LONG BEACH – The Sierra Canyon High boys’ basketball program 16th consecutive playoff victory, divided by three seasons, equaled the Trailblazers’ second CIF Southern Section Open Division championship.
Two weeks from now the equation could extended with a third State Open title as the result.
Six-foot-eight McDonald’s All-American Ziaire Williams – whose junior season at Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks ended with a first-round, 2AA loss to Temecula Valley – was easily the most influential player on the floor Friday night in front of the SRO gathering in Long Beach State’s Walter Pyramid while leading No. 1 Sierra Canyon past Mater Dei, 59-48.
Williams scored a game-high 25 points and was credited with six rebounds, four assists and four steals while spending less than two minutes on Coach Andre Chevalier’s bench.
The Trailblazers (28-4) – whose last playoff defeat came to Mater Dei in the 2018 Southern Section Open finale on the same floor on which they knocked off the Monarchs Friday night – will be the top seed when the State Southern Regional Open playoff bracket is unveiled late Sunday afternoon.
Gary McKnight’s team (25-7) is likely to be the second seed and would also open regional play Wednesday night at home.
The Monarchs (who lost to Sierra Canyon in both the sectional and regional playoffs a year ago) didn’t jump shoot nearly as well as they had to in order to knock off the Trailblazers, missing 16 of 21 attempts from behind the arc.
On a night when they also got less than a superb performance from Kentucky-bound point guard Devin Askew (six of 18 from the field and two of five on free throws while credited with six turnovers), the Monarchs were able to hang reasonably tight throughout by way of the 18 points and 14 rebounds turned in by junior post Wilhelm Breidenbach.
Another McDonald’s All-American, B.J. Boston (one of the four Trailblazers who were at different high schools a year ago), added 14 often spectacular points to go with nine rebounds and sophomore forward Shy Odom was a difference maker off the bench for the winners, with seven points and five rebounds in 17 minutes.
Like Askew, Boston signed a National Letter of Intent with Kentucky in November.
Williams (pictured) has yet to commit to a university for a 2020-21 season that almost certainly will be his only one in college before he’s part of the 2021 NBA Draft pool.
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