SANTA ANA, Ca. – It was touted as one of the most intriguing of matchups among the 12 boys’ hoops games set to be played over the two-day, 20th Nike Extravaganza at Mater Dei High.
And the Friday night clash between Mouth of Wilson (VA) Oak Hill Academy and Chatsworth (CA) Sierra Canyon certainly handled all of those expectations quite well, thank you very much.
Oak Hill (27-0, with one of those victories coming as a forfeit by Memphis Hamilton for use of an ineligible player) seemed on the verge of pulling away from its Southern California opponent a few times, including with just a bit more than two minutes to go while holding an eight-point advantage.
But, ultimately, two free throws by Missouri-bound point guard Terrence Phillips with 19.9 seconds remaining, and a critical missed box out when his Oak Hill teammate Daniel Giddens missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 3.3 tics in regulation, snapped the lid down abruptly on Sierra Canyon’s comeback, 64-60.
The Warriors will attempt to stretch their “official” record to 29-zip Saturday night when they take on another of California’s top squads, Oakland Bishop O’Dowd, at 7:15.
It will be the eighth of nine games played Saturday, beginning with an 8:30 a.m. contest pitting two Orange County programs, Anaheim Servite and San Juan Capistrano St. Margaret’s.
Unbeaten (25-0) L.A. Fairfax – which toppled the same Sierra Canyon club (64-47) last week – takes on the host Monarchs (21-3 after their 62-40 victory over Ontario Colony late Friday night) in the finale Saturday night at approximately 8:45.
A hoop on a leak-out (aka, “cherry pick”) by Florida State-bound Dwayne Bacon (who finished with game-high 25 points to go with 10 rebounds and five turnovers) with 2:10 remaining in regulation pushed the Oak Hill edge to 60-52.
But consecutive transition 3s from the left and right wings (the first with 1:27 to go, the second 50 seconds later) by sophomore Adam Seiko got the Trailblazers to within a point.
Phillips – the brother of Detroit Pistons’ standout point guard Brandon Jennings – then oh-so-cooly hit his two FTs.
Sophomore Cody Riley was a load (at about 6-foot-7 and 230-or-so pounds) for the Oak Hill roster to cope with via his 18 points and 15 rebounds but missed half of his 12 free throws.
Junior point guard Devereal Ramsey added 21 points for the Trailblazers with three rebounds, three assists and three turnovers.
Junior post Joe Hampton added 12 points and seven rebounds for Oak Hill while Giddens grabbed 10 rebounds
In the first contest of the day Bennie Boatwright (who signed a national letter of intent with USC in November) had 22 points, 15 rebounds and two blocked shots for Sun Valley Village Christian in its 67-59 victory over Santa Margarita.
Mater Dei got 18 points from senior guard La’Vette Parker (four of five from behind the arc) with four rebounds, two assists and two steals while junior point Michael Cage Jr. had 14 points and nine rebounds.
Senior guard Caleb DeFabiis was the only Colony player to score in double figures with 13 points.
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