TORRANCE — There was a buzz in the building an hour before the Bishop Montgomery and Sierra Canyon boys basketball teams tipped off Tuesday’s second-round CIF Southern Section Open Division contest.
The Knights and Trailblazers, both winless after the Pool A opener, were already hungry to avoid another loss. The early, chippy play ignited an emotional atmosphere that only grew when Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, father of Sierra Canyon’s Bronny and Bryce James, took his seat on the baseline near the entrance midway through the first quarter.
By the end of the night, King James was left saluting Bishop Montgomery senior guard Christian Jones.
Jones made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 3.9 seconds left, pointing directly at the NBA’s all-time scoring leader after the shot, to lift the fourth-seeded Knights over the eighth-seeded Trailblazers, 51-49.
“I pointed directly at LeBron and he just shook his head up and down,” Jones said of the eye contact and sign of respect. “He couldn’t say nothing.”
Bishop Montgomery (26-3) will travel Friday to No. 1 seed Centennial with a spot in the CIF-SS Open Division championship game on the line. The Huskies defeated No. 5 seed Notre Dame 83-63 in the other Pool A contest Tuesday.
“Every possession was so critical,” Knights coach Doug Mitchell said of a final quarter that was tied 36-36 to start and knotted on five other occasions. “It’s just one of those games where you keep trying to figure out a way to make a play.”
The Knights were nearly on the other end of the thrilling finish.
Sierra Canyon senior Ashton Hardaway, who spent his first two years at Bishop Montgomery before briefly moving to Texas and returning, delivered his own big 3-pointer to put the Trailblazers up 49-48 with 11.5 seconds to play.
“He’s a great shooter and he hit shots,” Mitchell said of Hardaway, who finished with a team-high 13 points.
On the next trip down, the initial plan was to go to Knights’ star big man…
Read the full article here
