Spartans' Playoff Run Continues With Win Over Inglewood

The public address system blared Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” with eight minutes remaining in Saturday’s CIF State Division III Southern California Regional boys basketball game between La Cañada and Inglewood. Unnecessary advice for the home fans, whose faith in the team at this point is just about absolute.

La Cañada won its 11^th straight Saturday, including its seventh straight playoff game and its fifth-straight nail-biter, knocking off Inglewood 60-50 in the regional semifinals. Playing their final home game of the season, the players and the crowd fed off each other, making their final game together one to remember.

“This is unbelievable,” Spartans coach Tom Hofman told his players. “Nobody thought we would get this far. What a great win, and you guys worked so hard to get here.”

The Spartans advance to the regional championship March 19, where they’ll play La Verne Lutheran. The winner plays against the Northern California champion in the March 26 state championship game in Sacramento's Arco Arena.

The Spartans (30-3) never stopped believing, even when visiting Inglewood seemed to neutralize two of La Cañada's biggest advantages.

First, the Sentinels (25-8) brought a band loud enough to match the volume of the thousand-plus La Canada fans who filled the arena.

And second, the Sentinels brought senior Julius Bilbrew — who was clearly capable of matching La Cañada star Mike McGlashan basket for basket. In fact, the seemingly-unstoppable Bilbrew easily led all scorers with 17 first-half points.

Bilbrew scored 13 of his points during a 21-7 run that gave Inglewood a 28-21 second-quarter lead.

The deficit didn't phase McGlashan, however. The senior came out firing in the third quarter, quickly scoring six straight points to give La Cañada a third-quarter lead. But Bilbrew came back with eight third-quarter points of his own, and his team held a two-point lead at the end of the period.

“It’s not supposed to be like that,” McGlashan said, when asked if he developed an individual rivalry with the Inglewood star Bilbrew. “Whoever scores, scores. It’s about the end of the game, ball control, just getting good shots at the end.”

Individual rivalry or not, McGlashan made another flurry of scores in the fourth quarter. He scored six straight points, with one drive to the basket after another helping to turn a 47-45 deficit into a 51-47 La Cañada lead.

Then on the Spartans' next possession, the senior drove again, but this time flipped a pass out to sixth man Riley Moore on the left wing. Moore’s 3-pointer sent the crowd into a frenzy.

“Mike got the ball, drove and got the double-team, jump-stopped, and got me the ball,” Moore said. “I didn’t think about it; I just shot it.”

Moore had one of his best games, scoring 10 points, and playing to the big crowd like someone who’d played in front of them before.

“I like to energize the crowd; it makes me more excited,” Moore said. “Every shot, they’re going unbelievably crazy.”

Meanwhile, while McGlashan (who finished with 20 points) was hot on one end of the court, Bilbrew suddenly went cold on the other end. La Cañada closed with a 15-3 run for a 10-point victory.

“I was driving the lane more tonight,” McGlashan said. “In the last couple games before this I’d been staying outside more, but my coaches told me this time, if you can beat ‘em, go to the hole.”

But McGlashan noted that he couldn’t have played the hero without good outside shooting from his teammates. Not just Moore, but also Matt Faber (16 points) and Dario CiVon (14). Faber and CiVon combined for 19 first-half points to help the Spartans stay close early.

The game was a bounce-back effort offensively for CiVon, who had been held to three points against Crespi two days earlier. After that game, he’d said that he didn’t want to force his own offense when his teammates had hot hands. He also said that playing in front of a sold-out arena could be overwhelming.

On Saturday, he seemed to have adjusted to the crowd — and now he and his teammates get ready to play in a bigger arena — the USC's Galen Center seats 10,000.

“That’s going to be awesome,” CiVon said.

Meanwhile, alongside the excitement of CiVon and Moore and the quiet confidence of McGlashan, there was the relief of Faber.

“I’m drained emotionally right now,” he said. “Two close games in three days; they were really a good team. I’m glad we have a week (till our next game).”

Tipoff is at noon on Saturday.