'Locked in' Sierra Canyon beats Harvard-Westlake 72-55 in CIF State Open Division regional semifinal

(Lead photo by Nick Koza)

STUDIO CITY, Calif. — It took months, but Sierra Canyon is finally clicking.

The third-seeded Trailblazers avenged their Southern Section Open Division playoff defeat to No. 2 Harvard-Westlake on Saturday night on the road beating the Wolverines 72-55 in the Open Division state regional semifinals.

Losing to Harvard-Westlake in February flipped a switch for the Trailblazers, according to head coach Andre Chevalier.

“Because we lost, they finally locked in and played hard,” he said. “They’re really starting to play for each other. That’s what we always want them to do…This year has been long and tough but sometimes you need that adversity to get you to a place where you can buy in to each other and play together. They did that tonight.”

Sierra Canyon used a 12-0 third quarter run to pull away from Harvard-Westlake. Star Trailblazers senior Amari Bailey, who didn’t play in the first quarter for missing practice time this week, according to Tarek Fattal of the Daily News, scored the last seven points by himself to put Sierra Canyon ahead 46-33.

But even before Sierra Canyon’s offense got into its groove, the Trailblazers played a suffocating and aggressive brand of defense from the opening tip. Isaiah Elohim and Bailey harassed Harvard-Westlake junior Brady Dunlap all night giving him no space to operate. Dunlap scored 17 points with 10 coming in the fourth quarter when Harvard-Westlake beat Sierra Canyon 63-60 last month. On Saturday, he made only one field goal and finished with 10 points.

“Brady [and Cam Thrower] killed us last game, so we wanted to try to make somebody else beat us,” Chevalier said.

Thrower scored 18 points in the first meeting and had 10 on Saturday.

Junior guard Mike Price scored 15 points in the win for Sierra Canyon and said afterwards it was the best game he’s played in a Trailblazers uniform. Midway through the fourth quarter he asked a group of Harvard-Westlake fans: “What happened to the noise?”

Senior center Kijani Wright also scored 15 points for Sierra Canyon and grabbed 12 rebounds. Bailey finished with 13 points.

Sierra Canyon will play on the road against No. 1 Corona Centennial in the regional championship on Tuesday. Corona Centennial beat Sierra Canyon in the Southern Section Open Division championship game last season 80-72.

“I lost to those guys last season [at Ribet Academy],” Price said. “I can’t wait for Tuesday.”