Even wilder Day 2 at the PCI

If you were at Putnam City West Friday night for the semifinals of the Putnam City Invitational, and didn’t find yourself intently glued to the action on the court, basketball must not be your thing.

The final two games of the night were decided by two points or less, one with a (controversial) game-winner going in with 1.8 seconds left, and another with the potential game-winner bouncing off the rim just before the buzzer.

Here’s a look at Friday’s scores and Saturday’s schedule:

Friday’s results
Putnam City North 85, John Marshall 53
Stillwater 61, Lawton Eisenhower 48
Putnam City 58, PC West 56
Midwest City 44, Tulsa Union 43

Saturday’s games
John Marshall vs. Lawton Eisenhower, noon (seventh place)
Putnam City North vs. Stillwater, 1:30 p.m. (fifth place)
Putnam City West vs. Tulsa Union, 4:30 p.m. (third place)
Putnam City vs. Midwest City, 6 p.m. (championship)

First, let’s discuss the end of the PC-PC West game. If you were there, I know you have an opinion about it, and feel free to share in the comments section. For those who weren’t, PC’s Dominique Raney drove toward the top of the key, there was contact between he and PC West defender Dominique Carrasco, and Raney pulled up for an open 18-foot jumper that won the game.

Did he push off to create some separation? Certainly possible. Raney didn’t deny it after the game. “It was what it was. I’ll just say that,” he told me.

For a better visual, think back to June 1998, Michael Jordan’s last game as a Chicago Bull. Did he push off on Utah’s Bryon Russell for the winning jumper in Game 6? If you think so, you probably think Raney pushed off, too.

There are really three ways to look at the play:

1) The PC West view — definitely a push-off.

2) The PC view — maybe a little nudge, but not enough for a foul call.

3) The Bad News Bears view (Let them play!) — you’re the person who wants to see a game decided by the players, not the refs, in the final seconds.