AZUSA – Top seed Santa Clarita Christian used its stifling half-court defense and a multi-tiered offensive attack to cruise past St. Francis, 61-39, at Azusa Pacific University Saturday afternoon in the CIF Southern Section’s 2AA title game.
Coach James Mosley’s Cardinals (24-5) could find themselves as the No. 1 seed in the State Southern Regional DII bracket Sunday afternoon or – depending how the Southern Regional Open field shakes out – in the DI competition.
St. Francis (26-8) – which upset No. 2 seed Heritage Christian in the quarterfinals – is assured of getting a reasonably good seed in the regional DII bracket.
The Cardinals enveloped St. Francis’ offense from near-Jump Street, holding the Golden Knights to .261 shooting from the floor (12 of 46, including just one of 19 from behind the arc).
UC Irvine-bound Andre Henry – one of the best players in California, regardless of CIF section – scored more than half of the St. Francis points (21) but he didn’t get an uncontested attempt all afternoon while missing 13 of his 20 field-goal attempts.
Six-eight Kaleb Lowery (who is headed for the Master’s University in Santa Clarita) dominated in and around the lane for the Cardinals with 13 points, 11 rebounds and three assists.
Six-five junior Josh O’Garro scored a team-high 17 points (including a couple of 3s) and seven rebounds, while senior guard Ty Harper and sophomore forward Tiago Soares (who came off the bench and hit a couple of 3s with four rebounds apiece) added 10 points each.
Senior guard Jason Gallant scored 13 points for St. Francis and knocked in its only 3.
The divisional semifinals were played on Feb. 21 “and having a week off to get ready (for St. Francis) was a big help,” Mosely (pictured) said afterward. “Our staff did a great job in helping us prepare for them.”
Santa Clarita Christian (Gold) and St. Francis (Silver) were divisional champions at the fourth Classic at Damien in December.
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