ANAHEIM, Calif. — Nobody was talking about
Etiwanda (Calif.) when the Southern Section playoffs began.
Kenny Barnes, Etiwanda
File photo by David Hood
Now, the Eagles are being dubbed the "giant slayers" of the Southland after knocking off the top two ranked teams in California in back-to-back games.
Etiwanda served notice that it warrants consideration as the best team in the state by upsetting top-seeded
Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 54-51 Saturday night to win the Southern Section Division 1AA championship at the Anaheim Convention Center.
The sixth-seeded Eagles (28-2) appeared to be on their way to an easy victory, leading by 14 points with less than 3:30 left, but Mater Dei (30-2) pulled to within three points and actually had a chance to force overtime in the final moments.
Stanley Johnson's last-second three-pointer hit the rim and the clock expired as both teams fought to secure the rebound.
Kenny Barnes could've clinched the victory for the Eagles but missed a pair of free throws with 8.6 seconds left.
The win came four days after Etiwanda's 59-55 overtime win at second-seeded Long Beach Poly.
Mater Dei ended the week No. 4 and Long Beach Poly No. 8 in the
MaxPreps Xcellent 25 national rankings.
Jordan McCaughlin, Etiwanda
File photo by Rob Carmell
"When the playoffs started, all anyone was talking about was a Mater Dei-Poly rematch," said Barnes, who led the Eagles with 16 points. "No one was picking us to even make the finals, but we knew we could."
Mater Dei pulled to within 54-51 on
Elijah Brown's basket with 45 seconds left. Brown had 21 points and Johnson 18 for the Monarchs, while
Jordan McLaughlin added 14 points and
Delewis Johnson 12 for Etiwanda.
"We did a nice job of distributing the ball and getting everyone involved," Etiwanda Coach David Kleckner said. "The kids played with confidence and I think we proved people wrong tonight."
In other Southland games:
JW NORTH (Riverside) 59, VILLA PARK 58: Deshon Taylor scored 10 points and stole the ball from Villa Park's
Kevin Olsen to seal the Huskies; 59-58 victory with three seconds left in the Southern Section Division 2AA final.
Isaac Hamilton, St. John Bosco
File photo by Nick Koza
had 23 points and
Tyler Dorsey had 22 as the Braves dominated the Southern Section 3A final.
Daniel Hamilton and
Darien Williams each had 14 points for St. John Bosco (24-6), which played impressively enough to warrant consideration for the new Open division of the state playoffs.
Jack Williams had 16 points and
Jaron Martin added 13 for the third-seeded Eagles (24-7).
REDONDO UNION (Redondo Beach) 67, WESTLAKE (Westlake Village) 63: Derek Biale scored 19 points and
Ian Fox added 18 for the Sea Hawks (23-8) in the Southern Section Division 2A title game. It was the third CIF title in four years for Coach Reggie Morris.
Grant Lozoya and
Larry Bush each scored 18 points for the Warriors (26-5).
SERRA (Gardena) 70, LUTHERAN (La Verne) 52: Ron Freeman had 16 points and
Ajon Jefferson had 15 points as the third-seeded Cavaliers (25-6) repeated as Southern Section 4AA champions.
Skyler Williams had 20 points
Jay Miller added 11 for the Trojans (25-7), who had an 18-game winning streak snapped. Lutheran had upset Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) in the semifinals and lost last season's final to Serra.
Matthew Grant, Westchester
File photo by Nick Koza
had 17 points and
Erron Vaughn had 11 for the the second-seeded Vikings (26-6), who won the Southern Section 1A title. Leading scorer Jordan Mathews was held to 13 points.
George Buaku led the No. 1-seeded Chargers (27-7) with 12 points.
In the Los Angeles City Section Division I final at Cal State Dominguez Hills, top-seeded
Westchester (Los Angeles) beat second-seeded
El Camino Real (Woodland Hills) 65-59.
Darnell Brown had 12 points and
Matthew Grant added 11 for the top-seeded Comets.
Julian Richardson had 13 and
Kelton Conway had 12 for the second-seeded Conquistadors.
