Sierra Canyon McDonald’s All-American Brandon McCoy completes a dunk during CIF Open Division state final at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. Photo: Isai Gutierrez.
Despite early injury to key player, Sierra Canyon completes dominant season with win in Open Division state final against Salesian of Richmond. The Trailblazers become the first program in California to win three Open Division titles and now have five overall. Other boys winners on the day were San Joaquin Memorial of Fresno (D2) and Sacred Heart Prep of Atherton (D4).
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Note: Our lead boys basketball analyst, Ronnie Flores, did the breakdowns for Open boys & D4 boys. Editor and publisher Mark Tennis did D2 boys.
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The way recent CIF open division finals have been going, Salesian of Richmond needed to play a near picture perfect game and needed a break or two in order to defeat Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth in the CIF Open Division title game. It looked like Salesian got a break when McDonald’s All-American Maxi Adams went down with an ankle injury after a collision with Salesian’s Carlton Perrilliat Jr. with 4:44 to go in the first period and The Pride leading 8-3.
The untimely injury ultimately didn’t matter.
The Trailblazers used defense and depth to record a 78-70 victory in front of approximately 3,500 fans at the Golden One Center in Sacramento on Saturday evening. With the victory, they became the first program to win three CIF open state titles in an era that began in 2012-13. The other programs with two are Santa Ana Mater Dei in 2013-14 and Harvard-Westlake in 2023-24. The Trailblazers were gunning for a third consecutive in 2020, but after winning the SoCal open game in incredible fashion, the state championships were cancelled a day prior to CIF championship weekend because of COVID-19. Sierra Canyon still finished as the Cal-Hi Sports State Team of the Year.
This team carved out its own niche in Sierra Canyon history and in CIF open division history. With a hard-working group that didn’t have as much online currency or celebrity-driven fanfare as some of the program’s recent teams, including last year’s D1 state title team, this team only lost one game to an out-of-state foe (Bishop McNamara of Maryland) and went through a gauntlet of state and FAB 50 nationally-ranked teams to win the CIF Southern Section open title to match the 2018-2019 unit in accomplishing that double open title.
Carlton Perrilliat Jr. of Richmond Salesian wasn’t afraid to battle it out in the paint against tough defense of Sierra Canyon. Photo: Isai Gutierrez.
Counting titles at lower levels, Sierra Canyon is now 5-0 all-time in CIF state title games. Sierra Canyon also is now 24-4 in regional playoff games since the 2017-18 post-season.
Sierra Canyon also will go wire-to-wire as the state’s No. 1 team in the Cal-Hi Sports weekly state rankings. The final rankings will be released later in the upcoming week and the official State Team of the Year announcement will be on Monday.
“I’m super proud of this team; everyone knew we were talented, but there was a lot of questions if this team could come together,” said Sierra Canyon head coach Andre Chevalier, who has led the program to four of these five CIF titles. “When Maxi (Adams) went down, we were looking for him in the tunnel, but he never came out so we locked in. It’s nice when everyone rallies and we were able to manage our foul trouble. The intensity and the way they (Salesian) played pushed us to a level we’ve never been pushed. They dug deep after that injury.”
State No. 4 Salesian (29-4) played with a lot of energy early while Sierra Canyon wasn’t matching the intensity. Perrilliat, a senior headed to play football at Sacramento State, in particular, got Salesian going with his strong drives to the hoop. The Pride led 16-10 at the end of the first quarter and went up by nine points early in the second quarter, but foul trouble to point guard Isaiah Davis (two fouls) led to some shaky ball-handling moments that allowed Sierra Canyon (30-1) to get back into the game.
With 6:56 remaining in the second quarter, Salesian’s Elias Obenyah, bound for Stanford and The Pride’s top overall player, nailed a 3-pointer to give his team that 21-12 lead. Davis’ foul trouble, however, spelled trouble for The Pride. Two backcourt turnovers led to four quick points by Sierra Canyon and the Trailblazers took the lead, 27-26, after a layup by senior Jordan Askew and a dunk by sophomore forward Jordan Mize following those turnovers with 3:11 to go prior to halftime.
The teams went back-and-forth from there and Sierra Canyon took a 34-33 halftime lead. The Trailblazers eventually took control of the game and made it impossible for Salesian to get into any major rhythm offensively after the first surge, but turning up their own defense in the third period. During the third period, Sierra Canyon went on runs of 15-0 and 19-3 to put little doubt that the SoCal team would win this game for the ninth consecutive season. It outscored The Pride, 22-11, in that period to lead 56-44 entering the fourth period. The lead got to as big as 19 before a four-point play by Obenyah cut Salesian’s deficit to 76-70 with less than a minute remaining. Another costly turnover after Salesian secured the ball with a chance to make it a one possession game, however, sealed its fate.
