CHATSWORTH >> The pace was fast. The dunks were spectacular. The atmosphere was electric.
For all the flash and flair of Friday night’s CIF Southern Section Open Division boys basketball playoff opener between Heritage Christian and Sierra Canyon, the final result came down to something so mundane, so basic.
So boring.
Good old-fashioned free throws.
Somehow Sierra Canyon dug deep and withstood a spirited Heritage Christian performance for a 99-93 victory, advancing to Tuesday’s quarterfinal against Damien at Simi Valley High.
“Survive and advance,” Marvin Bagley III said. “That’s all we had to do.”
PHOTO GALLERY: Images from the Heritage Christian-Sierra Canyon showdown
Sierra Canyon converted 11 of 17 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, including 8 of 12 in the final 1:35 after Zion Bozart drilled a 3-pointer from the corner for an unlikely 91-90 Heritage Christian lead. VIDEO: Highlights from riveting Heritage Christian-Sierra Canyon showdown
“We practice those,” Bagley said. “We’ve worked hard on those. And you can see us getting better and better from the line.”
All week long, Heritage Christian coach Paul Tait kept hammering the same theme.
“Can we shock the world,” Tait said. “The players believed all week. They believed they had a chance to win.
“I was proud of their effort. Win or lose, they were impressing people, and it was fun to be a part of tonight.”
Heritage Christian hosts Centennial Corona on Tuesday in an Open Division consolation game.
Heritage Christian (20-8) showed no fear against Sierra Canyon, particularly after taking on a back-breaking schedule against such teams as Bishop O’Dowd, St. Augustine and Birmingham.
“We loved the atmosphere and playing in big games. It was real from the beginning. Came out as hard as we could because we know we had to put up a fight the whole game.”
The pace was frenetic at the beginning. Forget a track meet, this was the 100-meter dash and neither team was slowing down.
Heritage Christian stayed within single-digits for most of the second half, then came charging back in the fourth quarter as Jonathan Daniels scored 28 points and Juhwan Harris-Dyson scored 27.
“We believed we were going to win this game. From the moment we stepped on the bus tonight, we believed,” Daniels said.
It took everything Sierra Canyon had to find a way to win, particularly when point guard Remy Martin fouled out with 4:06 left in the game.
Luckily for Sierra Canyon, Cody Riley delivered one of his top performances of the year with a season-high 34 points, and Bagley notched 28 points.
Both delivered spectacular dunks throughout the night, including back-to-back one-handed left-handed jams to close the third quarter.
“We had to pull it out. We had to find a way to win,” Riley said. “We have confidence in each other, and we have been in situations like this before. We knew what we had to do to win this game.”
Sierra Canyon coach Ty Nichols said he has targeted his team’s free-throw performance and has liked the progression.
Nichols said he sets up situational scenarios, putting time on the clock and putting teams in the double bonus to try and replicate late-game conditions.
“If we shot free throws like that against Nathan Hale, we would have had a much better shot winning that game,” Nichols said. “We always talk about free throws. And our free throws down the stretch were big.”
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