LA VERNE – Being the oh-so-driven basketball player that Fairfax High senior Ethan Anderson is, he no doubt prefers to delay taking any figurative bows until what he hopes will be a victory by the Lions Saturday night in the championship game of the third Classic at Damien.
But the UNLV-bound guard’s performance Thursday night against the host Spartans was worthy of any and all kudos rained upon him.
Anderson’s first field goal of the night didn’t come until his buzzer-beating 3-point in the first half.
It was just the appetizer for a second-half entrée that was simply scrumptious for he and his teammates, as didn’t miss any of the 11 field goals he attempted in the final 16 minutes, including a fourth 3 of the night, with the shot clock about to expire and 22 seconds on the game clock, for the go-ahead points in a 74-71 victory.
The win extended Coach Steve Baik’s team’s record to 12-0 and put the Lions into a Friday night (8:30) Platinum semifinal against Corona Centennial.
Centennial, No. 5 in the BurlisonOnBasketball Southern California Top 25 (Fairfax is third), improved to 13-2 with its strong second-half performance to knock off No. 25 Riverside Poly, 69-49.
The first Platinum bracket semifinal tips at 7 o’clock and pits No. 2 Rancho Christian (which pulled away from No. 13 Santa Margarita, 73-61) and No. 15 Chino Hills (which lost all but two points of a 19-point advantage in the second half but edged No. 16 Notre-Dame Riverside, 74-70).
Anderson (already the Most Outstanding Player in two tournaments this season) scored 14 points with seven assists, six rebounds and two steals in his team’s 64-53 toppling of No. 17 Rancho Verde Wednesday.
But he turned in an Off the Charts performance to keep the Lions in the championship bracket Thursday night while facing the most skilled offensive team they’d met up with in their first 12 games.
That first-half buzzer-beating 3 got his team to within three points (his only other points had come on two free throws earlier in the quarter), at 35-32, at intermission.
And he was just heating up in a way that I’ve seen players get hot this season.
He scored 12 of his team’s 22 third-quarter points, including a dazzling right hand-to left hand finish in traffic and another buzzer-beating 3 to put his club up by five going into the final quarter.
He then topped even himself by hitting all six of his shots from the field in the final eight minutes, including:
*The best dunk of the first two days of the event;
*A score-tying layup with 2:40 remaining;
*A go-ahead 3 from the left wing with 2:15 to go;
*A layup to push his team’s lead to 71-68 with 1:23 remaining.
The coup de grace 3, after junior Austin Cook’s second 3 of the quarter tied the score for the Spartans, provided what proved to be the final points of the night.
But the Lions only secured the win after Anderson rebounded a Damien miss, failed to knock in the front end of a 1-and-1, win-securing free-throw opportunity with 3.3 seconds to go and Spartans’ guard Jarred Hyder was wide left on a 40-footer at the buzzer.
“I’ve got to make that free throw,” Anderson said, with the slightest of grimaces, after finishing with 31 points (12 of 16 from the field and 3 of 4 on free throws to go with seven rebounds, six assists and six steals.
Baik wasn’t about to browbeat Anderson over his only second-half miss, though.
“He was special – absolutely special,” said Baik, who got an up-close look at special back-court performances during his four years as Lonzo Ball’s coach at Chino Hills.
The Lions also got double-figure scoring from junior guard Keith Dinwiddie (16 points, 10 of those in the first quarter) and senior post Daylen Williams (13).
The Spartans (11-2) got 56 of their points from the Fresno State-bound Hyder (21), sophomore Malik Thomas (22) and Cook (13).
In the other Platinum championship quarterfinals:
*Onyeka Okongwu turned in another eye-popping performance (34 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and five blocked shots) for Chino Hills, despite going out of the game with 2:45 remaining with an apparent ankle injury after being undercut by an opponent while trying to catch a lob pass.
The Huskies committed 10 fourth-quarter turnovers and Fresno State-bound Anthony Holland turned in a terrific effort (34 points, 23 in the second half) as Notre Dame got to within two points before junior Aibigho Ujadughele’s win-securing free throws with 2.7 seconds remaining.
Okongwu’s status for the Huskies’ rematch with Rancho Christian (they lost to them in the Nov. 30 Battle Zone Tournament semifinals) is to be determined on Friday.
*The all-Class of 2020 backcourt of Jaylen Clark (22 points, with 10 rebounds and three assists), D.J. Davis (17, with 15 coming on 3s) and Paris Dawson (11) combined for 50 of Centennial’s points against Riverside Poly.
The Huskies (13-12) have lost only to Rancho Christian and top-ranked Sierra Canyon.
*Rancho Christian (12-1) trailed by a point at intermission as UCLA-bound Jake Kyman and future BYU center Shengzhe Li combined for 24 for Santa Margarita’s 31 first-half points.
But Kyman (who finished 21 points) and Li (14) combined to miss 12 of their 15 second-half shots as Rancho Christian’s defenders shadowed Kyman on the perimeter and the Mobley Brothers repeatedly swatted or rushed the 6-11 Li’s inside power attempts.
The junior Mobley sibling (Evan) had 16 points with 11 rebounds and six blocked shots while his senior brother, USC-bound Isaiah, went for 13 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and a couple of blocks.
For all of the results and schedules in the tournament’s four divisions, go to https://www.theclassicatdamien.com/
Thanks, Cody! I really appreciate that.