fourth quarter

HOUSTON — LeBron James tapped the ball away from Houston’s Reed Sheppard. Marcus Smart fired a two-handed pass to James, who bobbled it and slapped it to Luke Kennard. Kennard faked a shot. He whipped a pass back to James.

Down three with 14 seconds left in regulation of Game 3 of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs Friday, James lined up a three. Two Houston players ran into each other while desperately trying to defend the shot.

With the ball hanging in the air and the game on the line, was there ever a doubt on the Lakers’ bench?

“Absolutely not,” guard Bronny James said. “It’s the Lakers.”

Already one of the league’s best clutch-time teams, the Lakers stirred up magic again Friday, overcoming a six-point deficit in the final 30 seconds of the fourth quarter to earn a 112-108 overtime win over the Houston Rockets. The Lakers took a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series and will go for their first playoff series sweep since the second round in 2010 on Sunday in Houston.

The Lakers already won two nervy road games over the Rockets during the regular season. But the hero from those wins was dressed in a crisp white T-shirt and gray pants Friday. Luka Doncic, nursing a left hamstring injury, even took off his white jacket during the dramatic overtime. He had no reason to worry with James at the helm.

The 41-year-old played 45 minutes and four seconds, hit the game-tying three-pointer with 13.6 seconds left in regulation and had a team-high 29 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. Smart had 21 points, 10 assists and, for the second straight game, five steals, including one with 27.8 seconds left in regulation that set up three critical free throws.

The veterans have played in 406 combined playoff games and, hoping to add another win, showed the mentality shaped through each one.

Lakers forwards Jarred Vanderbilt, left, and LeBron James celebrate after their overtime against the Houston Rockets in Game 3 on Friday night.

(Michael Wyke / Associated Press)

“We’re just trying to have that killer mentality right now,” said Smart, who had eight of the Lakers’ 11 overtime points. “We got them on the ropes and then it’s our job to try to finish.”

The Rockets were desperate to avoid the dreaded 0-3 hole. They stormed back from a 15-point first-half deficit and took a one-point lead with 4:59 remaining on a three-pointer from Sheppard. The Houston crowd, which did not fill up until well into the first quarter, erupted.

James turned the ball over for the fourth time in the fourth quarter when Alperen Sengun tipped a bounce pass away from Kennard. Sengun appeared to punctuate the season-saving win with a one-handed dunk over James with 40.6 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

In the moment, Lakers forward Rui Hachimura admitted later, the Lakers felt a slight dip in their energy. They needed something to turn the tide.

Smart intercepted a lazy pass by Houston forward Jabari Smith Jr., and Jae’Sean Tate fouled the Lakers guard on a three-point attempt with 25.4 seconds left. He made all three free throws. The crowd grew restless. When James hit the game-tying three, those wearing the Rockets’ red T-shirts stood in stunned silence.

A vocal minority of Lakers fans were buzzing.

“Next play. Next play,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said of the Lakers’ mindset during the critical stages of the game. “I mean, look, there’s a lot of things that happened tonight that were not perfect. … But you just kind of get onto the next play. And that, to me, is a hallmark of poise; that’s a hallmark of composure.”

While the Lakers had the league’s best record in clutch time games during the regular season (22-8), the Rockets ranked 16th. With a 22-23 record in games within five points in the final five minutes, the Rockets had the fifth-most clutch-time losses. Only Indiana, Memphis, Brooklyn, Dallas and New Orleans had more such losses.

Houston coach Ime Udoka called the foul on Smart “terrible.” Instead of passing to a wide-open Sengun, Sheppard tried to split a double-team on the decisive turnover. Sengun’s attempt at a game-winner when he got stood up by Jaxon Hayes on a turnaround baseline floater wasn’t the play the Rockets drew up, Udoka said.

“Horrendous mistakes,” the third-year Rockets coach said. “I don’t want to say youth or scared of the moment or whatever the case.”

The Rockets, who lost in seven games in the first round of the playoffs last year, were without star Kevin Durant for the second time this series. He missed the game with a sprained left ankle, an injury he sustained in the fourth quarter of Game 2. He was sidelined for Game 1 because of a knee contusion he picked up in practice. The 37-year-old was remarkably durable this season, ranking second in the NBA in minutes played. His presence was a lifeline for a team that lost point guard Fred VanVleet to a torn anterior cruciate ligament last September.

Durant was ruled out about 90 minutes before tip off. When told of the injury update during his pregame news conference, Redick was not fazed. The Lakers know who they have on their side.

OKLAHOMA CITY — The score wasn’t the only thing that made this the Lakers’ worst loss of the season.

Even more concerning than the Lakers’ 139-96 blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday was superstar guard Luka Doncic’s health after the 27-year-old hobbled off the court with a left hamstring injury in the third quarter.

