MORENO VALLEY — An underdog story.
That’s how Laguna Hills boys basketball coach Sean Sargeant described his team’s run to a CIF Southern Section Division 6 semifinal appearance Friday night at Moreno Valley High School.
And the underdogs were down 45-43 after three quarters, but a 12-2 run covering 3 minutes and 44 second turned that two-point deficit to an eight-point lead and the Hawks were never seriously threatened down the stretch in a 62-51 win.
Laguna Hills, in their 48th season of boys basketball, advances to a section final in program history. The Hawks will play Ramona, a 60-57 winner over Placentia Valencia, on Feb. 27 or 28 at a time and site to be determined.
Myles Mittelsteadt led all scorers with 21 points for Laguna Hills, while Jackson Burnham and Fletcher Freeman added 20 and 13 points, respectively. In the loss, Moreno Valley was led by Kordell Mackey’s 12 points and Syree Matthews added another 10.
“For three quarters tonight we weren’t particularly sharp on the offensive end, but once the ball got moving we got high quality shots and capitalized on our looks,” Sargeant said. “Our guys are always going to be underdogs and they carry that mentality into every game. It’s forged them into the players that they are and given them the ability to withstand a well-coached team like Moreno Valley.”
Laguna Hills jumped out to an early 6-0 lead, but the Vikings scored four points over the final 62 seconds on a free-throw line jumper by Uri Dennis and a runner from Thomas Palm to pull even at 18.
Gabriel Serrato’s put-back gave Moreno Valley a 20-18 lead early in the second quarter. After a 6-0 run, fueled by a pair of steals and layups from Cyrus Yusuf and Jackson Burnham, Laguna Hills led 24-20 with 5:15 until intermission.
Mackey’s 3-pointer with 3:10 left and a layup from Zyetice Hayes tied the game at 28 and 32. But Laguna Hills took the 34-32 halftime lead off a pair of free throws from Freeman.
Matthews scored four of the last five pints in the third quarter, including finishing a put-back through contact, to give Moreno Valley a 45-43 lead with a quarter left.
“In that huddle between the third and fourth quarters, our coach told us that it was our time and to go and take it. That’s exactly what we did at the start of that fourth quarter,” Mittelsteadt said. “We’re so incredibly grateful to have earned the opportunity to play for a championship next week.”
Burnham and Freeman each hit 3-pointers as part of the 12-2 fourth quarter run and Mittelsteadt converted a 3-point play with 4:16 left to put the Hawks up 55-47. Moreno Valley never seriously threatened after that run.
“Those 3-pointers were just back-breakers for us tonight,” Vikings coach Elzie Landers said. “All the credit goes to our guys for allowing me to coach them hard and putting in the work to get this far. They’re fighters and we’ll get back to work next week and see what we can do in the state playoffs.”
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