ONTARIO – Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks fell behind briefly late in the game before Mercy Miller did what he does best:
He took over the closing moments to give the Knights a 69-65 victory over Windward – and a CIF Southern Section Division 1 boys basketball championship – Saturday night at the Toyota Center.
The 6-foot-3 University of Houston-bound Miller scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the second half via his usual terrific offensive display.
It was the third Southern Section boys’ title won by a Mission League program in 24 hours, joining Harvard-Westlake (Friday night over Roosevelt in the Open final) and Alemany (in three overtimes against Bosco Tech early Saturday in the 3A final).
Notre Dame – which captured the State Division I championship a year ago – improved to 29-3 while snapping the 18-game win streak of Windward (28-4), which came into the playoffs as the No. 2 seed behind the Knights.
The two squads, along with 42 other boys and 44 girls CIF SS teams, will learn their State Regional destinations and opponents early Sunday evening.
Regional play begins on Tuesday in Divisions I-V, with Open play tipping off on Wednesday.
As anticipated, the Saturday night clash – the sixth and final sectional championship game played in the building Saturday – was hotly contested throughout.
The Wildcats, led by junior point guard Gavin Hightower (who scored a team-high 21 points with five rebounds, three assists and three steals), were in front, 24-18, a couple of minute into the second quarter.
But a driving dunk by Miller – easily the most impressive slam I saw during four boys’ title games I watched at Cal Baptist and the Toyota Center over the weekend – jump-started his team.
The Knights were within 34-32 at intermission before Miller reached deep into his offensive bag of tricks in the third quarter.
He didn’t hit a 3 in three attempts on the night but had every other scoring tool operating in the third quarter, with four buckets and a couple of free throws helping his team exit the quarter up by six points.
But Hightower – who missed the final 4:25 of the third quarter after being whistled for his third foul – went back to work in the fourth quarter.
His two free throws cut Notre Dame’s lead to a point (62-61) with 3:16 to go and, after a Mille turnover, Hightower missed on a drive but Elijah Gelin – the only reserve to play for the Wildcats – was fouled after grabbing the rebound and converted both free throws to give Windward the lead.
But the edge last just 22 seconds, as Miller hit a turn-around, well-contested 15-footer with 2:26 go for the 64-63 lead.
After a sequence of turnovers by each squad and a missed shot by Windward, 6-10 senior center Bronson Schmidt-Uili (who missed the first four playoff games after returning to his native New Zealand for a family matter), cut hard to the rim and sophomore Zachary White hit with a pass that he converted into a two-hand slam.
Windward missed two 3s (by J.J. Harris and Jeremiah Hampton) to tie the score before Miller’s two free throws pushed the edge to five points.
Hightower’s drive with about 20 seconds to go gave Windward its final points before Schmidt-Uili added a free throw with 10 seconds remaining.
In the other five CIF SS finals in the Toyota Center Saturday:
3A
La Habra 76, St. Bonaventure 45: The Highlanders (29-4) extended their winning streak to 20 in a final that was much more lopsided than had been anticipated.
All their points were scored by non-seniors, with juniors Jaedon Anderson (22), Grayson Sinek (11) and Sebastian Esparza (10) combining for 44 points and sophomore Acen Jimenez adding 21.
The Highlanders’ last loss came against Huntington Beach (67-65) on Dec. 18.
4A
Temecula Valley 53, Northview 40: Six-five freshman Jeremiah Profit scored 18 points with five assists and three steals to pace the Golden Bears – coached by his pops, James Profit.
Girls
Division 1
Brentwood 70, Corona Santiago 53: Junior guard Lev Feiman scored 21 points (eight of 13 from the field) and collected team highs of eight rebounds, five assists and four steals to help the Eagles improve to 27-7 after running the sectional title as the No. 1 seed.
4AA
Anaheim Canyon 52, Rancho Cucamonga 43: The Comanches, in their first season under Coach Sara Brown, seized control early in the fourth quarter and pulled away down the stretch to win the program’s second sectional championship.
Brown, who played three section championship teams while attending San Clemente, formerly was the head coach at Fairmont Prep (also in Anaheim) for four seasons before moving to Canyon.
The Comanches (22-11) got 20 and 16 points, respectively, from senior twins Jasmine and Justine Prajitno – transfers from Brea Olinda High. The only non-senior in the starting lineup, junior Everett Roach, scored eight points with a team-high 11 rebounds.
4A
Palos Verdes 57, Eastside 46: The Sea Kings (27-3), top seeded in the division, burst to an 11-point advantage and were never threatened substantially.
Maddie Farnsworth’s Palos Verdes teammates were a combined seven of 32 from the field. But Farnsworth, a 5-9 sophomore, was 14 of 26 from the field – including three of nine from behind the arc while perfect on four free throws, to score 35 points with six steals and three assists.
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