CIF State Basketball Playoffs: Cantwell, La Mirada, Sonora boys teams score easy wins; St. Paul girls ousted

Cantwell's Jacob Davidson stays focused on the ball. The Cantwell-Sacred Heart Cardinals basketball team host the Franklin Panthers on Wednesday, March 11, 2015 at Cantwell High School. (Photo Correspondent by Shilah Montiel/ Whittier Daily News)

Cantwell’s Jacob Davidson stays focused on the ball. The Cantwell-Sacred Heart Cardinals basketball team host the Franklin Panthers on Wednesday, March 11, 2015 at Cantwell High School. (Photo Correspondent by Shilah Montiel/ Whittier Daily News)

CANTWELL 74, LA. FRANKLIN 39

MONTEBELLO >> Cantwell Sacred Heart of Mary High School knew it was playing with fire if it let visiting Franklin, of Los Angeles, hang around in its CIF State Southern California Regional opener Wednesday.
The Cardinals, instead, buried the Panthers early, blitzing them at the start en route to a 74-39 victory in a Division III first-round game.
Jacob Davison scored 11 points and Elias Zedan had nine as Cantwell improved to 16-13 and will host either Beverly Hills or Bernstein, of Hollywood, at Whittier High School in the regional quarterfinals on Saturday. James Yan and Darius Ates had 11 and 10 points, respectively, in mop-up time for the Cardinals, who are looking to get to the regional final for the second consecutive season.
Jesse Solano had 21 points for Franklin, which finished 13-17.
Cantwell made four 3-pointers and forced five turnovers in the first five minutes to open with a 17-0 run to pretty much seal it.


Cantwell coach George Zedan: “That was our goal. We were beaten up pretty badly the past two weeks. We felt it was our turn to pressure and really play loose and fast. We hit a bunch of threes at the start. Fortunately, we were able to create turnovers and kind of finish it off from there.”

Cantwell’s Jacob Davison: “We worked on our defense all week. It showed in the game. We got the win.”
— Stephen Ramirez
LA MIRADA 65, GARDENA 48
LA MIRADA — After a tough CIF-Southern Section semifinal loss last week, the La Mirada High School boys basketball team is off and running in the Southern California Regional Division II playoffs.
Not since the 2009 season when Derrick Williams, who is currently playing for the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, led the Conquistadores to a 27-win season, has the current team had a chance to set the school record for wins.
They will have that chance Saturday night when the Conquistadores play at Canyon High of Anaheim in the second round, after a convincing opening-round 65-48 win over visiting Gardena on Wednesday night.
Canyon, the second-seeded team in the division, defeated Kearny of San Diego, 98-65.
La Mirada (27-5), which is seeded seventh, was led by senior forward Kendall Lauderdale with a game-high 22 points, while two other Conquistadores were in double figures.
Senior forward Dezmon Murphy had 18 points and junior guard Anthony Newman had 14.
Gardena (21-10) was led by senior guard Christian Carating with 16 points. Senior wing Michael Thompson added nine points.
“I think we came out a little slow in the beginning,” Lauderdale said. “But as we started to come together and play as a unit, as a team, I think we just started to pick up the pace in the second half.
“Getting to the quarterfinals means that we have to come out and play hard, much harder than we did last year.”

— John Sherrard
OTHER SCORES
BOYS
DIVISION II

La Mirada 65, Gardena 48
DIVISION III
Sonora 101, Valhalla 76
GIRLS
DIVISION IV

View Park 55, St. Paul 40

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