CALABASAS – Five No. 1 seeds in the CIF Southern Section boys’ basketball brackets earned spots in next week’s championship games with victories Friday night throughout Southern California. A sixth got its final-clinching victory Thursday:
*The Sierra Canyon Trailblazers improved to 27-4 and earned a pop at a second consecutive Open title next Friday night at Long Beach State with its 73-62 win over Etiwanda at Calabasas High. They’ll take on Mater Dei – a program they beat in the post season twice a year ago – in the Walter Pyramid;
*Windward hit the road for the second time in the week, traveling to San Juan Capistrano in the southern reaches of Orange County to topple JSerra, 67-61, for a Feb. 29 slot in the Division I final at a site to be determined (but likely Azusa Pacific University) against No. 2 seed Riverside Poly;
*In Division 2AA, No. 1 Santa Clarita Christian needed an overtime but was able to get by host Chaminade, 89-83, to move into a final against No. 7 seed St. Francis;
*Ribet Academy also had to go the wire before edging host Bonita in 2A, 66-64. The Frogs get Hesperia (which upset No. 2 Oxnard, 66-54) next Saturday;
*Renaissance Academy had its biggest challenge of the post season but held off host Summit, 60-53, and will play No. 3 seed Aquinas next Saturday for the 4AA crown;
*The top seed to win Thursday was Oakwood, which bounced Yeshiva, 85-77, with Pius X/St. Matthias become its 4A title foe by beating Eastside Friday.
At Calabasas, Etiwanda took an eight-point lead in the first quarter and was up late in the first half by five points.
But Ziaire Williams picked the ball away from Etiwanda point guard Camren Pierce and converted a layup at the buzzer to cut the deficit to three points (34-31) at intermission.
The Eagles (28-3) took a 17-game winning on its long trip west for the game dating to their 57-53 loss to the Trailblazers during a Dec. 28 Classic at Damien Platinum Division semifinal.
In order to extend that streak to 18 and get a spot in the Feb. 28 game at LBSU, the Eagles were going to have to keep their turnovers to a minimum and hit a high percentage of their field-goal attempts in order to put the clamps on Sierra Canyon’s lethal transition offensive attack.
They did neither.
The Trailblazers capitalized on the Eagles’ four turnovers and two of 13 field-goal shooting – and the ample offensive and athletic skill of Williams, B.J. Boston and Amari Bailey – to take a 10-point advantage (54-44) into the four quarter.
Buckets by Pierce and Marcus Green got Etiwanda to within six points a minute into the final quarter, and they were still down by six (55-49) after a free throw by Tyree Campbell at 5:32 to go after Williams picked up his fourth foul.
But the kid who came on the floor when Coach Andre Chevalier took Williams out of the game – freshman Bronny James – took a pass out of the post by 7-foot-3 Harold Yu and drilled a shot from the deep corner to push the lead back to nine points.
By the time Williams went back onto the floor his team led by 10 points and the Eagles were only as close as to within eight (at 63-55) after a drive by Jaylen Clark with 2:47 to go.
Class of 2020 McDonald’s All-Americans Williams (23) and Kentucky-bound Boston (19) combined for 42 points while likely future McD AA, sophomore Bailey added 18 – four on a spectacular follow dunks in which Etiwanda could get a body on him.
The 6-5 Clark, who committed to UCLA a couple of weeks ago, led the Eagles with 32 points including 13 of the 18 they scored in the fourth quarter.
Etiwanda will resume action with a likely first-round State Southern Regional game on March 3.
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