HUNTINGTON BEACH — The Sage Hill boys basketball team battled and clawed its way into the CIF-SS Division 3AA final by coming out on top in close games throughout the playoffs.
But in the Division 3AA championship Saturday against Knight, the Lightning couldn’t match the Hawks’ outside shooting efficiency and committed costly turnovers.
In a contest that was close through halftime, the Hawks pulled away in the third quarter and cruised on a to a 64-43 victory in the Division 3AA final at Edison High School.
The division title is the first for Knight (26-5). The school opened in 2003 with Tom Hegre as the coach the entire time.
Sage Hill (18-10) was making its second trip to a CIF-SS final in the past three seasons.
“I think for us, we didn’t do what we were supposed to do,” Sage Hill coach D’Cean Bryant said. “Earlier on, when we were locked in and we were staying level with the ball, we were fine. I think when we started looking at the ball too much, they kind of drove the gaps. Instead of just being in the gap and making sure that they drive it right there.”
Knight took advantage of Sage Hills’ missed shots, scoring 18 points on fast breaks.
The Lightning also committed 17 turnovers and the Hawks made them pay, converting those turnovers into 27 points.
Long range shots weren’t falling for the Hawks early on, but as the contest progressed, the shots from behind the arc began falling.
Knight hit eight 3-pointers, including four from Amar Larane, who led all players with 26 points.
James Karahalios led the Lightning with 16 points and teammate Jackson Cryst, who also stars for the Sage Hill volleyball team, finished with nine.
Cryst was one of the players Knight was focused on containing, Hegre said.
“The guy’s an incredible athlete,” Hegre said. “We knew he was going to get his. I think we did a better job in the second half. We just started switching. What’s the difference if we have 6-1 or 5-11 on him?”
Bryant said the game plan in preparing for Knight was to keep things simple and not trying to do much different than what got them to the finals.
“And we just kept telling them, deal with the day,” the coach said. “Deal with Monday. Deal with Tuesday. Don’t worry about Saturday. We know we wanted to get back to our fundamentals but hats off to (the Hawks).”
The Hawks and Lightning both advance to the CIF Southern California Regional playoffs that begin Tuesday.
“Right now, we’ll go home, look at film and see where we went wrong,” Bryant said, “and then we’ll come back on Monday and practice and see what it looks like. And then Tuesday, we don’t know who we play yet. Once we get there, we get there. We’ve got to deal with tonight first.”