Leading by 15 points early in the second quarter, it appeared Montgomery High School was on its way to victory in the quarterfinals of the Southern California Open Division boys basketball playoffs.
The wheels fell off and the Aztecs were outscored by 39 points down the stretch and fell on the road to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 76-56 Wednesday night.
Notre Dame (27-7) travels to Santa Maria on Saturday to take on top-seeded St. Joseph, which had a first-round bye.
Montgomery (30-3) used an 8-0 run from the end of the first quarter into the start of the second to open a 15-point lead at 30-15.
Notre Dame countered with a full-court trapping defense and outscored the Aztecs 18-5 into the half and cut the deficit to two at 35-33 at the break.
Then it was all Notre Dame as the Knights outscored the Aztecs 61-21 over the final 19:30.
Devin Hamilto led Montgomery with 16 points while JJ Sanchez added 15. Sanchez was called for his third foul with 3:24 to play in the first half, but never left the floor.
Xair Mendez had 11 points for the Aztecs and Alek Sanchez had 10.
Tyran Stokes was a difference-maker for Notre Dame. The 6-foot-7 star had 13 points, 15 rebounds and clogged the lane defensively.
Zachary White had 17 for Notre Dame. NaVarro Bowman led all scorers with 20.
— JOHN MAFFEI
Girls Open Division
Sierra Canyon 71, Mission Hills 26: Mission Hills High School’s girls basketball team literally faced a tall task in its first-round Southern California Regional Open Division playoff game against Chatsworth Sierra Canyon on Wednesday. The host Trailblazers start three players 6-foot-1 or taller, led by 6-4 Emilia Krstevski.
Mission Hills starts no one taller than 5-9.
Size matters in basketball and the height discrepancy proved too much for the Grizzlies to overcome. Krstevski scored 28 points, 20 in the first half, to lead Sierra Canyon to a 45-point win.
It was the most lopsided loss of the season for Mission Hills. The previous most once-sided setback was 84-46 against Sierra Canyon in January. It was also the fewest points the Grizzlies scored this season. The previous low came in a 49-36 loss to St. Mary’s in the first game of the season.
The game was played with a running clock in the fourth quarter.
Barely a minute into the game, Mission Hills trailed 4-3. But by the end of the first quarter Sierra Canyon led 21-7 and by halftime the deficit was 40-15.
Few teams rely on the 3 more than the undersized Grizzlies. Coming into the game the visitors averaged 13.1 3s a game. On Wednesday night Mission Hills was just 4 of 30 from deep.
Junior Jerzy Robinson, the nation’s No. 1 2026 prospect who has signed an NIL deal with Nike, scored 13 for Sierra Canyon. The Trailblazers were 16 of 17 from the free-throw line.
Maleena Nova led Mission Hills with seven points. She was carried off the court midway through the fourth quarter with a leg injury.
Mission Hills, the CIF San Diego Section Open Division champion which returned no starters off last year’s Open title team, finishes 23-9. Sierra Canyon (28-2) advances to the SoCal semifinals where it faces the nation’s No. 1-ranked team, Ontario Christian, on Saturday.
— DON NORCROSS
