CHATSWORTH – A stunning final six minutes-plus resulted in a mind-boggling 23-point turnaround Friday night, propelling the host Sierra Canyon High Trailblazers to an 81-75, Mission League victory over the previously-unbeaten Notre Dame Knights.
As the JSerra’s Trinity League win against visiting Mater Dei Wednesday night, the Sierra Canyon victory has significant from both a league and CIF Southern Section Open Division perspective.
It means that the Trailblazers (24-1 and 7-0 in league) are the top seed in the Mission tournament held next week.
Sierra Canyon and Notre Dame (24-1 and 6-1) earned byes into Wednesday night’s semifinals.
If “seeding” holds up in the Monday and Tuesday preliminaries, Sierra Canyon will play host to Crespi while Harvard-Westlake will visit Notre Dame, with the winners playing on the home court of the team with the highest remaining seed.
And the team winning the tourney title game next Friday night – assuming its Harvard-Westlake, Notre Dame, or Sierra Canyon – has a more than reasonable opportunity to earn the No. 1 overall seed for the eight-team Open Division field.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves . . .
What transpired over 32 minutes, in front of an SRO only crowd (granted, the place sits about 1,200) and ESPNU audience was more than enough to savor for the time being.
Of course, Notre Dame Coach Matt Sargeant and his team, there was nothing savory about what happened in those final frantic minutes.
His Knights had things reasonably in control while taking an 11- point advance (60-49), as the backcourt of senior Mercy Miller (19) and junior Lino Mark (21) combined for 40 points.
The 6-foot-4 Miller began the fourth quarter by sending 6-8 defender Noah Williams stumbling to the floor with a wicked crossover dribble and buried his third 3 from the deep right wing.
After Williams missed a shot at the other end, the Knights rebounded and, after a pass from Micah Tannebaum, another reserve – Luther Tostrud swished a 3 from the left corner for the 17-point edge.
The hosts – whose only loss came, in overtime and in Scottsdale, to Desert Mountain in Hoop Hall West on Dec. 2 – finally responded via deep 3 from senior point guard Justin Pippen, with his coach, Andre Chevalier, reacting immediately with a timeout and 6:10 to go in regulation.
And, in simplest explanation and details, when played resumed and until the final buzzer sounded:
*Driven by the amped-up, near maniacal, full-court and trapping defense, the Trailblazers coaxed the Knights into 10 turnovers – while committing just one themselves.
*Pippen (finishing with 19, despite missing 15 of 21 from the field, nine assists, six rebounds and three steals), senior forward Isaiah Elohim (20 points) and junior forward Bryce Cofield (12 points and 11 rebounds, a chunk of those on the offensive in that deciding run) combined for all those 32 points.
*With the wave of turnovers, Miller – who finished with a game-high 28 points, hitting 11 of just 15 shots from the floor – couldn’t get his hands on the ball, in the attack area, to score enough to help to force the Trailblazers to score against Noter Dame’s half-court defense, instead of in transition following the turnovers.
He scored six of his team’s nine points in the final six minutes. The 6-3 Mark, whose speed with the ball in his hands is beyond sizzling, didn’t score in the fourth quarter.
The Trailblazers don’t play again until their Wednesday night semifinal Mission Tourney matchup.
The Knights? They have little time to ponder “what happened” in those final six-plus minutes Friday night:
They have to be back at it Saturday at Mater Dei for a 6 o’clock game with Las Vegas power Bishop Gorman (19-3) during the Nike Extravaganza.
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