Three's the magic number: SD trio advance to Section 7 title games
At the start of Saturday in Arizona, four San Diego teams had a chance to advance to the championship games of their respective brackets at the Section 7 Team Camp.
More than 13 hours later, three teams have punched their ticket to play for titles in the Arizona Sports Commission, Mayo Clinic and Leo Foundation brackets.
Montgomery, which had impressive wins over Damien and Clovis West on Day 2 of the evaluation-period event, overcame a 13-point second quarter deficit to advance to to the Arizona Sports Commission bracket championship game against a familiar foe: Archbishop Mitty.
The Aztecs and Mitty squared off exactly a week ago in a championship game at the Boys California Live tournament, with Mitty taking the title 57-51.
In their semifinals game against Fresno power Clovis West, the Aztecs found themselves trailing 40-27 just before halftime. But the Open Division finalists responded by going on a 17-2 run to take a 44-42 lead, then got big contributions from two less-than-likely sources down the stretch: 2026 Xavier Guerrero, who scored 10 2nd half points, and David Soto, who had big rebounds and defensive stops to complement the Sanchez brother's standard excellence.
Carlsbad, meanwhile, cruised to the Mayo Clinic bracket title game with a 13-point win over Dublin, which followed a tighter win over ThunderRidge (CO) Saturday morning. The Lancers, which was led by its "Big 3" of Jael Martin, Jake Hall and Tony Duckett Jr. (pictured) will face another Colorado foe, Eaglecrest, which was a game shy of advancing to the Class 6A quarterfinals last year.
And Torrey Pines, which had already advanced to the semifinals by virtue of two Friday wins, beat Valley Christian (AZ) 61-47 to advance to the Leo Foundation bracket championship game against San Francisco University High. last season's North Coast Section Division 4 champions.
Earlier in the day, the Falcons advanced to the semifinals in suspenseful fashion, as senior forward Zach Jackson snagged an offensive rebound and scored a putback as time expired to lift the team over a feisty Democracy Prep team out of Las Vegas.
The fourth team, San Ysidro, also had a chance to make it to the title game in the City of Glendale bracket, but a late 9-0 run by their opponent, Deer Valley, cost them the championship game appearance and spoiled a 31-point effort by rising sophomore Ty Ingram with Kansas assistant coach Kurtis Townsend watching.
In other action:
St. Augustine will play for fifth place in the Financial Solutions bracket after splitting today's action, an early morning blowout loss to Ironwood (AZ), and a 51-50 thrilling win over Summit (OR).
Santa Fe Christian will face Crespi in a 3:30 game in the City of Glendale bracket with the hope of going 2-2 on the weekend.
Lincoln will look for its first win of the tournament when it faces Campbell Hall Sunday at 9:15 a.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME TIMES:
Montgomery: Arizona Sports Commission Bracket, 2:15 pm, Court 9 vs Archbishop Mitty
Carlsbad: Mayo Clinic Bracket, 9:15 am, Court 9 vs Eaglecrest (CO)
Torrey Pines: Leo Foundation Bracket, 9:15 am, Court 4 vs SF University
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