Burlison on Basketball

Frank Burlison | High School Basketball | College Basketball

Columbus regained its lead when it mattered most Monday

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SPRINGFIELD, MA – With a little more than five minutes to go in its Spalding HoopHall Classic game Monday afternoon, the Sierra Canyon High boys’ basketball team seemed primed to make the cross-country trip back to the San Fernando Valley with a whole lot of momentum going into the remainder of its Mission League schedule.

But . . . that didn’t prove to be the case.

A spinning layup by junior Isaiah Elohim with 5:24 to go gave Coach Andre Chevalier’s team a 10-point advantage (42-32) over Miami Columbus in Springfield College’s Blake Arena.

However, a powerful performance over the final five minutes by one of the best players in the country (sophomore Cameron Boozer); an ill-advised foul with 15 seconds to go; a missed free throw (by Elohim); and a fortuitus recovery of a loose ball with two seconds remaining for a layup by Columbus forward Malik Abdullahi resulted in a jolting, 47-46 defeat for the Trailblazers in front of an SRO crowd and national television audience.

The 6-foot-8 Boozer (who teams with his “twin” – they’re not “identical” – Cayden to form the best sibling combination in the country) answered Elohim’s layup with a 3-pointer and turned a Sierra Canyon turnover into a dunk.

Senior Bronny James converted just four of his 17 shots from the field (including three 3s) but hit his toughest bucket, a turn-around jumper from 15 feet as the shot clock was about to expired, to push the score to 44-37.

After a Columbus miss, James couldn’t knock down his 17th attempt of the game and junior guard Garyn Bess scored on a leak out after an outlet pass from Cameron Boozer.

Reserve forward Jimmy Oladokun (who grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds) scored his only bucket for the Trailblazer after grabbing a teammate’s miss to push the advantage back to five points with 1:54 to go.

Cameron Boozer then hit his cutting brother (who is about 6-4) for a layup 21 seconds later.

Ashton Hardaway missed a 3 for Sierra Canyon near the end of the shot clock but the taller Boozer missed a quick attempt at a 3 that would have tied the score and Hardaway rebounded with 42 seconds remaining.

Chevalier called his team’s final timeout with 31.9 seconds on the game clock.

When play resumed, Elohim found a clean opening along the right baseline but couldn’t convert the layup and the rebound was – again – grabbed by Boozer.

The Trailblazers needed a 3 to tie but, in theory, had enough time to try for a quick layup and, maybe, a steal or a foul to send Sierra Canyon to the free-throw line just one a point.

“That’s what I was trying to do,” said Cameron (pictured, left to right, with his brother in the interview room after). “I wanted to drive it hard to the basket for a quick score.”

But – perhaps, trying to prevent Cameron Boozer from launching a 3 or, maybe, driving and passing to a teammate for a 3 –Boozer was fouled, seemingly “intentionally”, and went to the free-throw line for a 1-and-1 with 15.4 tics remaining.

The taller Boozer swished both attempts – his first of the game –for his 17th and 18th point (he also grabbed 13 rebounds).

Coach Andrew Moran called his team’s final timeout and, when play resumed, James’ inbound pass was nearly picked off by Kevin Noriega, but Elohim recovered the ball and was fouled in the backcourt with 10 seconds remaining.

Elohim, the only Trailblazer who consistently created a shot for himself off the dribble Sunday while scoring a team-high 16 points, missed the front end of the 1-and-1.

And, with his team’s timeouts also exhausted, Cameron Boozer snatched the rebound and pushed the ball up the floor on the dribble at full speed.

He got into the lane, where 6-7 Noah Williams and 6-8 Hardaway tried to block his path to the rim.

The ball was jarred loose to the left of the trio – and right into the hands of Abdullahi, who secured it with his left hand and laid it off the glass and thru the rim to with two seconds on the clock.

Williams picked the ball off the ground, went out of bounds, and flipped it to James, whose 75-feet (give or take) heave was released just after the buzzer sounded – setting off an on-court celebration by the 16-3 Explorers.

But there were those in the building who were just as stunned to see them pull it out – namely, the Trailblazers, and pretty much everyone else.

The other three boys’ games played on the fifth and final day of the event:

  Camden (NJ) 90, Las Vegas Bishop Gorman 54: The two-day turnaround from their Saturday night loss to Corona (CA) Centennial was, apparently, just what the Panthers’ needed to get their transition offense and in-the-paint dominance into gear.

The DJ Wagner– and Aaron Bradshaw-led team burst to a 16-point advantage after the first quarter and the Gaels were only that close again, once (mid-way through the third quarter) before the Panthers pulled their edge back to 22 points heading into the final quarter.

Camden (9-2) didn’t need much in the way of production from the University of Kentucky-bound Wagner (14 points but just five of 14 from the field) and Bradshaw (13 points in about 15 minutes because of foul issues).

That’s because 6-8 senior Dasear Haskins (15 points and 12 rebounds) and 6-5 junior Billy Richmond (18 points, including two 3s) were getting into the lane for dunks and layups at will.

The Gaels (10-6; they beat Marietta Wheeler Saturday) get back to in-town competition on Wednesday (Clark), Thursday (Foothill) and Saturday (Coronado).

Montverde (FL) Academy 64, (Bel Aire, KS) Sunrise Christian 51: The nation’s most talented
“prep school” squad smacked around one of its counterparts that also has multiple future college players.

Kwame Evans (Oregon), Chris Johnson (Kansas) and Sean Stewart (Duke) were only used for a combined 52 minutes – a pretty good indication of how loaded the program is with “elite” underclassmen, notably sophomore Cooper Flagg and junior Liam McNeely.

  Another junior, guard Curtis Givens, led MVA with 13 points.

Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy 58, Chandler (AZ) Compass Prep 53: Six-five Jamie Kaiser (going to Maryland) scored 17 points to help his team win its second game of the weekend.

IMG beat Newton (GA) Saturday while Compass Prep smashed Virginia’s Oak Hill Academy by 20 points Saturday.

 

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