REDONDO BEACH, Ca. – Sherman Oak’s Notre Dame High use of one of the West Coast’s most potent “1-2 combinations” to knock out the Santa Margarita Eagles Wednesday night in a quarterfinal of the 67th Ryse Williams/Pac Shores Tournament at Redondo Union High.
Ziaire Williams (PICTURED) scored 36 points – 26 of those after intermission while hitting his final nine field-goal attempts –and Boston College-bound Julian Rishwain added 26 as the Knights, trailing by 11 points early in the third quarter, pulled away down the stretch for a 74-62 victory.
Notre Dame, No. 12 in the first BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 25, earned a spot in a Friday night (8 o’clock) championship semifinal against No. 5 Fairfax, which came from a bucket behind with about five minutes to go to topple Saint Anthony, 68-57.
In the other Wednesday quarterfinals, No. 22 Washington Prep overwhelmed Lynwood, 78-46, while No. 4 Bishop Montgomery outlasted the host team, 63-53.
Washington Prep (last season’s L.A. City Division I champion) and Bishop Montgomery will play in the other Friday semifinal at 6:30.
Fifth-place semifinals Friday will have Saint Anthony vs. Santa Margarita (3:30) and Lynwood vs. Redondo (5).
The Knights trailed the No. 11 Eagles, 44-33, two minutes into the quarter before Williams (who missed seven of 10 shots from the field in the first half) and Rishwain (who kept his team close with 14 first-half points) kicked things into “un-guardable” overdrive.
Rishwain hit two of three shots (including a 3) in that third-quarter run while the 6-foot-8 Williams, after missing his first attempt, closed the quarter with 14 points with five of five from the field (including a 3) and three free throws to go with four rebounds and an assist.
Santa Margarita’s Max Agbonkpolo (a team-high 20 points for the future USC Trojan) hit a jumper and two free throws to tie the score at 54 with six minutes to go before Rishwain knocked in his fifth (and final) 3 to put the Knights ahead to stay.
The 6-5 Rishwain, the primary defender responsible for holding UCLA-bound Jake Kyman to 11 points (while missing nine of 14 shots from the field; he didn’t hit a 3 after knocking in seven of them Monday against Serra), also had a couple of assists in the fourth quarter.
Williams, who also had 11 rebounds and three assists, closed things out by hitting three consecutive 3s in the final three minutes.
With his team trailing, 48-46, UNLV-bound guard Ethan Anderson (who scored a game-high 26 points) knocked in a 3 to put Fairfax ahead to stay against the Saints as teammates Ron Mitchell (11) and Daylen Williams (10) also scored in double figures for the Lions.
Six-five senior Frank Staine led the Saints with 16 points.
The host Sea Hawks took a two-point lead a couple of minutes into the fourth quarter but the Knights eventually grown them down via their half-court defense, rebounds and the strong post play of senior Nick Schrader, who scored a game-high 22 points.
Lynwood led Washington Prep, 20-11, a couple of minutes into the second quarter before the Generals’ relentless defensive pressure and sizzling transition offense resulted in a fourth-quarter “running clock” that comes about in California when one team takes a 40-point advantage.
Washington Prep closed the first half on a 17-1 run and scored the first 16 points of the third quarter!
Senior guard Hansen Clarke led the Generals with 24 points.
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