Championship Shocker: Spartans Upset Knights to Win Title

The La Cañada boys basketball team finished out the CIF-Southern Section Division 3AA playoffs just like it planned out from the first day of practice: with a title ring on its fingers.

Facing No. 1 Price, one of the top teams in the state and divisional champions just a year ago, the No. 3 Spartans pulled off a 50-47 shocker at the Anaheim Arena on Thursday night to capture the Div. 3AA title.

This marks the first championship for La Cañada since 1992 when the Spartans beat San Dimas for the Div. 3A crown. The win also marks the Spartans’ third consecutive last-second victory in the playoffs. La Cañada beat Bishop Montgomery in double overtime in the quarterfinals and then topped Palm Springs 61-60 in the semifinals.

“This team right here is cardiac,” Spartans coach Tom Hofman said. “Coming off of a big double overtime win, and cutting close against Palm Springs, I am extremely proud and happy for them. I told this team that if we build chemistry early, we will be a very tough team to beat. All season long they played hard and played together, and it got us where I had hoped in the end.”

Just four seasons ago, the Spartans were victims of a heartbreaking loss to Campbell Hall in overtime of another divisional final. In that game, they had a hefty lead going into halftime, but they had no answer Jrue Holiday, who finished with 22 points. Holiday went on to star at UCLA and currently plays for the Philadelphia 76ers.

It was a similar script against Price, a squad teeming with top-tier talent. But this time the Spartans (28-3) never game up the lead, even when there were high stakes with seconds left.

“When it came down to it, I told my guys to keep their head up,” said senior guard Mike McGlashan, who finished with 14 points. “Everybody makes mistakes. We were still ahead at that point in the final seconds, knowing the last couple of games we were in the same situation.”

Against two players heading to NCAA Division I schools in Norvel Pelle (St. John’s) and Askia Booker (Colorado), the Spartans knew that shutting them down would be the key to any win. And that’s exactly what they did.

Pelle and Booker shot a combined 2-for-13 for the game, with Pelle failing to make a field goal.

Conversely, La Cañada shot 44 percent as a team and went 6-for-18 from beyond the arc. Five of those 3s came in the first quarter alone, helping the Spartans jump out to a 21-9 lead after the period.

Price (22-7) had answers in the second quarter, using their full court defense to slow the Spartans. Price managed to close the gap and went into the locker room down 28-23 at halftime.

La Cañada regained the game’s momentum after halftime, going on an 11-4 run with senior forward Matt Faber and senior guard Dario CiVon leading the way. Faber finished the game with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while CiVon added 13 points.

Price’s Chase Murray, who scored a game-high 17 points, kept the Knights in the game, scoring the first five points of a 10-0 run in the final two minutes of the quarter. La Cañada led 39-35 after the third, but the Spartans seemed to be losing ground.

With the Spartans leading 45-37, they seemed to let their guard down. Murray’s 3-pointer cut the lead to five, then Skylar Spencer hit a layup to make it a one-possession game with three minutes left. After McGlashan went 1 of 2 from the line, Booker made his final basket with a layup in transition to tie the game with two minutes to go.

But against a surging Knights squad, the Spartans managed to maintain their cool. With just a few seconds on the shot clock, McGlashan found Sean Minte inside the key for a crucial layup to go back up 48-46 with just over a minute to play.

Down 48-47, Price had two chances to take the lead with less than 30 seconds left, but Booker and Spencer missed back-to-back baskets and CiVon came away with the rebound.

CiVon was fouled with 12.6 seconds to go, and after he sunk both free throws, the Spartans needed just one more stop to claim the title. Faber grabbed the board off a Booker missed 3, and he launched the ball across the court before celebrating with his teammates.

“I honestly didn’t believe that we had won until (the) seconds ticked off the clock after the final miss,” Faber said. “When I had gotten the rebound, I just wanted to find someone to milk the clock, and find the nearest guy on the court to enjoy this moment.”