Sierra Canyon drops to No. 5 seed after league semifinal tournament setback
By Jacob H. Pollon
The Sierra Canyon boys basketball team was given the No. 5 seed in the Open Division when playoff pairings were announced Sunday by the SS office.
The Trailblazers will open on the road at No. 4 St. John Bosco, travel to No. 1 Harvard-Westlake on Tuesday, Feb. 13 and host No. 8 seed Corona Centennial on Friday, Feb. 16
Last year, Sierra Canyon traveled to top-seeded Corona Centennial and nearly came away with a victory before falling 63-60 in a tight one.
Justin Pippen, Isaiah Elohim and Noah Williams are veteran leaders capable of propelling Sierra Canyon on a deep playoff run.
This year is wide open and any team can win it.
The other pool in the Open Division has Roosevelt, Mater Dei, St. Pius and JSerra.
The pool winners meet Feb. 23rd at Cal Baptist Univ. in Riverside for the championship before the state playoffs begin Feb. 27th.
Sierra Canyon is the only school in SS history to be include din every Open Division playoff bracket since it was created in 2014. That’s 11 consecutive years of excellence at its finest.
The Trailblazers advanced to the championship game in 2016 (lost to Chino Hills), were upset in 2017 at Galen Center and lost to Mater Dei in 2018 at Long Beach State before finally breaking through and winning back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2020. Corona Centennial won the first of its three consecutive championships with an upset victory against Sierra Canyon and Amari Bailey (Charlotte Hornets) in the Spring-Covid 2021 season.
Sierra Canyon lost a heartbreaker semifinal at home against Harvard-Westlake in 2022 and was 0-3 in last year’s pool-play before rallying to make it to the Div. 1 regional state final against Notre Dame.