Elk Grove gets hot from deep, beats Foothill 62-56 in CIF State Division II boys basketball championship

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Live by the three, die by the three.

That scenario played out in the CIF State Division II boys basketball championship game on Saturday as Elk Grove buried eight 3-pointers to beat Foothill 62-56.

Elk Grove shot 47 percent from beyond the arc, compared to just 17 percent for Foothill (3-of-18).

It's the first boys basketball state title in school history for Elk Grove.

The Thundering Herd’s triples came early and often. Ameere Britton connected on a nasty step-back 3-pointer to put Elk Grove up 7-2 in the first quarter and he did it again in the third, giving the Thundering Herd a 37-34 advantage.

Elk Grove’s biggest 3-pointer of the night came from Karlos Zepeda in the fourth quarter making the score 49-43. From there, the Thundering Herd played solid defense and didn’t succumb to Foothill playing the foul game to win.

Britton finished with a team-high 20 points in the victory. Zepeda scored 15. Jordan Hess made three 3-pointers for Elk Grove and finished with 14 points. Senior big man DaJon Lott grabbed 12 rebounds.

Despite their shooting woes, the Knights still recorded a couple of triples in the first half, the hard way. Both Jacob Horton and Mikey Mazurie had 3-point plays in the second quarter which kept Elk Grove within reach. At halftime, the Thundering Herd led 29-24 thanks mainly to Britton and Hess scoring 10 points apiece.

But the 3-point shooting touch inside the Golden 1 Center never developed for Foothill and in the end, the Knights couldn’t make up the ground required to take down Elk Grove. Foothill’ senior guard Cruz Billings scored a game-high 23 points in the loss. He was 1 of 7 from deep.