Notre Dame ends Sierra Canyon’s common season with thumping

He squared. He fired, from a distance that might make even Stephen Curry increase his eyebrows.

And when Caleb Foster’s three-pointer dropped, placing the capper on Sherman Oaks Notre Dame’s emphatic 88-61 blowout of Sierra Canyon on Wednesday evening, a teammate pretended to stay one thing in Foster’s ribs. The sentiment was clear.

Dagger.

Notre Dame earned a spot in Friday’s Mission League event championship sport towards Studio Metropolis Harvard-Westlake at Bishop Alemany.

Foster, a preseason switch from Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy, performs with seen delight. Hearth. In the course of the preseason, Notre Dame coach Matt Sargeant remembered the Knights have been having an intrasquad scrimmage when the coach pulled Foster. And the senior guard headed to Duke was incensed.

“That fire — ‘I can’t believe you subbed me out, I need to be in every drill’ — that’s who he is,” Sargeant mentioned.

And the gas for Foster was there, a head-to-head matchup with Bronny James and Sierra Canyon, James lastly cleared to play after 5 video games missed in a sit-out interval from a knee damage.

Each nice participant searches for an additional shred of motivation, Sargeant mentioned. Right here was Foster’s: James was named a McDonald’s All-American Jan. 24. Foster, who averages extra factors per sport and was broadly anticipated to make the ultimate roster, was left off the checklist.

“For Caleb, that’s a pretty direct one-to-one of, ‘I’m playing against a guy that got my spot, so I have to go out there and show everyone how good I am,’ ” Sargeant mentioned. “And he did that – and then some tonight.”

Foster completed with 20 factors on 4 threes, every extra emphatic than the final, as senior Gonzaga commit Dusty Stromer took the reins within the second half to complete with 21 factors. But it surely was Foster’s ultimate bucket – and a subsequent wave goodbye within the course of Sierra Canyon’s bench – that was the lasting picture of the evening.

It was a dagger, plain and easy. Dagger, in a number of methods – on the evening, on the Foster-versus-James matchup…and on, probably, Sierra Canyon’s Open Division possibilities?

In a latest spell of accidents with the Trailblazers that has seen James out and junior prime scorer Isaiah Elohim on crutches with a sprained ankle, they’ve gone 2-3 of their final 5 video games, with losses to sure-fire Open groups Harvard-Westlake and Notre Dame. Sierra Canyon has a slew of wins towards standout nationwide packages, however no victories over surefire Open Division groups, which is able to give the seeding committee some robust selections as playoff time rolls round. It’s doable, for the primary time in coach Andre Chevalier’s tenure, that Sierra Canyon falls to Division 1.

In James’ return, he got here out prepared from the tip, scoring seven of Sierra Canyon’s first 9 factors, slapping away a drive from Notre Dame’s Foster and screaming “Yessir!”

Earlier than lengthy, the evening changed into a showcase between James and Foster, two of the very best guards in Southern California. James completed with 19 factors, clapping his palms after each bucket within the first quarter, a uncommon show of sheer emotion from the usually stoic Sierra Canyon senior. However Foster received going within the second, faking and stepping again for a deep three over the Trailblazers’ Noah Williams that prompted a Trailblazer timeout and a puffed chest from Notre Dame’s level guard.

Stromer and Notre Dame guard Mercy Miller added second-half exclamation factors in a dominant win, Stromer burying three threes after the halftime buzzer and Miller dropping a poster dunk on the Trailblazers’ A.J. Swinton so thunderous that Swinton had no selection however to smile softly as if to say, “Damn.”

The Trailblazers merely had no secondary choices behind James with Elohim out and Ashton Hardaway enduring a tricky taking pictures evening after a 42-point sport the day before today. And with time ticking away on Elohim to return earlier than Open Division play begins, Sierra Canyon could also be caught between a rock and a tough place.

Harvard-Westlake superior to the event ultimate by rallying from a three-point deficit coming into the fourth quarter to a 56-48 victory. Brady Dunlap scored 18 factors. Jackson Mosley led St. Francis with 20 factors. Notre Dame misplaced to Harvard-Westlake in double time beyond regulation the final time the 2 groups performed. And Foster fouled out on the finish of regulation.