High school basketball: Calvary Christian Academy, Auburn advance to inaugural State Champions Invitational title game

Thursday's second semifinal contest at the inaugural State Champions Invitational saw Washington Class 3A state winner Auburn knock off Georgia AAAAAAA titlist Norcross (Ga.) 58-41 behind a game-high 17 points from Kaden Hansen.

No. 23 Auburn (28-2) advances to Saturday's championship game against No. 3 Calvary Christian Academy (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), a 58-37 winner over No. 19 Sidwell Friends (Washington, D.C.) in the other semifinal. The title contest is scheduled to tip at noon ET on ESPN2.

Auburn used a 12-2 run to start the fourth quarter, winning the final period 17-8 to put away the Blue Devils, who were without leading scorer London Johnson who opted to participate in the Nike Hoop Summit instead. The Trojans were in control throughout the cross country showdown, never trailing after jumping out to a 4-0 lead before extending its advantage to 17-9 after the first quarter, 28-20 at the half and 41-33 after three quarters.

Although Auburn was outrebounded 45-32, it outplayed Norcross in all other aspects of the game. The Trojans shot 39.7 percent from the field and 28 percent from 3-point range while compiling 20 assists against just three turnovers. Norcross shot 28.9 percent from the field and 17.6 percent from 3-point grange with six assists versus 18 turnovers.

Along with Hansen, Tre Blassingame had a strong performance with 10 points, 11 rebounds and six steals while Maleek Arington had eight points, eight assists, four rebounds and three steals and Dae'kwon Watson chipped in 13 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Mier Panoam had a team-high 16 points while Jerry Deng compiled 11 points and 15 rebounds in the loss for Norcross (26-7).

UCF-bound Taylor Hendricks tallied 24 points and 12 rebounds for Calvary Christian Academy (25-2), connecting on 9 of 13 field goal attempts to help his team pull away in the second half for a comfortable win over DCSAA Class AA champion Sidwell Friends.

After falling behind 4-2 early in the contest, Calvary Christian Academy trailed for less than a minute during the remainder of the contest. The Eagles took a 6-4 lead with 2:08 remaining in the first quarter after a layup from Florida Atlantic commit Brenen Lorient.

Things remained close throughout the first half as Calvary held a 10-9 lead after the first quarter and a 24-22 lead at the half.

Calvary Christian Academy outscored Sidwell Friends 20-9 in third third quarter to take a 44-31 advantage into the last frame. The Eagles continued to stretch their advantage in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Quakers 15-6 in the final eight minutes.

Sophomore Caleb Williams led the way for Sidwell Friends (29-2), finishing with a team-high 12 points. The Quakers struggled offensively throughout the contest, shooting 14 of 53 from the field (26.4 percent) and 4 of 24 from 3-point range (16.7 percent).

In addition to Hendricks' contribution, five-star junior Marvel Allen added 13 points for Calvary while four-star junior Carl Cherenfant chipped in 10 points and four rebounds. The Eagles shot 22 of 40 from the field (55 percent) and 6 of 12 (50 percent from beyond the arc.