Canyon broke or tied 28 CIF-Southern Section records Saturday.
The Comanches’ 103-98 double-overtime win over Lawndale in the Division 2AA championship game at Honda Center set a bunch of marks for 2AA finals, which were first played in 1989.
Canyon senior Nick Anderson set 2AA records for most points in a game, 37; most in a half, 21 in the second half; and most in a quarter, 16, in the fourth quarter. The 16 points in a quarter broke a record held by Paul Pierce, who played at Inglewood and has had a long and productive NBA career.
Anderson set the 2AA record for most assists, too, with 11.
Canyon set the 2AA record for most points in a game, 103, and Canyon and Lawndale together set the record for most points in a CIF-SS boys basketball championship game. Canyon is the first team to break 100 points in the CIF-SS finals, which were first played in 1911.
The Comanches’ 10 3-pointers tied the 2AA record. Their 35 points in the fourth quarter set a 2AA single-quarter record, and their 53 second-half points set a 2AA record for most points in a half.
Canyon trailed by 28 points in the third quarter and 22 going into the fourth quarter.
If a record was kept for most spectators saying, “I don’t believe what just happened,” that record would have been broken, too.
Jump stops around Orange County basketball:
• Canyon has played six teams that are in the CIF Southern California Regionals. Five of the Comanches’ nine losses are to Regionals teams.
• This is the final week of the county media poll that creates the top 10. This voter’s ballot: 1. Mater Dei; 2. Orange Lutheran; 3. Sonora; 4. Foothill; 5. Canyon; 6. Tustin; 7. Los Alamitos; 8. Santa Margarita; 9. Edison; 10. Esperanza.
• The four Crestview League teams – Canyon, Esperanza, Foothill and Villa Park — were 14-2 in the CIF-SS playoffs. Canyon and Foothill both went 5-0 to win section championships, Esperanza went 3-1 and reached the 3A semifinals, and Villa Park went 1-1 with the loss to top-seeded Loyola by nine points.
• CIF-SS boys basketball champions: Bishop Montgomery, Open Division; Village Christian, Division 1AA; Foothill, 1A; Canyon, 2AA; Compton, 2A; Sonora, 3AA; Beverly Hills, 3A; Crespi 4AA; Maranatha, 4A; Windward, 5AA; St. Bernard, 5A; and Orangewood Academy, 6.
• Yours truly correctly predicted, in the predictions column on Feb. 18, nine of the 12 section champions.
• Admission prices for CIF Southern California Regionals games, up to the Regionals finals: $9 adults; and $5 for students with valid student identification, for seniors 65 and older; and for children 13 and younger.
• The statewide CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) is made up of 10 sections, including the Southern Section to which Orange County schools belong. For the basketball regionals, six sections are represented in the CIF Northern California Regionals (Central Coast, North Coast, Northern, Oakland, San Francisco and Sac-Joaquin sections) and four sections send teams to the CIF Southern California Regionals (Central, Los Angeles City, San Diego and Southern sections).
• The Southern Section, being the state’s largest with almost 600 schools, gets the most entries in the Regionals. There are eight Southern Section teams each in divisions 1-5. A committee selects the teams that go to the CIF State’s Open Division; the Southern Section can have up to four representatives in the state’s Open Division.
• The Regionals schedule for divisions 1-5: first round, Wednesday; second-round, Saturday; semifinals, March 17; finals at Long Beach State (Open Division and Divisions 1 and 2) and at Colony High of Ontario (Divisions 3-5), March 21.
• The Regionals schedule for the Open Division: first round, Friday; semifinals, March 17 (there is no Open Division second round); finals at the Pyramid, March 21.
• Regionals champions from the Southern and Northern California Regionals meet in the CIF State championships March 27 and 28 at Cal’s Haas Pavilion..
• The home team in the Regionals is the higher-seeded team, no matter what happened in previous rounds.
• Tesoro coach Steve Garrett, having done the math, was confident the Titans, although they lost in the 2AA semifinals, would be selected to the Division 2 Regionals, which they were. The Titans are seeded No. 16 in the 16-team field and play at top-seeded La Costa Canyon on Wednesday. Tesoro is the only county team that lost in the CIF-SS semifinals that is in the state tournament.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
