The pain was real, but victory surpasses all things for the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers.
Scotty Pippen directed the show, finishing with 17 points, four assists and a bloody mouth after taking an elbow from a defender as No. 4 Sierra Canyon ousted Westchester 64-49 on Friday night in an all-California semifinal of the ‘Iolani Prep Classic.
Sierra Canyon advances to today’s 8 p.m. finale which is for the co-championship. La Lumiere’s upset of Montverde Academy in Friday’s second semifinal had tournament officials scrambling for a solution created by a team being independent.
Because La Lumiere (Ind.) is considered an independent — not a member of its state association — it cannot play Sierra Canyon. As a member of the California Interscholastic Federation, Sierra Canyon is not permitted to play against independent teams. So Sierra Canyon is slated to play Montverde tonight, while La Lumiere will play Oak Ridge, a team from Orlando, Fla. — a state that allows association members to play independents — at 6:30 p.m.
The only other option could have been Pleasant Grove, which lost to Sierra Canyon in the quarterfinals, but they come from Utah, another state that doesn’t allow competition with such teams.
All of which means, La Lumiere is at least a co-champion with a win over Oak Ridge. And Sierra Canyon has to beat Montverde for its best shot to be co-champion or outright champ.
It was less dramatic in the first semifinal.
Pippen, son of former Chicago Bulls star Scottie Pippen, ran an offense that shot nearly 58 percent from the field (26-for-45) with just 10 turnovers. He had a bag of ice on his mouth after the game.
“We want to play team basketball and take good shots,” said Pippen, who did not have a turnover. “I’m about attacking and opening it up for everyone else.”
KJ Martin and Cassius Stanley followed suit. Martin, son of former NBA player Kenyon Martin, finished with 20 points on 9-for-13 shooting with five rebounds. Stanley tallied 18 points on 8-for-9 shooting with a game-high 13 rebounds.
“We take pride in taking good shots,” said the 6-foot-7 Martin, who has a big motor. “My dad played with a lot of energy and I do, too.”
Stanley, at 6-5, was hoping to enter the slam dunk contest on Thursday. Instead, he and his teammates focused on a title run.
“Coach talked about us being bigger and stronger than (Westchester),” he said.
Sierra Canyon’s Andre Chevalier wanted consistent on-ball defense on the Comets, who shot less than 35 percent from the field (19-for-55), including 3-for-16 from the arc.
“We were a little off in our last game. We didn’t play well. We have a tendency to look at other teams,” Chevalier said. “We do well when we’re focused.”
The Blazers began to pull away from the Comets with a 17-9 run that began late in the first quarter. Sierra Canyon’s man defense forced six Westchester turnovers in the second period as the lead stretched to 30-19.
In the third quarter, Westchester attacked the offensive glass with 6-6 Kaelen Allen (14 points, eight rebounds) and 6-8 Ke’Veon Batiste (nine boards), but got no closer than nine after a three-point play by Jeremiah Turley.
Early in the fourth quarter, with the Blazers up 47-33, Pippen took an elbow to the mouth. Stanley scored on the same play as they turned a steal into an easy bucket.
No. 6 La Lumiere 58, No. 1 Montverde Academy 51
The mighty have fallen.
No. 1 Montverde, the defending GEICO national champion and defending ‘Iolani Prep Classic champion, has been knocked out. La Lumiere (La Porte, Ind.), ranked No. 6 nationally by MaxPreps, opened a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter and hung on for a win in the semifinals on Friday night.
Gerald Drumgoole scored 18 points and Keion Brooks had 17 to lead the Lakers. Wendell Green added 13 points. Brooks, a 6-foot-8 senior, and 6-9 Isaiah Stewart were instrumental in neutralizing Montverde’s talented front line. Brooks connected on two huge 3-pointers in the final few minutes.
Stewart made life tough in the paint for Montverde’s 7-1 center, Balsa Koprivica.
