SUNNYVALE — Cupertino is great at controlling the pace of games and slowing opponents down, and while the Pioneers did that for 29 minutes in Thursday night’s CCS Division I Semifinal, Piedmont Hills finally surged over the last three minutes for a 45-41 win.
It was a victory that not only put the Pirates in Saturday’s section championship game, but also earned them their first trip to the CIF State Tournament since 2016. It’ll be their fourth appearance of the decade.
After allowing 13 points in the first quarter, fourth-seeded Cupertino (16-10) did a remarkable job of shutting the Pirates down over the next 16 minutes, allowing just six points in the second and eight in the third. The Pioneers would trail throughout those two periods but stay within striking distance the entire time, only trailing by more than five when a Kameron Navalta putback gave top-seeded Piedmont Hills a 19-12 lead with 3:30 left in the second quarter. Following their third timeout of the half, the Pioneers would get the final four points of the half from Jack Townsend and John Duan to go into the break trailing by just three.
They’d tie it once in the third on a pair of Duan free throws with 2:57 left in the quarter, but Piedmont Hills (22-4) would get the final four points of the period on a putback and layup by Caiaphas Ardoin, who scored 17 of his 19 in the second half.
Just when it looked like Ardoin had sparked the Pirates to take control, Cupertino came out firing in the fourth, taking the lead on five straight points from Duan and going up 31-27 on a 3-pointer by Richard Yang. A putback by Duan, who led all scorers with 23 points, made it 33-29.
Even with their five starters playing the entirety of the game, never once taking even a minute or two for a substitution, the Pioneers had played a largely mistake-free game until Piedmont Hills finally managed to break the ice by forcing five turnovers over the next four minutes. The Pirates went back in front on an Isaac Teferri 3-pointer and Ardoin putback after Brandon Lowe stole an inbound pass but couldn’t finish his layup attempt.
Yang would put the Pioneers on top one last time before Ardoin hit a corner three to give PH a 37-35 advantage. Andrew Le would double the lead with a steal and layup, and sophomore Alijah Washington’s layup would make it 41-35.
Duan would get fouled on a 3-point attempt and make all three free throws to cut the lead in half with 56.8 seconds left, but another Ardoin layup out of a press break put Piedmont Hills back up by five. The last of Duan’s four 3-pointers cut it to 43-41, and a travel would give the ball back to Cupertino with 24.3 seconds left, but Townsend’s layup in triple-coverage wouldn’t go. Having managed to avoid fouls all game to keep their starters on the floor, Cupertino suddenly needed to foul five times just to get the Pirates to the line, and Ardoin finally reached the charity stripe with 2.6 seconds left, where he made both free throws to seal the game.
Teferri scored eight of his 11 in the first quarter, hitting a pair of early threes as Piedmont Hills opened up an 11-4 lead, while Townsend scored seven of his nine in the opening stanza.
