SAN BERNARDINO – Cajon overcame an injury to one of its top players to defeat Buena Park, 63-50, on Tuesday in the CIF-SS Division 2AA boys basketball playoffs at Cajon High.
Fourth-seeded Cajon (23-5) used a 13-0 run in the first half to take control of the game against the Coyotes (23-6).
“I don’t know if they outworked us, or if we just didn’t work that hard,” Buena Park coach Damian Farmer. “I thought it would be closer.”
When Cajon scored the first six points of the second half to take a 37-24 lead, the Coyotes never got closer than nine points the rest of the game.
Cajon was without junior Jeremiah Martin, who suffered a foot injury last week.
“He’s our top rebounder, and we knew each of us had to step up,” said Cajon junior Cameron Browne, who finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
Martin’s absence surprised Buena Park.
“That was the topic of discussion before the game, that he wasn’t playing,” Farmer said. “We had some things offensively and defensively we had ready for him that we didn’t use.”
But if Martin’s absence threw off the Coyotes, it didn’t happen at the start. Buena Park led 16-9 in the first quarter before Cajon got rolling.
“When they called timeout, I wish I knew what he told them,” Farmer said.
“I just said we needed to tighten up defensively,” Murray said.
The Cowboys listened. Cajon held Buena Park scoreless for more than four minutes. Buena Park scored just eight points each of the middle two quarters.
Sophomore Jarred Hyder made three 3-pointers in the first half to lead Cajon with 19 points, while junior Deshawn Washington added 18 points.
Buena Park had three players in double figures: Cameron Dashiell (15 points), Cedric Dashiell (14) and Gianni Michael (12).
“Our goal this year was to win league and get to the Honda Center (for finals),” Farmer said. “We lost in league in triple overtime and didn’t make finals. Next year our goals will be the same.”
