Battling a back injury suffered in Saturday’s win against Thousand Oaks, junior guard Ian Fox scored a game-high 22 points for the second game in a row Tuesday to lead Redondo into the CIF Southern California Division 11 Regional championship game.
Redondo’s defense once again held its opponent to under 60 points in winning its 19th consecutive game with a 60-52 home victory over third-seeded Hoover of San Diego. The Sea Hawks prevented Hoover’s leading scorer, Damonte Holiday, from scoring before he fouled out late in the third quarter.
Second-seeded Redondo (26-8) will take on top-seeded J.W. North (31-3) Saturday at 12 p.m. at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario. The State Division 11 championship game will be held Saturday, March 23 at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento.
After Hoover went ahead 47-46 with 4:12 left in the game, Fox nailed a 3-pointer to put the Sea Hawks back in the lead and Redondo connected on six of six free throws in the final minute to preserve the victory.
Derek Biale scored 17 points, Darrien Touchstone recorded seven points, four steals and four assists and Sebastian Lindner added four points, 11 rebounds and two blocks.
Redondo reached the semifinals with a 63-56 overtime victory over visiting Thousand Oaks on Saturday. Fox scored 22 points despite the pain from landing on his back after a flagrant foul in the second quarter.
Although the Thousand Oak defense limited Biale to nine points, Sea Hawk forwards Touchstone and Chris Henderson stepped up.
Touchstone recorded 14 points, five rebounds and three steals and Henderson added 12 points, six rebounds and two steals to help Redondo advance.
Bay League runner-up Leuzinger earned the ninth seed in Division III but fell to top-seeded St. Augustine of San Diego 65-45 in the second round Saturday.
In Division IV, sixth-seeded Bishop Montgomery (32-1) defeated second-seeded Army/Navy Academy of Carlsbad 75-43 Tuesday and will face fifth-seeded Pacific Hills (27-4) in the CIF Southern California Regional finals Saturday at 4 p.m. at Colony High School in Ontario. Pacific Hills upset top-seeded Serra 53-50 in the semifinals.
