PLACENTIA >> Coming into Tuesday’s CIF-SS second-round playoff game, El Dorado boys basketball coach Ryan Mounce posed this question to his team: “Why not us?”

The Golden Hawks proved Mounce right as they defeated fourth-seeded Crescenta Valley in overtime 49-44 after Jacob Kang provided some fourth-quarter heroics to help force overtime and Cooper Bladow hit a go-ahead 3-pointer in the extra period.

Bladow finished with a team-high 15 points, including three 3-pointers, and Kang added 14 points, with 12 of those coming in the fourth quarter and overtime. Hudson Novak had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

El Dorado, (21-9), an at-large selection in CIF-SS Division 2A, knocked out its second consecutive league champion in this postseason run. It defeated Portola in the first round.

The Golden Hawks will host St. Paul in the 2A quarterfinals on Friday.

“(This win) was about my seniors stepping up and not wanting to end their season,” Mounce said. “My best player, (Jacob) Kang stepped up down the stretch and made some big plays after struggling early.”

Kang went scoreless for nearly three quarters, until his lay-up in the final seconds of the third tied the game 29-29.

After the Falcons went on a quick 5-0 run to start the fourth quarter, Kang knocked down a corner 3 to bring the Golden Hawks within two, then Kang hit another 3-pointer that gave El Dorado a 35-34 advantage with 2:30 left in the game.

Crescenta Valley (18-4) answered with a 3-pointer by Quinlan Daily and a basket by Gavin Shaghoian to regain the lead, 39-35, forcing a Golden Hawks timeout with 1:52 remaining.

Kang made 1 of 2 free throws on the next possession and then Bladow scored a bucket to bring El Dorado within one.

Shaghoian, who finished with game-high 21 points, went on to make a pair of free throws to give Crescenta Valley a 41-38 lead with 53.7 seconds left but Kang hit another 3, this one tying the game with 13.9 seconds remaining.

After the Falcons missed a shot on their next possession, the Golden Hawks called time out with 0.6 second left to attempt to win it in regulation, but their in-bounds play ended up being a turnover. Bladow took the inbounds pass and tossed it to fellow inbounder Ty Carlson on the other side of the baseline, which is illegal in a dead-ball situation.

“It has to be a live ball. I asked my guys what they wanted to run and they said “Baseball.” I didn’t think of it, it was my fault,” Mounce said.

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That gave the Falcons one last look at a game-winner but Novak defended Ryan Raad’s buzzer-beater attempt, forcing the extra four-minute period.

“Our inbounder kinda missed what we were trying to look for and we ended up getting a bad shot, but hats off to El Dorado, they made plays when they needed to.” Crescenta Valley coach Shawn Zargarian said.