The San Ysidro High School boys basketball team ended its season with an 88-76 loss to 12th-seeded Village Christian in Tuesday’s opening round of the Southern California Division I regional playoffs.
The fifth-seeded Cougars were outscored in every quarter in their quest to win a state championship.
San Ysidro wrapped up the 2021-22 campaign with a 23-9 record that included a runner-up finish in last Saturday’s San Diego Section Open Division championship game.
It was a proud moment for the program even in defeat to the St. Augustine Saints, the consensus No. 1 team in the section from start to finish of the season.
The Saints bombarded the Cougars with a flash and awe offense that saw the Western League champions grab a 29-18 first quarter lead and extend that to 56-39 at halftime.
St. Augustine led by 20 points — 61-41 — midway through the third quarter.
The Saints student section started the second half with the iconic “I Believe We Will Win” chant.
The reigning Mesa League champions almost made the choir boys eat their words after narrowing the score to three points with 40.9 seconds to play.
The Saints managed to keep possession until sophomore Lawrence Rudolph flipped in a shot from under the basket in the final second of play for the winning five-point margin.
Junior Jurion Dixon keyed St. Augustine with 21 points while sophomore Kai Brown dropped in 15 points.
Senior Martin Flores led the Cougars with 25 points in the setback while senior Sebastian Medina poured in 23 points. Senior Miguel Figueroa had 16 points.
“We played hard the second half,” SYHS head coach Terry Tucker said. “But we needed to play like that in the first half. You can’t go down by 20 points against a quality team.”
The Saints improved to 23-7 with the win while awaiting Wednesday’s regional Open Division opener at third-seeded Sierra Canyon (24-4).
San Ysidro proved to be this year’s bracket buster with a 66-52 win over second-seeded San Marcos in the quarterfinals and a scintillating 69-67 win over third-seeded Torrey Pines in the semifinals. Flores had 21 points in the win over San Marcos (22-6) and 29 points against Torrey Pines (23-6).
“It’s been a good season,” Tucker assessed. “We had a good group of kids who played hard. They didn’t get rattled easily. Our style was to play fast and make teams uncomfortable. All these teams have good coaching staffs; you’ve got to get them out of their comfort zones.”
Horse power
Second-seeded Otay Ranch placed runner-up to fourth-seeded Mt. Carmel by a 77-61 score in last Friday’s Division II championship game at San Marcos High School.
Sophomore Percy Whittaker keyed the runner-up Mustangs with a game-high 23 points while classmate Alan Delacruz dropped in 12 points. Junior A.J. McIlwain contributed 11 points. Whittaker had a team-high five rebounds while McIlwain had a team-high four steals.
The Mustangs advanced past sixth-seeded Hoover, 58-56, in the preceding semifinals but were denied the chance to face top-seeded Montgomery in an all-Metro Conference championship game when the Aztecs (24-7) were upset, 68-67, by Mt. Carmel.
Freshman J.J. Sanchez led Montgomery with 30 points and five rebounds in the semifinal loss. Fellow ninth-grader Xair Mendez had 17 points.
Both Mt. Carmel and Otay Ranch advanced to the Division xxx Southern California regionals. Mt. Carmel, seeded 10th, improved to 24-9 with a 66-52 upset win over seventh-seeded Dana Hills in Tuesday’s opening round while 11th-seeded Otay Ranch (18-13) bowed out of state championship contention with a 48-46 loss to sixth-seeded Bishop Diego (24-7).
Victory Christian Academy splits CIF championship hoops twin bill
Victory Christian Academy had the opportunity to showcase its new gymnasium for an extended time during this year’s San Diego Section basketball playoffs.
The top-seeded Lady Knights played three games on site while the second-seeded boys team also was able to showcase itself for three rounds (first round through semifinals) before advancing to last Friday’s Division IV championship games at Mira Mesa High School.
Victory Christian earned a split in the championship double-header with the girls team winning its second consecutive CIF championship with a 44-20 win over third-seeded Steele Canyon while the boys team placed runner-up to top-seeded Monte Vista by a final score of 54-36.
Senior Tiana Sledge, who joining the team for the final seven games of the season after sitting out for transfer eligibility reasons, has posted a team-leading 15.0 points-per-game scoring average, followed by senior Salma Youngblood (13.9 ppg) and junior Jaylyn Johnson (13.9 ppg). Sledge also topped the team with an 8.4 rebounds-per-game average.
Freshman Sophia Abella led the team with 16 points in the championship game victory against the Lady Cougars (17-14) while Sledge had 14 rebounds.
The Citrus League runner-up Lady Knights forced 36 turnovers in the game to key a superb defensive effort. Steele Canyon was held without a point in the third quarter.
The Lady Knights recorded homecourt wins in the playoffs over 16th-seeded High Tech High San Diego (75-13 in the first round on Feb. 15), ninth-seeded Patrick Henry (63-37 in the quarterfinals on Feb. 18) and fifth-seeded San Diego (68-25 in the semifinals on Feb. 23).
Citrus League champion Victory Christian dispatched 15th-seeded Southwest El Centro, 73-29, in the opening round of the boys playoffs before besting seventh-seeded Hilltop, 73-48, in the quarterfinals. The Knights made their triumphant entry to the championship game via an 84-48 homecourt win over sixth-seeded Crawford in the semifinals.
Four players finished with double-digit scoring averages for the season: seniors Vincent Signorelli (17.8 ppg) and Mekhi Sutton (16.3 ppg) and juniors Quinton Richardson (12.6 ppg) and Josiah Fellows (10.3 ppg).
Sutton keyed the Knights with 12 points in the championship game setback.
Victory Christian built an early lead on the Grossmont Valley League co-champion Monarchs before being out-scored 19-3 in the second quarter and 13-7 in the third quarter to fall behind 41-25 on the scoreboard.
State playoffs
Second-seeded Victory Christian (18-11) bounded past 15th-seeded Estancia, 71-25, to record yet another homecourt win in Tuesday’s opening round of the Division V Southern California regional playoffs. The Lady Knights led 47-12 at halftime after out-scoring the Lady Eagles (14-14) by an explosive 28-1 margin in the second quarter.
Victory Christian advanced to Thursday’s quarterfinals against seventh-seeded Price (16-2). Winners advance to Saturday’s semifinals.
