EASTVALE — The walls were beginning to close in on the Roosevelt boys basketball team late Tuesday night.
The 13-point lead the Mustangs held when the fourth quarter started had been trimmed to a single point with 3 1/2 minutes remaining on the clock.
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Roosevelt coach Stephen Singleton called a couple of timeouts during St. John Bosco’s 14-2 run to help settle down his players.
“We were looking for some knockout blows early in the fourth, but they weren’t falling,” Singleton said. “We just needed to relax and find a way to finish.”
And the Mustangs did that. Brayden Burries finished with 33 points — including all 11 of his team’s points during the final period — and Roosevelt held on for a 58-51 victory before another standing-room-only crowd that included Oregon coach Dana Altman and USC coach Eric Musselman.
Roosevelt (31-2) finished CIF Southern Section Open Division pool play with a 4-0 record and advanced to the championship game for the second consecutive season. The Mustangs will face Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (26-6) on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Toyota Arena in Ontario.
It will be a chance for redemption, as Roosevelt dropped a 54-47 decision to Harvard-Westlake in last year’s Open Division title game.
“We felt we should have won last year, so this is our chance to prove ourselves,” senior guard Issac Williamson. “This is our moment.”
St. John Bosco (26-6) finished the evening with a 42-25 edge in the rebounding department, with 18 of the boards coming at the offensive end. The Braves could not take advantage of those extra opportunities, however, and scored only seven second-chance points during the game.
Roosevelt countered by forcing 17 turnovers, some of which came with its players swiping the ball away after a St. John Bosco rebound.
“We know it’s going to be tough because we’re not very big,” Singleton said. “But we know we can lock down on defense and get the job done there.”
Tuesday’s showdown was a rematch of the Classic at Damien’s Platinum Division championship game, which Roosevelt won 56-55 in overtime. The teams combined for only seven first-quarter points in that game, but Roosevelt grabbed an 18-14 advantage after a quarter Tuesday.
“We really needed that strong start tonight,” senior point guard Myles Walker said. “We started things on the right foot early and never looked back.”
Burries, Jackson Haggins and Dominic Copenhagen each sank a 3-pointer in the second period as the Mustangs led 32-26 at intermission.
St. John Bosco closed to within a point with 5 1/2 minutes remaining in the third quarter after back-to -back 3-pointers by Max Ellis and Elzie Harrington. Roosevelt had a big response, however, and closed the third period with a 13-1 run to extend its lead to 47-34.
“We had a great third quarter, but we knew that Bosco wasn’t just going to lay down or go back home without a fight,” Singleton said.
The Braves needed someone to pick things up on offense, and senior guard Chris Komin stepped up by scoring 12 points during that 14-2 run at the beginning of the fourth period. Komin’s four-point play trimmed Roosevelt’s lead to 49-48 with 3:35 remaining on the clock.
And that’s when Burries once again assumed the role of closer. The McDonald’s All-American did most of his damage Tuesday night by drawing fouls and getting to the free-throw line. Burries made 17 of 18 attempts from the stripe, including a 6-for-6 effort over the final minute.
“I felt I was settling at times in the third quarter,” said Burries, who also had eight rebounds and five steals. “I was letting them off the hook. I needed to get into the paint and get more free throws. The game was starting to get out of hand, so I felt I needed to take over.”
Roosevelt was clinging to a 54-51 lead and had trouble inbounding the ball with about 20 seconds remaining. St. John Bosco forced a turnover, but Komin’s 3-point attempt from the top of the arc drew iron. Burries grabbed the rebound and was fouled, and he sank a pair of free throws.
Singleton knows second chances and moments of redemption don’t always happen, but he believes his team has earn this opportunity.
“These guys were hurting at the end of last year’s game,” Singleton recalls. “The mission all year long was to get back to that point and rewrite history in some way. They have worked all year for this chance, and tonight was just another stepping stone on the journey.”
Komin led St. John Bosco with 19 points, 14 coming in the final quarter. Christian Collins added 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Braves.
Walker finished with seven points, five assists and two steals for Roosevelt. Copenhagen also scored seven points for the Mustangs.