Doncic attempted to drive into the lane at the 7:39 mark of the third quarter but pulled up suddenly in the midrange. He stopped as the ball bounced out of bounds. He grabbed at the back of his left leg and hobbled to the baseline, where he lowered himself to the court, rolled over to his back and covered his face. Concerned teammates surrounded him. Coach JJ Redick offered a hand to pull him off the court.

Doncic, who was just named Western Conference player of the month after scoring 600 points in March, was limited to 12 points, seven assists and six turnovers before the injury. It was the second Lakers injury scare in a game that was supposed to be a marquee matchup between the hottest teams in the league.

Austin Reaves was hobbling through the first quarter, grabbing at his left lower back at nearly every sudden movement. He appeared to get hurt while chasing down a loose ball with 6:23 remaining.

The Lakers had eight turnovers in the first quarter. Lu Dort had two steals and hit all four of his three-pointers as the Thunder were seven for 11 from three-point range. Reaves, who returned from the locker room with 9:40 left in the second quarter, was the only Laker player with multiple made field goals in the first quarter.

He had two.

On a day when No. 1 seeds dominated, UCLA wasn’t the exception.

The top-seeded Bruins led wire-to-wire, beating No. 8-seed Oklahoma State 87-68 in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Monday night at Pauley Pavilion to advance to the Sweet 16.

They will face No. 4-seed Minnesota on Friday in Sacramento.

While UCLA started much better than it did in its opening-round game, there were still elements to nitpick. The Bruins were outscored 21-18 in the third quarter, Oklahoma State won the offensive rebounding battle and outside of Lauren Betts — who scored a career-high 35 points while shooting 15 of 19 — the offense fell flat at times in the second half.

But with arguably the best post player in the country, the Bruins overcame all of that.

UCLA (33-1) jumped out to an 11-2 lead while the Cowgirls (24-10) went the final 4:26 without scoring and shot 0 for 8 from the field during that span. The Bruins turned that into a 25-point lead and were up 46-26 at halftime.

Unlike the first-round victory over California Baptist on Saturday, UCLA came out cold to start the third quarter. The Bruins missed six shots in a row while Oklahoma State went on a 9-0 run to narrow the deficit to 13.

UCLA guard Kiki Rice, left, fights for the ball with Oklahoma State forward Achol Akot during the Bruins’ win Monday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

The Cowgirls shot 51.4% from the field in the second half to stay within striking distance while UCLA’s offense went mostly cold. But Oklahoma State’s leading scorer, Achol Akot (23 points), had four fouls by the start of the fourth quarter and had to spend much of the quarter on the bench.

Betts scored 11 consecutive UCLA points in the final four minutes of the third to put the Bruins ahead by 19. In addition, she finished the game with nine rebounds and five assists.

Gianna Kneepkens (15 points) made a couple of key shots in the fourth quarter to help jolt the Bruins’ shooting, but it was still Betts’ dominant showing that kept UCLA well ahead. Of UCLA’s 87 points, 50 came in the paint.

UCLA’s next opponent, the Golden Gophers (24-8), advanced on a buzzer-beater against No. 5-seed Mississippi on Sunday. The Bruins beat Minnesota 76-58 on the road during conference play earlier this season.

HOUSTON — In their first meeting of the season on Christmas Day, Lakers coach JJ Redick said the Lakers were “punked” by the Houston Rockets and vowed not to let it happen again.

On Monday, the Lakers displayed their toug to hness in a 100-92 win over the Rockets at Toyota Center.

Even when they missed 14 comsecutive shots at one point in the fourth quarter, the Lakers showed their resilience with a gritty defensive effort that kept them in the game. The Lakers scored only 17 points in the fourth, but they held the Rockets to just 12 points en route to their sixth consecutive win.

“They’re a really good basketball team and they make you either play hard and match their physicality, and how they muck the game up, or you can lay down,” Redick said. “And we didn’t lay down tonight. Had a deficit there in the third quarter. Our guys just kept playing.”

Luka Doncic led the Lakers with 36 points, six rebounds and four assists. LeBron James scored 18 points and Austin Reaves had 15 points.

But three big baskets from Deandre Ayton (seven points, 11 rebounds) and a big three-pointer by Marcus Smart (11 points) helped the Lakers open their six-game trip with a win.

Sitting third in the Western Conference, the Lakers (43-25) will take a 1½-game lead over the Rockets (41-26) into their rematch on Wednesday night.

“Obviously, we have another one on Wednesday, but it was a very important game,” said Doncic, who shot 14 for 27 from the field. We’ve been playing very good. Our defense has been pretty good, so just gotta continue that way.”

The Lakers threw double teams at Houston’s Kevin Durant all game, limiting him to 18 points and forcing him into seven of the Rockets’ 24 turnovers.

Durant shot only 16 times yet made eight. He was one for three in the fourth quarter and had just as many turnovers as points (two) in the final 12 minutes. One of those turnovers was on an eight-second violation.

