Sunny Hills Puts Together Streaks to Beat Cypress, 85-63

Sunny Hills High School’s basketball team came out running Tuesday night, took a break, then ran some more.

The result was an 85-63 victory over Cypress at Loara High School, that advanced the Lancers into the Southern Section 3-A boys’ quarterfinals.

Third-seeded Sunny Hills (22-3) will play Palos Verdes (19-7) Friday night.

The Lancers played a game of streaks Tuesday night. Their first lasted six minutes to start the game and their second covered the final four minutes of the second quarter and opening moments of the third.

After playing flawlessly in scoring the game’s first 14 points, Sunny Hills watched Cypress whittle away at the deficit. The Centurions (9-16) got as close as 27-25 with 5:19 left in the second quarter and had a chance to tie the score.

However, Bond Weaver’s shot was blocked by Brain McCloskey, who started a fast break that ended in a foul and two McCloskey free throws. Weaver’s shot appeared to be on its way down, but officials didn’t call goaltending.

“I think Brian got away with one there,” Sunny Hills Coach Steve White said.

Goaltending or not, McCloskey’s block, one of five for the 6-foot 7-inch senior, started Sunny Hills on another run. This time the Lancers ran away for good.

Sunny Hills outscored Cypress, 14-4, over the last four minutes of the second quarter to take a 40-31 halftime lead. The Lancers scored the first six points of the third quarter and the rout was on.

“We knew we could score on them anytime we wanted,” guard Jeff White said. “We just hit a slump in the second quarter. It’s something that happens to us about once a game. I don’t think we took a shot for four minutes during the second quarter.”

White finished with just six points, but played an important role on defense. White and senior guard David Chisum disrupted Cypress’ offense, as the Centurions shot 33% from the field.

White and Chisum each had four steals.

“That was just our normal pressure defense,” Steve White said. “We want the other team to extend their offense and force them to make long passes.”

Cypress’ offense appeared confused during the first six minutes of the game, as McCloskey dominated the first quarter--blocking shots on defense and scoring on offense.

McCloskey, who finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds, scored 8 of his team’s first 14 points. Twice he finished off fast breaks with dunks, the second time on a lob pass from Chisum, who finished with eight assists.

Cypress came back in the second quarter behind the play of Greg Bedford, who finished with 27 points, and Weaver, who scored 15.

But then Sunny Hills got its second wind.