Christoval, while Caleb Guzman had 10.

Guzman had a huge 3-pointer from the corner with 35 seconds left that pulled Miles within 63-62.

Not long after, the Bulldogs stole a Christoval inbounds pass, setting up Ellison for a layup with 19 seconds remaining that gave Miles the lead.

Christoval’s Camdin Balderas had a team-high 22 points. He fouled out with 2:25 remaining and his team leading 63-55.

Bruce Cooper had 14 points for Christoval, and Busch had 11.

Christoval’s season ended with a record of 20-13, while Miles improved to 18-7. The Bulldogs will play Whiteface (12-5) later this week in the area round at a site and time to be determined.

This was the fourth meeting between Miles and Christoval this season. Miles went 3-1 in those games, but the last meetings were all decided by seven points or less.

"It's been this way the last three times we played Christoval, and I knew it was going to be a dogfight coming in," Butts said. "To be honest, I don't know anything about Whiteface. I was totally concentrated on winning this game. I knew I had to put 1,000% into winning this game."

Christoval jumped out to a 23-14 lead by the end of the first quarter, but Miles rallied to tie the game 33-33 at halftime.

A breakaway dunk by Cooper gave Christoval a 50-39 lead late in the third quarter, but a 3-pointer by Guzman and a putback by James pulled the Cougars within 50-44 heading into the fourth.

When Balderas hit a 3-pointer to give Christoval a 59-48 lead with a little over five minutes to play, it looked like the Cougars were on their way to a win, but Miles showed nerves of steel down the stretch to come back.

"It feels great. It's just the team's relentless pursuit of never getting down when we're down and just keep pushing," Ellison said.