DIVISION I-AA BOYS’ SEMIFINALS : Third-Seeded Santa Ana Valley’s Rally Comes Up Short of Time, Victory

La Crescenta Crescenta Valley guard Richard O’Neill was near tears after leading his team to a 69-67 upset of third-seeded Santa Ana Valley on Saturday in a Southern Section Division I-AA boys’ basketball semifinal game at Glendale High.

An overflow crowd jammed the gymnasium and watched Olujimi Mann put on a clinic. He finished with 30 points, including eight three-pointers, six assists, four steals and two blocked shots for Santa Ana Valley.

But O’Neill, who had 27 points, and Crescenta Valley (19-9) survived a furious Santa Ana Valley comeback and had enough of a cushion to weather Mann’s 35-foot three-pointer at the buzzer. Crescenta Valley will play Long Beach Poly in the finals Saturday at Anaheim Arena.

For Crescenta Valley (19-9), it was the second consecutive upset after ousting top-seeded Fontana on Tuesday.

“We wanted this so bad,” O’Neill said. “This is the greatest feeling I’ve ever had. We played great . . . this is our dream season.”

Six-foot-four forward Brock Jacobsen had 20 points and 11 rebounds, and 6-9 center Blake Jacobson had 18 points and 13 rebounds for Crescenta Valley, which used strong inside play to neutralize Santa Ana Valley’s fast break and pressure defense.

Crescenta Valley out-rebounded Santa Ana Valley, 43-19, shot 52% (26-50) from the field, and made 15 of 16 free throws.

Defensively, Crescenta Valley held Santa Ana Valley to two-of-12 shooting in the first quarter to take an 18-8 lead. Crescenta Valley also held Santa Ana Valley scoreless for the first three minutes of the third quarter.

Still, Santa Ana Valley had its chances in the closing minutes.

Tyson Henderson made a three-pointer with 2 minutes 3 seconds remaining to close the gap to three points.

But Santa Ana Valley missed its next five shots and Mann took none of them.

O’Neill made both ends of a one-and-one and Jacobsen scored on a layup to push the lead to 69-62 before Darnell Adamson, who had 16 points and six rebounds, scored on a rebound to make it 69-64 with nine seconds remaining.

Mann stole the ball off the press and made his three-pointer, but Santa Ana Valley’s rally ran out of time.

“Hey, even though you’re down 14 points in the fourth quarter, this is the (Southern Section) semifinals,” Santa Ana Valley Coach Rich Prospero said. “This is no time to quit.

“We made 186 three-pointers this season coming into this game and everyone was contributing. But tonight, we were a one-man team, literally.”