Collie burns Foothill in Southeast showdown

“We just couldn’t match up with Wade Collie,” Soares said.

Collie, a 6-foot-5-inch senior forward, scored 38 points to lead the Skyhawks to a 78-68 win. The victory puts Silverado (23-4) alone in first place in the Southeast League at 11-1. Foothill (17-8) is second at 10-2.

Collie celebrated his last regular-season home game with a huge night. He was 14-for-21 from the field, and  he missed only two shots in the second half. He also had five rebounds, two blocked shots, two steals and three assists.

“This is a huge win,” Collie said. “It was senior night. I’ve been waiting four years for this day. It was for first place in the league, which made it that much bigger.”

Silverado led 46-35 at the half but missed its first five second-half shots, allowing Foothill to close the gap. The Falcons took a 54-53 lead on a 3-pointer by T.K. Smith with 1:48 left in the third quarter.

But a three-point play by Collie gave Silverado the lead, and he hit three more free throws in the period as the Skyhawks carried a
59-54 advantage into the fourth quarter.

“Once I saw the game starting to slip, I knew I had to step up,” Collie said.

Collie scored 12 points in the fourth quarter, and he had back-to-back steals to help stop a Foothill rally after it had cut the lead to 64-60.

The Falcons had trouble matching up with Collie, who was able to drive past Foothill’s post players and used a 3-inch height advantage to get off shots when Soares had guard Evan Roquemore defend him.

“I felt Evan was too small, and I felt their bigs were too slow,” Collie said. “So I felt I had an advantage on every play.”

Foothill turned the ball over 21 times, including seven in the fourth quarter.

“We’ve got to take care of the basketball better, and we’ve got to get stops when we need them,” Soares said.

Ali Sabra had 19 points and James Lata 15 for Silverado.

Kadeem Minor led Foothill with 20 points. Roquemore added 18 points and eight assists.