“He’s one of the greatest players we’ve ever seen play,” James said. “Obviously you got to try to show him different looks, try to keep him off-balanced and when he shoots, hope he misses. So, I thought we did a good job of having a game plan but also just switching up our pitches.

“You can’t show a great like that too many of the same coverages throughout the whole game. He’ll get a feel for it.”

Doncic got off to what has become his typical first-quarter starts, scoring 16 points on seven-for-10 shooting. But Houston took a 58-51 lead at halftime after taking control of the boards in the second quarter. The Rockets turned six offensive rebounds into 13 points.

The Lakers also had a hard time scoring, shooting only 32% from the field and 13% (one for eight) from three-point range in the quarter.

After trailing by as many as 10 points in the third quarter, the Lakers surged and took an 83-80 lead heading into the fourth. After what happened in L.A. back in December, the Lakers were determined not to let Houston run away with the game.

After taking an 85-80 lead, the Lakers struggled to find consistent offense until Ayton checked back into the game with 4:52 left. Ayton scored on a tip shot to give the Lakers an 89-88 lead, then scored off a pair of offensive rebounds in the final 90 seconds to help keep the Lakers ahead for good. He finished with six points and five rebounds in the fourth quarter.

“He was amazing,” James said. “I mean, just the fact that he was sitting over there for as long as he did and stayed locked in on the game and came in and finished the game. He was able to get a tip-dunk, a couple of jump hooks around the rim, and a couple of rebounds. He helped us finish the game.”

Note: Lakers backup center Maxi Kleber did not play as he continues to recover from a lumbar back strain. “He’s basically been shut down for five days to sort of heal,” Redick said. “He’s not with us right now, and we hope he’s able to join us later on in the trip.”

SACRAMENTO — Heartbreaking loss.

That’s the only way to describe what San Juan Hills players, coaches and fans were feeling on Saturday at Golden 1 Center when Alex Osterloh made two of three free throws with 0.3 seconds left to give Atherton Sacred Heart Prep a 47-45 victory in the Division IV state boys’ basketball championship game.

Osterloh was fouled at the top of the key by Kellen Owens with the scored tied.

“I’m pretty sure I was fouled,” Osterloh said.

San Juan Hills had earlier lost the ball on a turnover, its 19th of the game, surrendering its chance to take the lead.

“It was a tough ending,” San Juan Hills coach Jason Efstathiou said. “We turned over the ball too much. Nineteen is insane. Ultimately we didn’t do a good enough job handling pressure.”

San Juan Hills (22-14) came back from a 12-point deficit in the second quarter to take a four-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Garrett Brehmer finished with 17 points while Rocco Jensen had 10 points and eight rebounds for San Juan Hills. Osterloh scored 15 points and Pat Bala had 13.

“There’s a little distaste,” Efstathiou said, “but at the same time we got to be here.”

SACRAMENTO — If anyone knows how to help shooters feel comfortable when things aren’t going well, it’s Damien coach Mike LeDuc, who produced two of the Southern Section’s best scorers in Tracy Murray and Casey Jacobsen during his Glendora days.

So when Zaire Rasshan was only two of nine from three-point range at halftime on Friday night in the state Division I championship game, the message and mentality was keep shooting.

“I told him to start making them,” LeDuc said.

“I knew they were going to fall,” Rasshan.

He made a three to start the third quarter, launching a 10-0 surge that Folsom never recovered from. Damien came away with a 58-55 victory at Golden 1 Center, becoming the fifth straight team from the Southern Section Open Division to drop down to Division I and come away as state champion.

Rasshan finished with 18 points, including five threes. His three with 1:05 left moved Damien to an eight-point lead. Elijah Smith had 18 points and four assists. Eli Garner scored 15 points and had 13 rebounds. The only other player to score for Damien was Cameron Murray with seven points. He’s the nephew of Tracy Murray.

Throughout the fourth quarter, the Spartans (32-7) kept finding open players with near-perfect execution on offense.

“Their level of execution was on another level from anyone we’ve played,” Folsom coach Mike Wall said.

Joven Dulay and Parks Weaver each scored 16 points for Folsom, which fell behind 57-47 with 39 seconds left after two Smith free throws. Damien outrebounded Folsom 32-21 and had an 11-2 edge in offensive rebounds and took 30 threes to Folsom’s 18.

LeDuc, who has been coaching since 1979-80, said of the Spartans, “I really do believe this team, more than any other team I’ve coached, has been overachieving.”

The Spartans lacked height this season but got all five players on the court to rebound as a group, helping overcome any disadvantages. And Smith, as the point guard, rose up in the postseason.

“This run we’ve had, this guy has been ridiculously incredible,” LeDuc said of Smith.

As for the execution in the fourth quarter, LeDuc said, “We run a lot of plays. Basketball is a real simple game. It’s a game of repetition and if you do it over and over, you expect it to be done perfectly.”