Sunny Hills in Final

Fullerton Sunny Hills employed a smothering half-court defense and upset second-seeded Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley, 40-36, on Tuesday in a Southern Section Division II-AA boys’ basketball semifinal at Placentia Valencia.

The unseeded Lancers (18-13) held the Cougars to less than half of their scoring average and forced them to miss 38 of 51 shots.

Sunny Hills (18-13), which advances to its first section final since 1969, will meet fourth-seeded Villa Park (23-8), a 61-50 winner over top-seeded Riverside King, on Saturday at the Arrowhead Pond.

Sunny Hills and Capistrano Valley stayed within four points of each other until the Lancers scored five straight to take a 33-26 lead with 4 minutes 13 seconds left.

Capistrano Valley (26-4) came within two points three times in the closing minutes, but James Kim made seven of eight free throws down the stretch and the Cougars turned the ball over on three of their final four possessions.

Kim, who scored 12 of his 20 points in the final two minutes of a 57-48 victory over third-seeded Los Angeles Loyola on Friday, had 18 points to lead the Lancers.

Davis Baker led Capistrano Valley with 13 points, but only four came after the first quarter.

Dan Arritt

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Inglewood 66, Santa Ana Mater Dei 56 -- Jonathan Joshua had 33 points, including five three-point baskets, and Jaron Kinsey had 11 points for host Inglewood (23-10) in a Division II-A semifinal.

The Sentinels advance to play top-seeded Compton Dominguez (26-5), a 70-51 winner over Irvine Woodbridge, in the title game on Saturday at the Arrowhead Pond.

Marcel Jones had 20 points and freshman Taylor King had 16 points for second-seeded Mater Dei (24-5), which was 21 for 38 from the free-throw line. The Monarchs last failed to reach a section final in 1998.

Mission Viejo 48, Saugus 45 -- Jed Collins broke a 42-42 deadlock with three consecutive baskets in the fourth quarter to help the Diablos (25-5) advance to the Division I-A championship game with a semifinal victory at College of the Canyons.

Collins finished with 15 points, fouling out with a 1:55 left and also picked up a technical foul, allowing Saugus (22-8) to close to 48-45 on three free throws.

The Centurions were forced to foul in the final 34 seconds, and while Marcus Blackshaire missed free throws with three seconds and one second left, Saugus never capitalized.

Shant Bicakci scored 12 points for Saugus, all in the first half.

The Diablos will face Huntington Beach Marina (24-7), a 47-43 winner over Simi Valley, in the final on Saturday at the Arrowhead Pond.

Eric Sondheimer

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Newhall Hart 52, Ventura 42 -- Junior forward Ashlee Trebilcock scored 30 points as the second-seeded Indians avenged their only loss of the season and advanced to the Division I-A girls’ title game with a semifinal victory at Valencia.

Taylor Lilley added 15 points for Hart (27-1), which won its 24th consecutive game since a 57-53 loss to Ventura in the Buena tournament.

Hart will meet top-seeded San Clemente (25-4), a 66-50 winner over fourth-seeded Moreno Valley Canyon Springs, either Friday or Saturday at the Pyramid.

Tina Stetson had 14 points for third-seeded Valencia (26-2).

-- Steve Galluzzo