SACRAMENTO — No. 3
Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) won its fourth California state title, beating
Salesian College Preparatory (Richmond) 78-70 on Saturday in the Open Division final at Golden 1 Center.
It took a complete team effort from the Trailblazers after McDonald's All American
Maximo Adams suffered an injury in the first quarter that sidelined the North Carolina signee for the remainder of the game.
"It's unfortunate that this had to happen but I had full faith in my guys," Adams said.
While fellow McDonald's All American
Brandon McCoy changed the game on both ends of the court, seniors
Jordan Askew,
Steph Kankole and
Brannon Martinsen, alongside sophomores
Jordan Mize,
Josh Lowery and
J.J. Sati-Grier contributed in major ways.
"When Maxi went down, we were looking for him to come out of the tunnel
but everybody locked in," Sierra Canyon head coach Andre Chevalier said.
"We started saying we are gonna win this for Maxi. It's a great thing
when one guy falls and everybody rallies to not let him down. Everybody gave us something tonight."
Kankole had 12 points in the game, including back-to-back 3-point baskets to get the Trailblazers back in the game during the first quarter when the Trailblazers trailed 24-15.
"We've been waiting for Steph to knock down shots and we knew it was coming," Chevalier said. "We played nine, 10 all year long. That's what made us so dangerous, you didn't know who was going to have a big night for us."
Sierra Canyon players and coaches hoist the CIF Open Division trophy after beating Salesian 78-70 on Saturday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. (PHOTO: David Steutel)
Sierra Canyon scored 11 straight points in the third quarter, turning a tie into an 52-41 advantage for the Trailblazers as McCoy scored five points, five-star Lowery had four points and four-star Mize had a bucket at the rim during the run.
McCoy finished the game with 20 points, six rebounds, four blocks and three steals.
"This means the world to me, to come to NorCal and win a state championship, I've had this goal on my wall. I can't express it, I've put in so much work," McCoy said. "When we were down we didn't come here to go out like this. We've built such a good bond so quick, just the way we pull through. Not every day was easy and we stayed together."
Sierra Canyon senior Brandon McCoy scored 20 points and blocked four shots in the Trailblazers 78-70 win over Salesian. (PHOTO: David Steutel)
McCoy had a breakaway slam to take a 62-49 lead with 4:49 left in the game and then Sierra Canyon extended its lead to 16 with 2:31 left.
But Salesian stayed composed and cut the deficit to six with 26.4 seconds remaining before Sierra Canyon pulled away. Four-star Stanford signee
Elias Obenyah scored 27 points while Sac State pledge
Carlton Perrilliat Jr. had 21.
"That's a really good team that we played and it's tough because they are deep," Salesian head coach Bill Mellis said. "A lot of people didn't give us a chance and I'm happy with how we played. This is a resilient group"
The Trailblazers won the Division I title last season while winning the Open Division title in both 2018 and 2019.
