Burlison on Basketball

Frank Burlison | High School Basketball | College Basketball

Brayden Burries & Co. return to CIF SS Open title game

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EASTVALE –  For the third time in as many tries over the past 14 months Tuesday night, the Roosevelt High boys’ basketball team edged its St. John Bosco counterpart in a high-stakes matchup.

The first showdowns came in the Dec. 30 Platinum Division championship games of the Platinum Division of the past two Classic at Damien tournaments.

Tuesday night’s 58-51 win over the visiting Braves had something even more tangible for the Mustangs than championship, all-tournament and Most Outstanding Player plaques from California’s most prestigious tournament:

It punched their ticket into Saturday night’s CIF Southern Section Open Division championship game against Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks in Ontario’s Toyota Arena.

The clash with the Knights (26-6 following a 4-0 run in Pool A that included road wins against No. 4 Santa Margarita and No. 1 and defending champion Harvard-Westlake last week) is a rematch of the Dec. 21 Platinum Division Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas, won by the Mustangs, 76-58.

Tuesday, the 31-2 Mustangs ground out a 13-point advantage after three quarters in front of the SRO gathering of 2,200-plus but needed every element of Brayden Burries’ dominance to hold off the Braves (26-6) and their Chris Komin-fueled rally.

Burries scored all 11 of his team’s fourth-quarter points, including six free throws in the final :36.7 seconds, to propel Coach Steve Singleton’s team into the Open title game for the second year in a row.

The Mustangs lost to Harvard-Westlake in both the sectional (54-47) and regional (63-59) Open finals a year ago.

Burries soared well above traffic to snatch three defensive rebounds in the final half minute Tuesday night, the most critical of those coming after Komin – who scored 14 of his team-high 19 points in the fourth quarter – missed on a clean look from 25 feet that would have tied the score with 24 seconds to go.

Burries came out in attack mode, off the dribble, from Jump Street and scored 18 points (eight of those from the free-throw line) in a first half that ended with the Mustangs up, 32-26.

He attempted just two fields (hitting one) and hit his only two free throws in a third quarter in which the Braves were outscored, 15-8.

But, as the 6-2 senior Komin (who scored all but three of his team’s fourth quarter points) and his jump shot took big bites out of the deficit as the Mustangs were missing jumpers, Burries didn’t hesitate.

“I was ‘settling’ (for jump shots or surrendering the ball to teammates instead of creating driving angles off the dribble) in the third quarter,” the McDonald’s All-American said, after racking up 33 points (7 of 14 from the field and 17 of 18 free throws), 10 rebounds, three assists and four steals.

“I knew I had to step up and be more aggressive (on offense and as a rebounder).”

His teammates combined for only 25 points but their collective defensive effort consistently pressured drivers and jump shooters Tuesday night.

Only junior forward Christian Collins (10 points and 12 rebounds) joined Komin in double figures while Elzie Harrington and Brandon McCoy, Jr. missed a combined 14 of 17 shots from the field and combined for only 12 points.

University of New Mexico-bound Issac Williamson – one of the best jump shooters anywhere eon the high school scene – hit just one bucket (a shot-clock beating 3 with 2:35 to go in the third quarter) Tuesday night.

But the on-ball defense that he and Myles Walker (seven points, five rebounds, six assists and three steals) played was in large part responsible for the Braves’ 18 turnovers and the shooting numbers of McCoy and Harrington.

*In the other three games wrapping up Pool play Tuesday night, Harvard-Westlake knocked off visiting Santa Margarita, 60-51; host Redondo Union held off Heritage Christian, 75-64; and visiting La Mirada toppled JSerra, 64-58.

Harvard-Westlake was 3-1 in Pool A and will join Mission League foe Notre Dame (which had its bye Tuesday after toppling the Wolverines in Studio City Friday night, 68-61) in the Open Regional action that is scheduled to start on March 5.

JSerra, Santa Margarita and La Mirada were each 1-3 in Pool B with the Matadores – despite the win at JSerra Tuesday night – missing regional play because of tiebreakers with the Trinity League/Orange County programs.

Heritage Christian’s 0-4 record in Pool B keeps the Warriors out of regional play while St. John Bosco, Redondo Union and Sierra Canyon were 2-2 in pool play.

It’s likely that the Sacramento-based, State CIF Office will keep St. John Bosco in the Open bracket, with Notre Dame, Roosevelt and Harvard-Westlake, if only four Southern Section teams are put in the Southern Region’s Open Division.

If that is the case, Sierra Canyon, Redondo, Santa Margarita and JSerra would slide into the Division I – probably as the top four seeds of a 16-team bracket that would begin Tuesday night.

In non-CIF Southern Section finals this weekend that could impact the Open and D-I regional bracket composition (released Sunday afternoon):

*Montgomery (28-2) faces Carlsbad (27-5) in the San Diego Section Open final Friday night at Frontwave Arena in Oceanside.

*Chatsworth (22-7) takes on Westchester (21-9) for the L.A. City Section Open title Friday night at L.A. Southwest College.

*And Santa Maria St. Joseph (30-1) plays Clovis Buchannan (26-4) Saturday night at Fresno’s Selland Arena.

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