Trailing by one point at halftime, Las Lomas punched its ticket to the North Coast Section Division II championship game with a 79-72 win over Moreau Catholic, using stingy defense and solid rebounding in the final two quarters to get past the Mission Valley Athletic League champions.
The Knights stayed in their traditional man-to-man defense in the first two quarters, but were plagued by foul trouble before halftime, as Nate Robinson and Devin Payne had three fouls each at the intermission. They also had to adjust to the speed of the game over the first 16 minutes.
"(Moreau Catholic) plays really fast, really hard, and they are well coached," said Las Lomas coach Brian Dietschy. "We had to overcome all that, plus the foul trouble."
For the first time all season, the Knights went to a zone defense in the second half, also in an attempt to balance out what had been a one-sided rebounding battle in favor of the Mariners over the first two quarters.
"Going to a zone protected us in terms of foul trouble, and they had been killing us on the glass, but we rebounded great in the second half," Dietschy added. "The game was a lot of fun. It was a high level, high octane environment, with lots of energy. It was an amazing high school game."
Moreau Catholic came out firing in the first half, especially from beyond the arc. The Mariners hit their first three three-point attempts, and hit four in the first quarter. Sophomore Dallas Rider had eight of his 10 points in the first half, while Amil Fields drained a pair of three's in the first quarter, and both Max Anderson and Leonard Turner each scored five points in the first quarter. Despite that, Las Lomas led 24-22 at the end of one quarter.
Moreau continued to play hot in the second quarter, especially junior Glenn Byrd, who scored six of his 12 points in the quarter. Payne was fantastic in the first half for the Knights, scoring 12 of his game-high 22 points in the first two quarters, but Moreau led 41-40 at the break.
With the change in defense, and some extra ball movement around the perimeter, Las Lomas caught fire in the third quarter, especially shooting guard Jason Holman. Holman drilled a trio of consecutive three-pointers in the third, part of an 11-point quarter, and Payne added six more as the Knights outscored Moreau 24-15 in the eight minutes, taking an eight-point lead into the fourth.
Moreau refused to go away quietly, especially Fields, who had nine of his team-high 17 points in the second half, but Las Lomas stayed cool under pressure down the stretch, even after Payne - who went 10-of-14 from the field - fouled out with over four minutes left in the game. Point guard Rob Prince drained four straight free throws, and finished the night with 15 points and 11 assists, a performance worthy of a player who Dietschy refers to as the "heart and soul" of the team. Holman finished with 19 points, while Robinson hit four shots from the charity stripe in the final quarter as well to finish with 16 points.
Aside from Fields' 17 points, Max Anderson finished with 15 for Moreau.
Las Lomas advances to face Bishop O'Dowd in the section title game, after the Dragons took down Alameda, 60-48.
St. Joe's routs Lick-Wilmerding
After Lick-Wilmerding's astonishing comeback against St. Patrick-St. Vincent in last year's Division IV semifinals, St. Joe's coach Don Lippi wasn't taking any chances. The Pilots kept their foot on the gas into the fourth quarter before emptying the bench, beating the Tigers 61-37.
Adam Campos had 13 of his team-high 17 points in the first half for St. Joe's, along with eight rebounds, as he dominated the paint. Julian Vaughns also scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half, as the Pilots outscored Lick 23-5 in the second quarter to lead 43-15 at the half.
Kobe Keiner added 10 points for St. Joe's, while Cameron Ba hauled down 16 rebounds to go with his six points and three steals.
St. Joe's now faces St. Patrick-St. Vincent for the title, after the Bruins beat Saint Mary's 70-65 in the other semifinal. The two teams played into overtime just before the end of the regular season.
Branson defense leads Bulls past Urban
It's no secret that Branson can play defense, so when the Bulls outscored Urban 23-6 in the second and third quarters, it was a by-product of that effort on the defensive end, en route to the 44-24 Division V semifinal victory.
Victor Rajkovic had a game-high 20 points for Branson, while Kwentyn Wiggins had six assists as the primary distributor.
Branson faces University for the championship, after the Red Devils posted a 63-48 win over Redwood Christian.
