High school basketball: No. 5 Duncanville upsets No. 1 Sierra Canyon 80-73 behind balanced effort

In an early showdown between two highly-ranked MaxPreps Top 25 high school basketball teams, No. 5 Duncanville (Texas) upset No. 1 Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) 80-73 as part of the Thanksgiving Hoopfest showcase at Dickie's Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

After falling behind in the first quarter, the Panthers never trailed throughout the final three quarters and extended their lead to as many as 17 points at 61-44 after a 7-0 run late in the third quarter.

Sierra Canyon did manage to make things interesting in the fourth quarter. The Trailblazers went on a 6-0 run to cut the Duncanville lead to 68-59 with 3:57 remaining. They continued to slowly chip away, cutting the deficit to 74-71 after a Kijani Wright bucket and foul with 37 seconds remaining. In the end, Duncanville pulled out the 80-73 victory after Davion Sykes threw down an emphatic slam to put an exclamation point on the victory.

Aric Demings, Ronald Holland and Sykes all finished with 16 points for Duncanville. Wright had a game-high 22 points and 15 rebounds for Sierra Canyon.

Duncanville (5-0) picked up its third consecutive win over a ranked opponent. The Panthers defeated No. 21 Wheeler (Marietta, Ga.) 86-61 on Wednesday and No. 12 Centennial (Corona, Calif.) 75-70 on Friday.

Sierra Canyon was again playing short-handed as five-star senior Amari Bailey remains sidelined due to injury.

Sierra Canyon (4-1) returns home to face West Ranch (Valencia, Calif.) on Wednesday before taking on St. Vincent-St Mary (Akron, Ohio) at the Staples Center in a highly-anticipated game on Dec. 4.