Basketball: Renaissance Academy Headed to CIF Championship

The Renaissance Academy boys basketball team is in the championship game of the CIF Southern Section Division 6 playoffs for the first time since 2007.

None of the players on the Renaissance Academy team have played in a CIF championship game, but some have been close.

Last year, Renaissance Academy lost to Pasadena Poly in the quarterfinals of the Division 5A playoffs. The year before that, the Wildcats lost to Sierra Canyon in the semifinals.

Renaissance Academy coach Sid Cooke, who coached in three consecutive CIF championship games from 2005-07, said his coaching staff is not taking it easy on the players as they prepare for Saturday morning’s championship game against California Lutheran.

“We’re pushing them,” Cooke said. “They’re glad to be there, but this group wants to win. This group, they’re really hungry to win.”

Renaissance Academy (23-6) beat Los Angeles Adventist, 69-44, in the semifinals of the Southern Section Division 6 playoffs on Saturday night. Cooke said L.A. Adventist forced his team into playing a disciplined defense and it is the same style of play he expects from California Lutheran.

“They really move the ball well,” Cooke said. “They seem to have good chemistry. Got to keep our guys home. We did that against L.A. Adventist.”

Ryan Smith, a 6-feet-8 forward, is averaging 14.2 points per game for California Lutheran (20-3). He leads the team with 12.4 rebounds per game. He scored a season-high 30 points and had 20 rebounds against La Sierra in early February. He grabbed a season-high 22 rebounds against Desert Chapel in the second round of the playoffs.

Junior guard Robert Reisenberg leads California Lutheran in scoring with 14.8 points per game and is shooting 46 percent (58-for-125) from 3-point territory.

Vince DeGuzman scored 24 points against L.A. Adventist. Teammate Jessy Cantinol added 18 and nine rebounds. But Cooke said it was his bench’s production that led to such a large margin of victory.

“Marquis Mosley, Kevin Dinges, Rick Hilaire, the really stepped up,” Cooke said. “I put in a small lineup and they went after it. We were up 13 points and it went to 21 all of a sudden.”

L.A. Adventist made an early surge and only trailed by three points after the first quarter, 21-18.

“They were very athletic, comparable to some of the teams we played early in the season,” Cooke said. “They were a lot like Whittier and Keppel, quick guards. They had some athletes. We needed that game and pulled away at the end.”

The last time Renaissance Academy was in a CIF championship game in 2007, the Wildcats lost to Corona del Mar, 67-59, in the Division 3A final.

Cooke guided Renaissance Academy to the Division 5A championship games in 2005 and 2006. Both times his team's lost to Price.

“We’re not taking nothing lightly,” Cooke said. “We played some tough teams early.”

Girls Soccer Playoffs

Hemet 4, La Canada 0: The La Canada girls soccer team lost in the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 6 playoffs on Friday.

Hemet, the champion of the Mountain Pass League, is the No. 1 seed in the Division 6 playoffs.

La Canada (14-3-4) finished in a second-place tie with San Marino in the Rio Hondo League standings. Both teams had 5-1-4 records in league.