The Sunny Hills boys basketball team earned a spot in the CIF-SS playoffs with a 64-53 win over La Habra on Friday in a Freeway League tiebreaker game at Troy High.
The result will keep La Habra out of the playoffs.
Sunny Hills and La Habra entered the game tied for third place, with 5-5 league records, following La Habra’s 62-51 win over Sunny Hills on Thursday. The tiebreaker game determined which team would get the league’s third and final guaranteed playoff spot.
Because La Habra’s overall record is 11-16, the Highlanders don’t have the .500-or-better record required to be a candidate for an at-large berth.
Sunny Hills could have lost and still been an at-large candidate. The Lancers (17-12) will be in the Division 2A playoffs. The bracket will be released Sunday.
Sunny Hills senior guard Ryan Shaw scored a team-high 19 points. He also had eight rebounds.
Sunny Hills exploited its size advantage inside. Jacob Dibble, a 6-foot-5 senior forward scored 15 points. Dibble scored 11 points in the second quarter in which he was 5-for-5 from the field.
La Habra’s Devin Howlin, a 6-4 senior who is more of an outside player and was not matched up against Dibble, scored a game-high 23 points.
Sunny Hills led throughout the game. The Lancers took a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter. La Habra got as close as five points in the fourth quarter, but Sunny Hills made 10 free throws in the quarter to maintain a comfortable margin.
“We came out with a lot of energy,” Sunny Hills coach Joe Ok. “Last night (Thursday) we were a little flat, especially in the second half. Our guys realized this was going to be one of those games that would have a playoff atmosphere.”
In the Olympic League:
Whittier Christian 56, Valley Christian of Cerritos 48: Justin Osborn scored 17 points and Joshua Sorley added 12 for the host Heralds (17-10) in a third-place tiebreaker game. Whittier Christian earned a spot in the Division 3AA playoffs.
Contact the writer: sfryer@scng.com
