PALM SPRINGS, Calif. - Here are more championship games at the MaxPreps Holiday Classic at Cathedral City High School. To see the MaxPreps Invitational Division championship game between Mater Dei and Lincoln,
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DHTS DIVISIONPleasant Grove (Elk Grove, Calif.) 74, King (Riverside, Calif.) 71Down 68-61 with 3:09 remaining, the Pleasant Grove Eagles didn't feel threatened. They felt right at home.
Photo by Louis LopezAll-tournament selection Colfax Nordquist had another fine all-around game.
The Eagles (12-1) didn't panic, even against the Southern California powerhouse, instead turned up the heat to pull out this wildly entertaining championship game over the Wolves (10-3).
Division MVP
Cody Demps (18 points, eight rebounds) led the way for the Eagles,
Matthew Hayes added 16 points,
Malik Thames 15,
Arik Armstead 12 points and eight rebounds and
Colfax Nordquistt 11 points.
Thames and Nordquist were picked the the all-tournament team.
"We just never give up," Nordquist said. "We've been in spots like that before and we expect to come back."
King got a game-high 22 points from
Nikko Turner, 13 by
Chris Lott and 10 each from
Lance Page and
Devon Shallowhorn. King and Page were all-tournament.
"We just didn't finish," King coach Tim Sweeney said. "We didn't execute down the stretch against a very, very good team and they made us pay. It's a hard lesson to learn, but we'll learn from it."
It was a classic back-and-forth affair, filled with massive swings. With a 10-2 run late, King seemed to have the game in hand until Hayes stole the ball and went in for a deuce, Thames drilled a 3-pointer after another steal and two free throws by Demps, the game was tied at 68-68 with 1:54.
Armstead, the massive 6-8, 285-pound post, put the Eagles up for good with a putback. Four more free throws, two each by Demps and Nordquist put the game away.
Photo by Louis LopezPleasant Grove was one of two Northern California teams to escape with titles. The other was Ponderosa.
Expectations coming into the tournament were modest at best, but the Bruins found their groove, capped with an impressive win over a balanced and well-coached Viewpoint squad.
Photo by Louis LopezPonderosa All-Tournament pick
Curtis Opsahl scored 18 points.
Ponderosa (8-7) broke open a close game with a 16-3 run to start the fourth quarter and rolled to their fourth win in Palm Springs in five outings. The one loss, according to the players, a tough nine-point loss to San Diego Section power El Camino in a non-pool game, was the turning point.
On Friday, the high-low duo of
Chris Snyder (20 points, seven rebounds) and
Curtis Opsahl (18 points, eight rebounds) led the Bruins to victory.
Opsahl, a 6-4 junior, was named division MVP and Snyder, a 6-8 sophomore, was named all-tournament as was teammate
Trevor Hammitt, another junior. All-tournament pick
Jack Borenstein led Viewpoint (9-4) with 15 points.
"In all honesty, I wasn't expecting a championship," Snyder said. "We had a couple games coming in here but we put our egos aside and just played basketball. I think that was the key."
Said Opsahl: "We finally bonded."
Now if the Bruins could just get over their slow starts. They fell behind 21-12 early in the second quarter, but finished off the half with a 13-4 run, all scored by Osahl and Snyder. The duo opened the second half with seven straight, before Viewpoint used a 10-0 run to go up 42-39 with 1:10 left in third.
Snyder scored an interior bucket just before the end of the third and Ponderosa took absolutely control in the fourth.
Justin Obereiner made six straight free throws down the stretch and
finished with eight points. The Bruins were 15 of 21 from the line.
The one loss in the tournament, according to the players, a tough nine-point loss to San
Diego Section power El Camino in a non-pool game, was the turning point.
"That proved we could play with the big boys," Opsahl said. "This should give us confidence heading into league."
Photo by Louis LopezPonderosa captured an unexpected championship.
51,
Santiago (Corona) 43
Photo by Louis LopezDivision MVP Andre Edwards.
The formula for victory throughout the tournament for coach Ed Waters at Crenshaw has been defense. The Cougars allowed just 16 points in one Division game and on Friday, they allowed just 23 percent shooting from Santiago (14 of 62) to get then hard-earned division championship.
Division Most Valuable Player
Andre Edwards, a 6-5 multi-talented junior, had 12 points and seven rebounds and five blocks for the winners. He was joined on the all-tournament squad by
Mossi Johnson, a 6-foot junior, who had eight points on Friday and 6-foot senior guard
Brandon Baker who added a team-high 17 points.
Crenshaw improved to 11-3 for Waters, who is in his ninth season. Other key players for the Cougars were Berdel Hodge, a 6-2 junior, Terralyn Henry, a 6-4 senior, and Emanuel Haggood, a 5-10 sophomore point guard.
Crenshaw's only defeats this season came to Orange Lutheran (60-50), Grant-Van Nuys (64-53) and Oak Park (61-46). After the loss to Oak Park, the Cougars have won six straight.
Santiago tried desperately to get things going but just couldn't buy a bucket. The Sharks were led by 6-foot senior guard
Alex Blumenfeld who made three 3-pointers, was 6-for-6 from the line and finished with a game-high 21 points.
The loss dropped Santiago to 10-4.
Santiago got big rebounding performances down low from Jason Dickson, a 6-6 sophomore and Dorion Barnett, a 6-3 junior. Both had 11 rebounds.
But the Sharks simply couldn't make a shot though lots of that had to do with Crenshaw's defense.
Photo by Louis LopezCrenshaw wins another title.
A runner at the buzzer by Torrance's
Brett Akahiji didn't go and Thousand Oaks (11-3) behind 14 points from
Eric Greene and 11 by
Tanner Fanjoy, held on for the exciting victory.
Thousand Oaks was comming off a 47-46 win over Dana Hills to get to the finals.
Akahiji led Torrance (6-7) with 15 points and
Brandon Gardner added 10.
Akahiji and Gardner were all-tournament picks, while
Jacob Lachina was picked as MVP for Thousand Oaks and Fanjoy and
Dakota Pierce were All-tournament.
Photo by Louis LopezThousand Oaks captured the American Division title.
Two players can't beat five - generally - but
Dreon Barlett and
Corey Foster all but did for Edison (13-1), scoring all but six of their team's points.
Bartlett drilled seven 3-pointers and scored 30 points and Foster added 20 as Edison took a 20-8 lead after the first quarter and held on for the victory.
Moorpark (11-3) went the other direction and used great balance as 11 different players scored, led by all-tournament pick
Jake Myers with 10 points while
Jordan Russell added nine. Teammate
Mitchell Sagely also earned all-tournament honors.
Foster was picked as the game's MVP, while Bartlett and
Cade Hernandez were all-tournament.
Photo by Louis Lopez The fruits of Edison's title.