Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now.
CULVER CITY — Grant’s Dilyn Martin, who was the team’s leading scorer at the time, went down with an ankle injury with two minutes left in the third quarter of the LA City Section Division I semifinal game against Granada Hills Charter.
The Lancers were concerned for their teammate, but not for their game. The depth they built this season helped them carry on to beat the Highlanders, 72-62, at Hamilton High School on Friday evening.
Grant will play the winner of Friday night’s matchup between Venice and Los Angeles CES.
“We’ve got 12 guys that can play for us at any moment and we’re just as comfortable playing them,” Grant coach Tarek Abdelsameia said. “We put the right players in at the right time.”
Grant returned just one starter from last year’s Division I championship team as well as six additional players who had logged significant minutes and embraced more responsibilities this season.
Four players scored in double digits for the Lancers, showing that depth. Dilyn Martin led with 18 points, followed by Anthony Minnoy with 15, then Dashaun Maron-Gains and Jaylen Jones with 14 apiece.
Joe Greene hits a three to give Granada Hills a 28-27 lead with five minutes to go in the first half. pic.twitter.com/3a8dxmWh4J
— Haley Sawyer (@haleymsawyer) February 18, 2023
“We learned lessons throughout the year,” Abdelsameia said. “We lost a lot of close games to a lot of really good teams, and that was just lack of experience. Games that we could’ve won, we just didn’t pull it out because we didn’t have the experience that we have now.”
Grant (20-10) scored 15 seconds into the game on a layup from Dilyn Martin, but Granada Hills (11-18) patiently worked its way towards the net for a lead.
Noah Ramirez made back-to-back layups and made a free throw to give the Highlanders a 9-5 lead with about four minutes left in the frame.
“You have to…
Read the full article here
