MaxPreps Holiday Classic Day 2: Sierra Canyon puts it all together

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — With one dive after a loose ball, everything changed for the Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) boys basketball team.

Ira Lee, a five-star USA Basketball standout, tore his left labrum a few days before the season was to begin. Two days after Thanksgiving his sophomore season was done.  

The 6-foot-8, 235-pound power forward had surgery a few weeks later and the next time he'll play competitive basketball might not be until the spring or summer.

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"The first 48 hours were extremely difficult," Sierra Canyon coach Ty Nichols said. "For Ira, for his family, for the school and of course us. ... After 48 hours we went into refocus mode. Now we're just in the middle of figuring things out."

For the last eight minutes of his team's 67-56 Open Division quarterfinal MaxPreps Holiday Classic win over the Alemany (Mission Hills, Calif.) Saturday at Rancho Mirage, the Trailblazers (8-1) seemed in synch.

Tied at 49 early in the fourth quarter, they went on runs of 9-0 and 14-4 run to take complete control. Michael Feinberg, a 6-3 freshman guard, capped the run with "the two biggest makes of the season," — a baseline jumper and 3-pointer.

After an Alemany bucket, Devearl Ramsey made a beautiful driving layup, then stole a cross-court pass, drove coast-to-coast before feeding 6-8, 240-pound sophomore manchild Cody Riley for a manchild dunk.

Sierra Canyon's hard-earned victory was complete, despite a superlative 31-point explosion from Alemany super slick 5-8 point guard Shacquille Dawkins.

Ramsey had 15 points, and Riley, Adam Seiko and Feinberg added 12 apiece for the winners.

"We had the last run," Nichols said. "It was back-and-forth the entire game, but we just never quit. We stayed positive and then put together a nice stretch in the fourth quarter. That was a very good win."

Losing someone with the skill set, leadership and charisma of Lee would destroy most teams, but the talented Trailblazers have upwards of six Division I players on their roster. None of them are seniors. In fact, Sierra Canyon has just two seniors with the predominant talent base coming from their sophomore class.

Nichols said he was thrilled to go 3-1 at the City of Palms Tournament and even happier to be 2-0 thus far in the MPHC. The Trailblazers will play Etiwanda (Calif.), an impressive and convincing 53-37 winner over Oakley College (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain), in Monday's semifinals.

When asked if Saturday's performance was an "A" performance, Nichols said: "Frankly, I'm not sure. We're such a completely different team without Ira in there. We've had to make so many adjustments. We basically start four guards now."

Ramsey was the best of the bunch Saturday with 10 rebounds, seven assists and four steals. "I thought he was unbelievable tonight," Nichols said.

Dawkins was outstanding throughout, especially in the second quarter when he exploded for 14 points when Alemany fought back from a 10-point deficit to tie the game at 31 by halftime. The score remained tied heading into the fourth when the Trailblazers put it all together.

All the while, Lee was on the bench cheering, encouraging and even coaching.

"He's a very positive person in every facet of his life," Nichols said. "He'll make the most of this time away from the game. He'll still be a vital part of our team. He's a coach's dream."

Etiwanda rolls

The best back-to-back performances in the first two days of Open Division play has been displayed by Etiwanda, which went on an 18-4 run in the second quarter to go up 33-12 at halftime to win going away.

Kameron Edwards, a 6-6 senior, led the Eagles with 20 points, Garrett Carter added 14 and Jordan Naughton 10. Menno Dijkstra led Oakley with 12 points. Oakley, a prep team from Spain, outscored Etiwanda 25-20 in the second half but it wasn't nearly enough.

Hudson returns, Pebblebrook advances

Pebblebrook (Mableton, Ga.) coach George Washington said his guard Ty Hudson was missing in action in Thursday's first-round win against Damien. That wasn't about to happen two days in a row.

"It definitely wasn't one of his better games," Washington said.

The 6-2 senior responded in a big way with 29 points, Jared Harper added 18 and Derek Ogbeide 10 points and 11 rebounds as the Falcons held off Prestonwood Christian (Plano, Texas) 75-69.