“Some people would say we let them back in the game, but we knew they were going to trap a lot,” said Salesian coach Bill Mellis. “We purposely didn’t do a lot of screening on the ball. We actually out-rebounded this team (33-24), but the turnovers I think were a key. We had 18 (to their 14) and they turned them over into dunks and momentum plays and I think that was the difference in the game.”
Obenyah finished with 27 points to lead all scorers, while Perrilliat had 21 points and seven rebounds. Salesian’s third double digit scorer was junior Asante Johnson with 11 points. Obenyah made 4-of-6 on three-pointers and Johnson made 2-of-5.
Sierra Canyon senior Brandon McCoy was a major benefactor of Salesian’s ball-handling issues caused by foul trouble and turnovers. Even though he can force offensive plays at times, the McDonald’s All-American can also change games with a big dunk or defensive play and he certainly did that against NorCal’s season-long top-ranked team. He finished with a team-high 20 points and added six rebounds, two assists and four spectacular blocked shots.
In recent seasons, Salesian has been known for its depth, but Sierra Canyon surprised some NorCal onlookers in Sacramento with depth of its own. In fact, this Sierra Canyon team can do many of the things defensively that causes Salesian’s opponents so much problems, only with more length and perhaps a bit more athleticism. A telling stat is the game’s outcome was bench points, a stat that Sierra Canyon held a 29-5 advantage in.
After Adams went down, Sierra Canyon received big contributions from three sophomores: point guard J.J. Sati-Grier (11 points, 10 assists), Jordan Mize (11 points) and Josh Lowery (6 points). Mize started but senior Steph Kankole didn’t and he contributed four timely 3-pointers to finish with 12 points, while senior Brannon Martinsen battled foul trouble to finish with 13 points and four rebounds.
“We been waiting for Steph and we knew this was coming,” Chevalier said. “He did the same thing last year in this building. I’m super proud of Steph to fight back from a bit of a slump.
“Any championship is great, but the open division is a monster. We like to think we have four, but you guys (the media) won’t give us that. This one is the biggest one for me, to do it with this group. I am happy, proud, and exhausted.”
Players from San Joaquin Memorial of Fresno, including Ty Schalk (far right), show emotion just a few seconds after their win in CIF D2 state championship over Bakersfield Christian wrapped up. Photo: Isai Gutierrez / Cal-Hi Sports.
D2 Boys
San Joaquin Memorial (Fresno) 46,
Bakersfield Christian 45
Normally a great game-winning catch is from football or baseball, but in this matchup of two CIF Central Section teams playing for a state title it was a great catch in the closing seconds by San Joaquin Memorial senior Parker Spees that clinched the win.
The Panthers were in-bounding the ball underneath their own basket with 4.2 seconds left and clinging to a one-point lead. They had no timeouts left so the plan was if there was no one open to throw it deep toward the other basket. Spees was the one who came up with the catch, and then, knowing there was hardly any time left, just alertly tossed the ball high in the air to let the clock run out.
“I knew if I was going to get (the ball), I was just going to throw it up,” said Spees, who led all scorers with 19 points and will play next at UC Irvine. “I was only worried about the ball hitting the scoreboard. I was happy to be in that situation.”
Taiwo Daramola of Bakersfield Christian (24) and Parker Spees of San Joaquin Memorial (behind him) staged an old-fashioned big man battle during CIF D2 state championship. Photo: Isai Gutierrez.
The situation for San Joaquin Memorial is that it is now celebrating a second CIF state title in five years. The Panthers (28-7), No. 24 in the Cal-Hi Sports state rankings, also reversed two earlier losses to the Eagles, who fell to 24-12 and will drop some spots from the No. 22 spot they had in the Cal-Hi Sports state rankings.
Bakersfield Christian had a chance to do big damage with 2:56 left in the game when an intentional foul was called against Taiwo Daramola with the score tied 44-44. He missed two free throws and the Eagles also didn’t score on their ensuing possession.
With 54 seconds left in the contest, Sajjin Sidhu had an open shot near the free throw line and hit it to give the Panthers a 46-44 lead. After missed shots by the Eagles and a turnover by SJM, Daramola again faced free throws, this time with 13.8 seconds left. He missed the first, and made the second so Bakersfield Christian still trailed by one, 46-45.
The final sequence with 4.2 seconds left was set up by San Joaquin Memorial’s Jaxson Silverstrom missing two free throws and then a turnover by the Eagles.
“It’s a familiar foe that we lost to twice before and we have a lot of respect for them, but we played with a chip on our shoulders as we felt the last one three weeks ago (a 61-59 loss) got away from us,” said Panthers’ head coach Brad Roznovsky. “The first one was great, but Parker and Sajjin were only freshmen and a lot of the seniors didn’t get to experience the first one.”
