Sierra Canyon’s Brannon Martinsen, Brandon McCoy and Maxi Adams paused for a photo with title plaque on Saturday after win vs Harvard-Westlake in CIF Southern Section Open Division championship. Photo: Ronnie Flores / Cal-Hi Sports.
The Open Division championship played on Saturday night at the Toyota Center in Ontario wasn’t quite what what the state No. 1 Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth boys have been doing for the last few weeks. The win over Mission League rival Harvard-Westlake of Studio City was similar, though, to its recent defensive-oriented wins over other highly ranked CIFSS opponents. It will still be viewed as a suprise if the Trailblazers do not follow up this win with a CIF SoCal Open Division title and then a CIF Open Division state title. We also have recap within this post of Crean Lutheran’s CIFSS D1 title game win.
FOR HIGHLIGHTS OF SIERRA CANYON GIRLS ALSO WINNING THE CIFSS OPEN DIVISION TITLE, CLICK HERE.
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CIFSS Open Championship:
Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 59, Harvard-Westlake (Studio City) 53
The way state No. 1 Sierra Canyon throttled four playoff opponents on its way to the CIFSS Open Division title game, it appeared it would be a major upset if state No. 6 Harvard-Westlake were to capture the prestigious section title for the second time in three seasons. Sierra Canyon defeated those four tough foes by an average margin of 22.5 points, including a 70-46 semifinal victory over state No. 3 Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks). Because this game was against yet another Mission League foe, Sierra Canyon coach Andre Chevalier was not surprised the game was close. In fact, even though Harvard-Westlake was playing catch up after the first minutes of the game, the Wolverines got to within one possession after a clutch 3-pointer by Texas-bound Joe Sterling with 19.3 seconds to go that made the score 56-53 for Sierra Canyon.
Brannon Martinsen drives to the basket for Sierra Canyon during CIFSS Open title game vs Harvard-Westlake. Photo: Scott Kurtz / Cal-Hi Sports.
The one issue was Harvard-Westlake had four fouls to give before Sierra Canyon went to the free throw line for a potential change of possession. When Sierra Canyon went to the line to potentially ice the game with sophomore J.J. Sati-Grier taking the charity shots, there was 12.5 seconds remaining in the game. He made the first and missed the second to the right. McDonald’s All-American Maxi Adams got his hand on the rebound carom and teammate Brannon Martinsen anticipated the trajectory, came up with the loose rebound and was fouled. His heady play basically sealed the game, and Sierra Canyon’s third CIFSS open title before approximately 3,500 fans at Toyota Arena in Ontario.
With the six-point win, Sierra Canyon (27-1) won its first CIFSS open crown since winning back-to-back titles in 2020 and 2019. Sierra Canyon, the state’s top-ranked team since the preseason, becomes the second program to win three CIFSS open titles since 2014. Centennial of Corona won three consecutive between 2021-2023.
“Kudos to Harvard-Westlake in this game,” Chevalier said. “Coach Dave Rebibo manages to make them an elite team each year. I think this game is supposed to be like this.”
Sierra Canyon led Harvard-Westlake (26-6) by as much as 15 in the middle of the second quarter, but the Wolverines battled valiantly until they weren’t able to secure the defensive rebound they needed at the end. The Trailblazers led 31-20 at halftime, but Harvard-Westlake began the third period with a 7-0 run to trail 31-27 with six minutes remaining in the period. The deficit got no lower than four in the third period and Sierra Canyon built its lead to 53-41 with 5:16 remaining in the game on a 3-pointer by Martinsen. Harvard-Westlake could have folded, but it responded like champions and proved it will be a factor in the SoCal open playoffs despite the loss.
Sierra Canyon, which will be the No. 1 seed in the SoCal open playoffs, was led by Martinsen with 18 points. Brandon McCoy, like Adams a McDonald’s All-American, added 13 points, while Adams finished with 12.
Sterling led the Wolverines with 18 points, while Pierce Thompson added 15. The Wolverines will likely host an opening round game in the SoCal open playoffs as the No. 3 seed with the No. 2 spot likely going to CIF Central Section D1 champion St. Joseph of Santa Maria (also No. 2 in the state). Central Section champions from Santa Barbara/San Luis Obispo counties with high seeds in recent years have almost all be placed in the south as opposed to the north (which is where Central Section champions from the Fresno/Clovis area are almost always placed).
Division I
Crean Lutheran (Irvine) 59, JSerra (San Juan Capistrano) 52
This one figured to be a good game between two talented teams with size and talent that had played a plethora of tough teams. Not only that, both squads definitely are better than the two teams from the CIFSS Open Division that didn’t qualify for the regionals that played in the CIFSS open playoffs and also may be better than some of those open teams that did qualify.
Crean Lutheran head coach Austin Loeb holds CIFSS D1 title plaque after team won on Saturday vs JSerra. Photo: @cifss / X.com.
JSerra fell behind by 13 points late in the second quarter, but gained confidence behind a mini-surge at the end of the quarter that was punctuated by a turnover that led to a dunk by sophomore Ryan Doane (9 points). The two teams went back and forth and JSerra finally got the push it needed late in the game. With 2:20 remaining and JSerra (23-13 and No. 15 in most recent Cal-Hi Sports State TOP 30) trailing 49-47, reserve Hunter Frates made his second 3-point field goal of the contest to give the Lions a 50-49 lead. Just as it seemed JSerra stole the momentum, however, Crean Lutheran got a break when a deflected ball went straight up in the air and then straight to Minnesota-bound center Chadrack Mpoyi, who was able to flush it in for a conventional 3-point play and a 52-50 lead.
After scoring two points in the first three quarters, a huge difference-maker down the stretch was the play of Crean Lutheran’s big guard Nick Giarrusso. He hit clutch shots and made the right play for first year coach Austin Loeb. With 50.5 seconds to go, Giarrusso nailed a 3-pointer a shade to the right of the top of the key to give Crean Lutheran (26-7 and No. 13 in state) a 55-52 lead. He made a 3-pointer earlier in his personal run and clinched the game with free throws after Mpoyi came up with a key steal with 35 seconds to go off an errant pass from JSerra’s Earl Bryson. Giarrusso had 12 points in the final period and finished with 14. That tied him with Mpoyi for the team high.
Bryson led JSerra with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting, but as a team the Lions made only 19-of-50 field goal attempts.
“We didn’t shoot it well, but we scrapped and we clawed,” said JSerra coach Keith Wilkinson. “We played great defense and then when Chadrack got that tip and one, it was kind of hard to overcome.”
“I came in with the mindset to make the right play,” Giarrusso said. “The first three quarters weren’t my best at all, but today I made shots down the stretch. It could have been any of us (to make those plays).”
Ronnie Flores is the managing editor of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at ronlocc1977@gmail.com.
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