Benjamin helps team earn trek up 101 for Friday night for CIF SS playoff game

• Tweet

• Tweet

ANAHEIM HILLS – Brandon Benjamin capped his birthday Wednesday night not by blowing out 18 candles on a frosting-smothered cake but by doing what he has always does when he has stepped on a basketball court over the past four seasons:

He showcased his multitude of skills, with or without the ball in his hands.

The 6-foot-5 senior went for game highs of 23 points, 11 rebounds and six assists to help the host Canyon Comanches hold off Damien, 60-55, in a first-round game of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.

The win moved Coach Nate Harrison’s team (21-9) into a round of 16 game at Santa Barbara (24-5) Friday night.

It was one of 16 games played in the division Wednesday night, with the hosts going 13-3.

The home court was even more advantageous in the Open Division, where top seed Harvard-Westlake (73-52 vs. No. 9 La Mirada), No. 2 Roosevelt (74-57 over No. 10 Heritage Christian), No. 5 Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (71-68 vs. No. 8 JSerra) and No. 6 Sierra Canyon (toppling No. 7 Redondo Union in overtime, 69-66) went 4-zip.

The visiting Spartans (21-11) led by 11 points, twice, in the second quarter, before taking a 30-22 advantage into intermission.

But the hosts took the first lead, at 38-36 ,via a Benjamin drive from the right baseline with 2:21 to go in the third quarter and never surrendered it.

The advantage grew to 12 points, at 54-42, after a layup by reserve forward Pierce Haugen (13 points and six rebounds), with a little more than three minutes to play in regulation.

The visitors’ full-court pressure paid dividends, though, as junior Eli Garner had a layup and 3 – sandwiched around one of the Comanches’ seven fourth-quarter turnovers – to get them to within seven points.

Two more turnovers – and four missed free throws – helped the Spartans get to within 56-55 following an offensive rebound and layup by 5-9 junior Elijah Smith with 25 seconds remaining.

After a timeout, senior Noah Kim of Canyon was fouled with 21.7 seconds remaining.

Kim – who scored all nine of his nine points after intermission – hit the first of his free throws to pad the lead to two points.

He missed the second, but Benjamin got an angle on a Damien player trying to box him out, snatched the rebound and was fouled with 16.6 seconds remaining.

He hit both free throws and, after rebounding a missed 3 by sophomore Zaire Rasshan, was fouled with 7.9 seconds to go.

Benjamin (pictured) hit the first of two free throws for the game’s final point.

The Comanches needed a win over Cypress at Sunny Hills (64-56) in a Crestview League layoff last Wednesday to qualify for the league’s third automatic slot into the playoffs.

And Benjamin Knows that the Comanches’ next loss will cap his remarkable prep career and set him fully on the path toward his freshman season at the University of San Diego.

“But I’m trying not to think about it that way,” he said. “Now, we just have to get ready to go to Santa Barbara (Friday).”

Benjamin was Orange County’s Player of the Year as a Canyon sophomore who spent his junior season at Mater Dei before going quasi “Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz” and discovering there was “no place like home” – aka, Canyon.

He’s averaging 30 ppg via his peerless footwork, ability to score with either hand and knock in jump shots.

“But he showed tonight why he’s so much more than just a scorer,” Harrison said afterward.

“He does it all.”

The loss ended a Damien season that started with tremendous expectations – internally and externally – after returning four starters, including 7-foot, two-time all-CIF selection Nate Garcia, from a 28-6 club that advanced to the semifinals of the D1 sectionals and DI regionals.

But Garcia (bound for Cal Baptist), suffered what proved to be a prep career-ending broken bone in his leg (that required surgery) in a Dec. 9 win over Canyon of Canyon Country.

The Spartans lost nine of their final 21 games (minus Garcia), finishing third in the Bassline League and needing a win at Los Osos on the final day of the regular season to qualify for the playoffs.