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Notre Dame loses battle with Roosevelt, falls in CIF SoCal regional Open Division final

  • Roosevelt’s Dominic Copenhagen, left, Issac Williamson, center rear, and Brayden...

    Roosevelt’s Dominic Copenhagen, left, Issac Williamson, center rear, and Brayden Burries, right, triple team Sherman Oaks Notre Dame’s Tyran Stokes during the second half in Eastvale on Tuesday, Mar. 11, 2025. Roosevelt defeated Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 79-76 in the CIF State Open Division boys basketball regional championship game and will play Saturday in Sacramento in the state final. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

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Roosevelt’s Dominic Copenhagen, left, Issac Williamson, center rear, and Brayden Burries, right, triple team Sherman Oaks Notre Dame’s Tyran Stokes during the second half in Eastvale on Tuesday, Mar. 11, 2025. Roosevelt defeated Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 79-76 in the CIF State Open Division boys basketball regional championship game and will play Saturday in Sacramento in the state final. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

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EASTVALE — The Roosevelt boys basketball team has absorbed punches from Southern California’s top heavyweights throughout this postseason.

The Mustangs have countered with the knockout blow each time.

Roosevelt trailed Notre Dame by one point entering the fourth quarter of Tuesday night’s CIF State Open Division SoCal Regional championship game. Brayden Burries scored 16 of his game-high 37 points in the final period — including a jaw-dropping 3-pointer that gave his team the lead with 1:05 left — to lead the Mustangs to a 79-76 victory.

The Mustangs advance to Saturday evening’s Open Division state championship game at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

“We have a no-quit attitude, that’s what it is,” Roosevelt coach Stephen Singleton said of his team’s ability to pull out tough victories during these playoffs. “Our guys have all the confidence in the world, that no matter whether we’re up or we’re down, that we’re just going to continue to fight until the very end. We have been in some very tough battles in the playoffs, the whole season for that matter… And we have been able to come out on top in most of them.”

Roosevelt’s 30th straight win at home came before another sold-out crowd that included Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors sitting courtside.

Roosevelt (34-2) takes on San Francisco’s Archbishop Riordan (29-1) — a 52-40 victor over Concord De La Salle in the Northern California title game — for the state’s top prize Saturday at 8 p.m. It is Roosevelt’s second trip to the state finals. The program claimed the Division I state championship in 2017.

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Tuesday’s game was a rematch of the CIF Southern Section’s Open Division championship game and the third time these teams have met this season. Roosevelt won the first two meetings and grabbed a 22-13 lead after the opening period, as Burries and Issac Williamson combined to score 18 points. Williamson knocked down two 3-pointers early in the second period, and Burries sank another from distance to help the Mustangs extend the lead to 12.

Like the previous meetings, Notre Dame was plagued by early turnovers (11 in the opening half), and Roosevelt converted those mistakes into 18 points.

Notre Dame (28-8) turned things around and began the second half with an 11-1 run to surge ahead 42-41, its first lead since 3-2 in the opening minute. Tyran Stokes, the consensus No. 1 player in the 2026 recruiting class, spearheaded the charge, scoring 12 of his team-high 23 points in the third period. The Knights made 8 of 11 shots during that quarter but more important, only turned the ball once. And that combination resulted in a 54-53 advantage.

“Since the last time we played them, we’ve been talking about the importance of taking care of the ball,” Knights coach Matt Sargeant said. “We weren’t able to do that in the first half tonight and it was costly. We cleaned things up in the third and began playing the kind of basketball that we’re capable of.”

And so the stage was set for an memorable finish. The fourth quarter featured five lead changes, as players on both teams knocked down tough shots.

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Myles Walker and Burries sank back-to-back 3-pointers to start the period, but Zachary White scored five straight to help Notre Dame draw level at 59. NaVorro Bowman drained a 3-pointer to give the Knights a 66-64 lead with 2:52 remaining. Burries answered with a 3-pointer 23 seconds later to put Roosevelt back on top. But Bowman was fouled on a 3-point try, and he knocked down two shots from the line to put Notre Dame back on top 68-67.

Roosevelt missed a shot at the other end, but Williamson stepped up on defense and forced a 5-second call (Notre Dame’s 18th turnover of the night).

Following a timeout, Burries made a jab step at the 3-point line. The lane was blocked, so Burries rose up and hit a 3-pointer with Lewis right in his face. Burries, a McDonald’s All-American Game selection, made 4 of 5 shots from the field in the fourth quarter, including a perfect 3 for 3 from 3-point range.

” I knew I had to step up,” Burries said of that finish. “My teammates got me the ball, and I made some good shots. I thank God for that, and that was it.”

Notre Dame had a opportunities to counter, but the Knights missed a pair of shots at the rim and also missed three free throws in the final two minutes.

“This was an elite high school basketball game with players on both teams playing insanely hard,” Sargeant said. “Big-time players made big-time plays, but they a sliver more than we did today. And when Brayden is making the tough shots he made at the end, we have to be able to make the easy ones.”

Burries and Walker combined to make 7 of 8 free throws in the final minute and help the Mustangs hold on.

Williamson finished with 21 points, while Walker nearly registered a triple-double with 10 points, 10 assists and eight steals (six of them in the first half).

Bowman scored 19 points for Notre Dame, and Lino Mark added 10 before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Stokes also had a game-high 13 rebounds.

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