Frank Burlison

AZUSA – Last was the best – or, at least, the most exciting – Saturday night in CIF Southern Section basketball playoff action at Azusa Pacific University.

In the finale of the six-game schedule, top-seed Windward held off No. 2 Riverside Poly, 54-49, for the boys’ Division I championship.

The Wildcats (27-7), in just their fourth season under Coach Colin Pfaff, took the lead the lead for good (47-46) on sophomore guard Dylan Andrews’ 8-footer with 1:13 remaining.

A 3-pointer from the left corner by junior Jaren Harris, set up by a pass from sophomore center Kijani Wright, pushed the advantage to four points but San Diego State-bound guard Lamont Butler nailed a 3 from the corner and Bears called timeout with 24 tics to go.

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AZUSA – Just 21 days after playing his first game for the program, Tre White grabbed a defensive rebound and hit a couple of championship-securing free throws with a second to play for Ribet Academy’s boys’ basketball team’s 52-49 victory over Hesperia early Saturday evening at Azusa Pacific University.

These 2A title victory gave the Fighting Rabbits a second consecutive CIF Southern crown after bagging the 4A title a year ago before winning the State D IV title in Sacramento.

Trailing by nine points going into the fourth quarter, Hesperia (24-7), capitalizing on some turnovers and ill-advised shots by Ribet, and cashing in offensively by way of RaShaw Burrell (a game-high 26 points, 12 in the fourth quarter) and Antonio Singleton (five of his 12 points in the final eight minutes) turned a 180 on the momentum.

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AZUSA – Top seed Santa Clarita Christian used its stifling half-court defense and a multi-tiered offensive attack to cruise past St. Francis, 61-39, at Azusa Pacific University Saturday afternoon in the CIF Southern Section’s 2AA title game.

Coach James Mosley’s Cardinals (24-5) could find themselves as the No. 1 seed in the State Southern Regional DII bracket Sunday afternoon or – depending how the Southern Regional Open field shakes out – in the DI competition.

St. Francis (26-8) – which upset No. 2 seed Heritage Christian in the quarterfinals – is assured of getting a reasonably good seed in the regional DII bracket.

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LONG BEACH – The Sierra Canyon High boys’ basketball program 16^th consecutive playoff victory, divided by three seasons, equaled the Trailblazers’ second CIF Southern Section Open Division championship.

Two weeks from now the equation could extended with a third State Open title as the result.

Six-foot-eight McDonald’s All-American Ziaire Williams – whose junior season at Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks ended with a first-round, 2AA loss to Temecula Valley – was easily the most influential player on the floor Friday night in front of the SRO gathering in Long Beach State’s Walter Pyramid while leading No.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL – Twenty boys’ teams will compete in 10 CIF Southern Section Playoff basketball this weekend.

Ten of those teams – across seven divisions – participated in the fourth Classic at Damien last December:

*Sierra Canyon (27-4), the top seed and defending champion, which takes on Mater Dei (25-6) in the Open Division championship game at 8:30 Friday night.

The Monarchs, who came into the playoffs as the No. 7 seed, are the last program to knock off Coach Andre Chevalier’s Trailblazers in a post-season game (during the 2018 Southern Section Open finale);

*Windward (23-6) is the top seed in Division 1 and takes on No.

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