Nate Harrison told Canyon’s bench early in Saturday’s CIF State Southern California second-round game that visiting Hanford was playing harder than the Comanches.
The Canyon boys basketball coach soon called timeout and delivered a challenge with the team down six points.
“He told us we needed to play harder,” junior Nick Anderson said. “He just said if we matched their intensity, then we should be able to handle ourselves.”
For Canyon (30-4), the intensity again started on defense. The Comanches responded quickly after the timeout and surged into Tuesday’s Division 2 semifinals with a 74-50 victory behind 19 points, six steals and four blocks from Anderson.
Canyon’s Chandler Dignam scored eight of his 13 points in the third while Kalem Rokosz added 11 points.
The Comanches, the CIF-SS Division 2AA champion, will play at former Open Division selection Compton, in its first regional semifinal appearance.
Hanford (27-6), the Division 2 champion from the Central Section, led, 11-5, with 2:54 left in the first quarter, but Canyon responded with a 24-3 run that stretched into the final two minutes of the first half.
Canyon’s man defense sparked the run. Rokosz took his first of two charges. Anderson made a steal for a layup. Anthony Ballestero made a steal in Hanford’s backcourt and fed Rokosz for a layup.
The Comanches led, 35-18, at halftime and then turned on the jets in the third. Anderson had five steaks and a block in the frame to help Canyon open a, 55-30, cushion going into the fourth.
“Our defense is our prize possession,” Anderson said. “If we’re a good defensive team, we’ll win most of our games. The offense will come. We’re always going to shoot (3-pointers) but those 3’s come out of transition and running our offense really well but those always come from stops.”
With its active defense feeding the Ballestero-led fastbreak, Canyon made 10 of 19 field goals in the second quarter and 9 for 12 in the third for 61 percent in the middle periods.
Ballestero made two 3-pointers during the stretch and finished with 10 assists.
“They picked up their defensive intensity and we start to settle for jump shots that didn’t go for us,” Hanford coach Brad Felder said. “They were much more physical than we were.”
Trent Reynolds scored 19 points to lead Hanford.
DAN ALBANO
In Division 3:
Santa Margarita 74, St. Francis of La Cañada 66: Devonte Klines and Joe Furstinger have been leaders for the Eagles all season. Those two played well Saturday, but it was another pair of Santa Margarita players who gravitated toward the spotlight late in the game.
Ray Shou and Scott Wieserski both made big plays in the fourth quarter to allow the Eagles to separate themselves from the Golden Knights and grab a victory in the second round of the CIF Southern California Division 3 Regionals.
“I don’t know if anything changed (in the fourth). I thought Scott Wieserski came in off the bench and played great for us,” Santa Margarita coach Jeff Reinert said. “He finished around the basket and did some good things, while some of the other guys couldn’t do it.”
Wieserski scored 10 of his 12 points in the final quarter to help the Eagles (25-8) turn a 57-all tie into an 11-point lead.
Ahead by two with five minutes to go, Shou hit a 3 to help spark the run.
Santa Margarita, which was led by Klines’ 22 points, will face Cathedral of Los Angeles in the regional semifinals Tuesday.
ANTONIO MORALES
