Sage Hill boys’ basketball season ends after close loss to La Habra
The Sage Hill School boys’ basketball team held the size advantage over visiting La Habra on Tuesday night in the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 3AA playoffs.
The top-seeded Highlanders still got a key offensive rebound when they needed it most.
With La Habra up by a point, junior center Ulavai Fetuli was able to tip a missed three-pointer back to junior guard Grayson Sinek in the closing seconds. Sage Hill was forced to foul.
La Habra would hang on for a 47-44 victory over the Lightning, ending their season.
“We couldn’t hit a shot,” said La Habra coach Aaron Riekenberg, whose team won its 18th game in a row. “We had so many good looks that usually go down for our guys that didn’t go down. On the flip side, they defended their butts off. They worked really hard. It wasn’t the prettiest game, but we found a way.”
Sinek had a team-high 21 points for La Habra, and made two free throws with 3.2 seconds left. Sage Hill inbounded the ball and called its final timeout with 0.9 seconds remaining.
Senior guard Sergio Maggette’s desperation three-point heave hit off the top of the backboard at the buzzer for Sage Hill (17-14). Maggette, the son of former NBA standout Corey Maggette, played well, scoring a game-high 26 points.
Maggette, a transfer from JSerra, had missed his junior year due to an ACL surgery.
“He has a lot to learn,” Lightning coach D’Cean Bryant said. “It’s not his fault. He’s never been in that leadership role, and that’s tough. He’s going to be fine down the stretch, he’s just got to keep working. I told [senior forward Johnny] Mayhew the same thing, ‘You did a great job this year. You got in shape, got quicker, got stronger.’ That’s what we asked.”
Mayhew had seven points for Sage Hill, and 6-foot-10 junior Jackson Cryst finished with five points and nine rebounds.
The Lightning started slow but earned a 23-18 halftime lead, after a 12-point outburst from Maggette in the second quarter. The second half was back and forth, but La Habra made the plays late.
Acen Jimenez added eight points in the fourth quarter for the winners, who host Hesperia in the Division 3AA semifinals on Friday night.
Sage Hill was a Division 4A finalist last year before Bryant’s Arizona-bound standout son Carter, last year’s Daily Pilot Dream Team Player of the Year, transferred to Corona Centennial, put the pieces together to have another successful season. The Lightning finished second in the Pacific Coast League.
“You can’t be pissed off, going off on your team because you lost the game,” D’Cean Bryant said. “I think they showed a lot of maturity this year, in how they reacted to things. They grew a lot. I do appreciate all of their efforts, I appreciate them buying into what we’re doing. We just came up short tonight, that’s it.”
In other boys’ basketball CIF quarterfinals Tuesday night:
Marina 57, Cypress 55: Vikings junior guard Dylan Gomez made three free throws with four seconds remaining, lifting Marina to the win in the Division 2A game on the road.
Gomez was fouled shooting a three-pointer for Marina (24-7). He finished the game with 15 points.
Barak Simon scored 13 for the Vikings, and Mark Yeager scored 11.
Marina, which shared the Wave League title, hosts San Gabriel Academy (20-9) on Saturday night in a Division 2A semifinal.
Estancia 53, Santa Paula 51: Senior point guard Jaedon Hose-Shea poured in 36 points for the Eagles in a Division 4A quarterfinal at home, helping the Eagles reach their first semifinal since 2005.
Hose-Shea is averaging 32 points per game in three playoff wins for Estancia (23-8), which plays at top-seeded Temecula Valley (17-13) in the semifinals Friday night.
Eagles senior Peter Sanchez scored 13 against Santa Paula.
Yeshiva University of Los Angeles 71, Costa Mesa 61: The Mustangs saw their season end in the Division 4AA quarterfinals on Tuesday night in Los Angeles.
Costa Mesa, the Orange Coast League champion, finished 18-12.
Lynwood Firebaugh 65, Los Amigos 51: The Lobos’ season concluded in the Division 5A quarterfinals Tuesday at Los Amigos High.
Los Amigos, the Garden Grove League co-champion, finished the season 20-8.
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