Electrifying Corona Centennial advances to state championship with 83-59 win over Sierra Canyon
CORONA, Calif. -- Corona Centennial is in ‘make it look easy’ mode and the truth is, they’ve been there for weeks. Postseason scores aren’t supposed to be as lopsided as the ones the Huskies have put up in the last month.
Corona Centennial won all four of their Southern Section Open Division playoff games by at least 20 points. On Saturday, the Huskies steamrolled Bishop Montgomery 76-55 in the second round of the Open Division state playoffs and then on Tuesday night in the regional championship, they delivered their best performance yet blowing out a Sierra Canyon team led by two McDonald's All-Americans 83-59.
"The only problem with this is that it comes to an end on Saturday [in the state championship]," said Corona Centennial head coach Josh Giles. "Everything about them, they're a coach's dream."
All five Husky starters scored in double figures on Tuesday. Ramsey Huff finished with a game high 20 points. Devin Williams scored 19 points. Donovan Dent added 18 points. Aaron McBride put in 13 points and Jared McCain scored 10. A coach's dream indeed...
Corona Centennial jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the game thanks to two 3's by Huff and a third by McCain. At halftime, the Huskies led 38-24.
The game-winning sequence came in the third quarter when McBride threw down a dunk, Williams drilled a 3 and McCain stole the inbounds pass and converted a layup to put Corona Centennial up 58-36.
The second half was never close.
"We've picked a really good time to play really well, right?" Giles said. "But it's all facets. We're defending. We're rebounding. We're making shots. Being smart. With three minutes to go we handled their pressure and kind of took the air out of the ball a little bit. It was really good."
Amari Bailey scored 15 points for Sierra Canyon in the loss. Isaiah Elohim put in 14.
Corona Centennial will play Modesto Christian in the Open Division state championship on Saturday night in Sacramento after the Crusaders beat Campolindo 56-53. Modesto Christian is 30-5 on the season. Corona Centennial is 32-1.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
- Corona Centennial will play in the second state championship game of the Josh Giles era on Saturday. The Huskies fell to Monte Vista in the Division 1 state championship in 2014. Giles has coached 20 seasons at Corona Centennial.
- Corona Centennial handed Sierra Canyon just the fourth double-digit loss of the Andre Chevalier era on Tuesday. Chevalier is 131-18 overall as head coach of the Trailblazers. He's won two Open Division state championships at the school.