The loss for Bakersfield Christian was doubly difficult for anyone at the school with football connections since the Eagles lost in the CIF D2-AA state final in football in the closing seconds as well. For anyone who saw both games, it was so, so close for state titles in both sports.
“We were one play away, one play away,” said Eagles’ head coach Garrett Brown more than once. “It wasn’t their defense. We just didn’t make shots.
“It’s not the position we want to be in, but everyone is going to be back except one senior. You haven’t seen the last of us. We will be back.”
Besides Spees and his 19 points, SJM’s only other double-digit scorer was Sidhu, who had 10 points. Sophomore Dominick Olanrewaju led the Panthers in rebounds with 10 and freshman Jaedyn Johnson had a team-high four assists with a huge blocked shot that changed the momentum of the game in the fourth quarter.
Daramola, a 6-foot-8 junior, was dominant for stretches altering shots and getting dunks for the Eagles. He had 12 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. Owen Yurosek, a grid-hooper and younger brother of Minnesota Vikings’ tight end and former State Grid-Hoop Player of the Year Ben Yurosek, also had 12 points,
D4 Boys
Sacred Heart Prep (Atherton) 47,
San Juan Hills (SJ Capistrano) 45
One of the main purposes of the CIF’s competitive equity model for its basketball championships is to create opportunities for programs that haven’t had many to capture a CIF state title. It worked in this division, as both programs were striving to win their first title. Both teams could taste a title, as the game was well within reach throughout four quarters.
Alex Osterloh made all the plays for Sacred Heart Prep down the stretch in its win over San Juan Hills for the CIF D4 title. Photo: Mark Tennis.
Sacred Heart Prep led for a vast majority of the contest, but San Juan Hills finally got over the hump in the fourth quarter. San Juan Hills’ Rocco Jensen (10 points) scored on a running layup to tie the game at 38-38 with 5:37 remaining, then Garrett Brehmer (game-high 17 points) scored on a running layup to give San Juan Hills its first lead 40-38. Both teams were resilient, and SHP’s Pat Bala (13 points) answered with a 3-pointer to give the Gators the lead right back.
Earlier in the game, it looked like the team that made the last play would win this game, but San Juan Hills had a perfect opportunity to seize control when 6-foot-8 forward Oliver Sandor scored on an offensive rebound put back to make the score 45-41 with 2:07 remaining. San Juan Hills then gave up a key offensive rebound on the Gators’ next possession and it led to a driving layup by sophomore Matt Osterloh with 1:30 remaining to cut his team’s deficit to two. With 1:20 to go, Alex Osterloh, Matt’s brother and a senior, stole the ball mid-court from the ball handler and made two free throws after a foul at the rim to tie the game at 45-45.
With 35.2 remaining, San Juan Hills had possession and could essentially run the clock down for the last shot attempt of the game. With 12.3 seconds remaining, Alex Osterloh stripped San Juan Hills’ Kellen Owens of the ball during a drive into the key to force a change of possession. On its last possession, SHP wanted to get the ball in Alex Osterloh’s hands and it worked the ball around on the perimeter, executed some ball fakes and eventually got the ball back to the top player. He got fouled on a 3-point attempt by Owens with 0.3 to go and it was a case of déjà vu for Alex Osterloh and his teammates.
“Yeah, it was a foul, I was like ‘oh my gosh, he’ going to knock me over,’’ said Alex Osterloh, who scored a team-high 15 points. “I was going to brace myself on the shot.
“We’ve been in this situation like 10 times this year, in the NorCal championship game, the same thing happened. Nobody on our team goofed up. On the free throws, I knew if I took a deep breath and ’shoot it’, it will go in.”
Sacred Heart Prep (21-11) rallied from a double-digit deficit in fourth quarter in the NorCal D4 final against Half Moon Bay and won the game when Alex Osterloh was fouled 50 plus feet from the basket with 0.7 seconds remaining and canned free throws. SHP defeated Half Moon Bay in overtime in the CCS D4 title game and also beat the same team earlier in the season.
“They are well coached and an excellent team; they made this a heck of a championship game,” said Sacred Heart Prep coach Jeff Wulburn of San Juan Hills. “I couldn’t be happier for this group. With eleven games ago, nobody thought we would be here.”
San Juan Hills (21-15) had bounced back from losing in the CIFSS D5 semifinals to L.A. Philobos to defeat top seed Tulare Union, 74-66, in Tuesday’s SoCal D4 final.
“Obviously, it was a tough ending and looking at the stats, having 19 turnovers is insane,” said San Juan Hills coach Jason Efstathiou. “And to have a 4-point lead, have a turnover and give up an offensive rebound to tie the game, it’s tough.”
“On the last play of the game, I’m going to give it my all, but I have to be better,” said Owens. “He (Osterloh) did what he had to get the call.”
Ronnie Flores is the managing editor of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at ronlocc1977@gmail.com.
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