"Ty did what he normally does," Washington said. "People around here just hadn't seen it."

Washington was most pleased with the job Ogbeide and Kevin Murphy did on Prestonwood's twin towers of Schnider Herard and Djery Baptiste, a pair of impressive 6-11, 245-pounders who combined for just 16 points. Chris Stephens led the Lions with 14 points, Daniel Tate had 11 and DJ McGee added 10.

"Derek doesn't like going against smaller players, so when he gets to play against bigs like those guys, he really gets fired up," Washington said.

Asked if this was his team's "A" game, Washington said: "It was a solid 'B' with an 'A' for execution," he said.

Pebblebrook will need to execute even better Monday when it will play Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.).

Inside Outside

MJ Cage, a 6-10 junior, did most of the work inside with 21 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks, but he was helped by four 3-pointers from La'vette Parker (14 points) as defending MaxPreps National Champion Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) defeated Moreau Catholic (Hayward, Calif.) 70-51.

Mater Dei (9-2) led by 8-12 for most of the game and pulled away late, despite 21 points and 10 rebounds from Cal-bound junior Oscar Frayer.

Consolation games

A night after losing a very competitive game with nationally-ranked Sierra Canyon, Sacramento used a very balanced attack to defeat Saddleback Valley Christian (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) 66-55. Solomon Young had 13 points and 11 rebounds to lead the way, while Eric Rwahwire had 20 points leading four players in double figures for SVC. ... Jeremy Hemsley had 21 points and Malik Fitts 16 as Damien (La Verne, Calif.) held on to score a 68-62 win over Folsom, which got 15 points by Jordan Ford. ... Jordan Poole had 22 points, including five 3-pointers, leading King (Milwaukee, Wis.) to a 62-57 win over Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.), which got 24 points and 10 rebounds by Ben Kone.

Coaches honored

Two legendary Southern California coaches, Mater Dei's Gary McKnight and Greg Hilliard, of Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.), were honored before their respective games on Saturday.

McKnight was presented a $1,000 check in his name to give to the Ministry Outreach Program at Mater Dei after winning his 1,000th game earlier this month. In his 33rd season at Mater Dei, McKnight has won 31 league, 22 section and a California record 11 state titles and last year was the MaxPreps basketball and all-sports Coach of the Year. MaxPreps Founder and President Andy Beal presented McKnight with the check in a brief ceremony.

Hilliard announced he would be retiring after this season following 30 years as the head coach at Harvard-Westlake and 40 years coaching overall. He's piled up more than 700 wins, nine Southern Section and two state titles.

Seventy-point improvement

It wasn’t easy to watch. Probably even tougher to play.

But if the host Rancho Mirage (Rancho Mirage, Calif.) Rattlers didn’t realize that their opening MaxPreps Holiday Classic defeat to defending national champion Mater Dei was of benefit, they might have figured it out Saturday.

A day after losing 85-26 to Mater Dei, Rancho Mirage (9-5) almost put up triple digits in a 96-55 win over Pacific Hills (Los Angeles, Calif.)

The Rattlers, a second-year varsity program and third-year school, got 26 points from Daryn Evans, 18 by Charles Neal and 13 from Tyrell Robinson. It helped offset a 33-point effort by Andre Ferguson, who made five 3-pointers.

“From 26 to 96 in one day,” Rancho Mirage coach Rob Hanmer said. “That’s pretty good. That’s a very good improvement.”

It was actually a 100-point improvement if you count the margin of victory compared the margin of defeat. Between them, the Rattlers pulled out a 61-59 win against Coral Academy of Science Las Vegas. They play Godinez (Santa Ana, Calif.) in a Design Pro Division semifinal game Monday.

Briefly: College coaches peppered the tournament Saturday, the most notable being Arizona's Sean Miller, who has showed at several MPHC's over the years. He usually makes it quick and on this day he watched the Mater Dei-Moreau semifinal, no doubt eye-balling Mater Dei 6-10 post MJ Cage, the No. 37 junior in the country, according to 247Sports. ... The consolation Open Division games move to Xavier High School on Monday. See complete schedule by CLICKING HERE.