Canyon Has Surprise for Hart, 60-59

The matchup was as improbable as the outcome.

Two teams from the Foothill League meeting in a Southern Section Division I-A second-round playoff game: First-place Hart High against last-place Canyon.

But in the playoffs, league play means very little. Just ask the Canyon Cowboys, who played like champions Tuesday night.

Canyon bolted to a 19-point lead in the second quarter and outlasted the hot hand of Hart’s J.T. Stotts for a stunning 60-59 victory in front of a raucous capacity crowd at Canyon High.

Canyon (12-16), which won just two of 10 games in the competitive Foothill League and surprised many by getting a playoff berth, has proved itself worthy of postseason play.

“That’s the reason we wanted to win,” junior center Everett Bryson said. “We wanted to prove we could hang with most teams [in the playoffs].”

The Cowboys, who upset Loyola in the first round, had to hang on the final seconds, when Stotts made a valiant effort to pull the Indians even.

Hart (18-10), The Times’ No. 9-ranked team in the region, never had a lead and tied it only twice in the first quarter.

Stotts’ three-point shot got Hart to within 56-54 with 28 seconds left. Bryson responded with two free throws nine seconds later.

But Stotts, who scored 17 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter, wasn’t finished. He scored on a driving layup with 12 seconds left to pull Hart to within 58-56.

Canyon’s Jacyn Ezell was fouled intentionally on the inbounds pass and made two free throws.

With three seconds left, Stotts hit his seventh three-pointer.

Hart had no timeouts remaining so the Cowboys wisely let the clock run out without inbounding the ball. Time expired and Cowboys fans flooded the hardwood.

Cue music from the booming sound system: “We are the champions.”

“We’re a Cinderella team,” Coach Dave Humphreys said. “Nobody believed in us except ourselves.”

The Cowboys lost six of eight games in league play by less than 10 points.

“My kids have confidence in themselves,” Humphreys said. “We just had a tough time finishing games [in league play].”.

Canyon, which made 14 of 28 shots in the first half and led, 34-21, at halftime, used an 18-0 run to claim a 26-8 lead with 5:07 left in the second quarter.

Hart, which made eight of 30 shots in the first half, went without a point in the final 3:35 of the first quarter and the first 3:10 of the second.

Jimmy Cox scored 14 points for Canyon and Mike Reardon added 13.

Hart had little production from three starters. Jerry Owens had one point, while David Neill and Greg Pitzer were shut out.

Canyon will play Pacific in a quarterfinal game Friday.