Canyon boys basketball wins back-and-forth battle with Damien in CIF-SS playoffs ...Middle East

ANAHEIM — Canyon boys basketball coach Nate Harrison watched his Comanches get handled in the first half of their CIF-SS playoff game against Damien on Wednesday at Canyon High School.

Trailing by eight points at the half, the Comanches came out and changed the narrative in the third quarter, pulled ahead by double digits in the fourth and then withstood a late push by the Spartans.

Canyon came out on the right side of some key sequences in the final seconds to hang on for a 60-55 victory in the opening round of the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs.

The Comanches (21-9), who are ranked No. 7 in Orange County, will play at Santa Barbara in in a second-round contest on Friday.

The Dons defeated St. Anthony, 62-57, in their first-round matchup Wednesday.

Damien, the third-place team in the Baseline League, finishes the season 21-11.

Canyon senior Brandon Benjamin, the county’s leading scorer, led the Comanches with 23 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter, all while being double-teamed on nearly every possession.

“And Brandon’s carrying such a load, and for him to be able to do that, guard their best guy, get guarded the way he is and still take us here, it’s just incredible,” Harrison said. “He continues to make the right plays, give the right guys the ball. And when he scores 30, he’s scoring against three guys. Other great players are playing against the other team’s best player. Brandon’s playing against the other team’s three best players.”

In the first half, Benjamin passed off to open teammates whenever he was double-teamed, but the shots weren’t falling.

The Comanches also made weak passes that that led to turnovers.

Damien’s Jacob Allen, who led his team with 16 points, and Eli Garner, who finished with 15, helped the Spartans build a double-digit lead in the second quarter.

“We thought we were a little passive in the first (half),” Harrison said. “We played well, but we didn’t pressure the ball. We were taking punches the whole first half. In the second half, we wanted to give some punches.”

Canyon opened the third quarter with a 15-6 run to take a 38-36 lead.

About 90 seconds into the fourth quarter, Benjamin drove the baseline, scored, was fouled and hit the free throw to put Canyon ahead 48-42.

Pierce Haugen’s basket later in the quarter built the lead up to 12.

That’s when the Spartans, who were on the verge of being blown out, went on a run.

Garner scored five consecutive points, getting the Spartans to within five with two minutes.

Canyon led 56-55 with 21.7 seconds remaining when Noah Kim was at the free throw line for two shots.

Kim hit the first shot but missed the second.

Benjamin grabbed the offensive rebound on the missed shot, passed to Staf Yilmazturk, who was fouled and hit both free throws to put the Comanches ahead 59-55.

The Spartans missed a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession.

Benjamin pulled down the rebound, was fouled, and made one of two free throws with 7.9 second left to essentially put the game away.

Damien missed a 3-pointer with four seconds remaining, Kim grabbed the rebound and ran the final seconds off the clock.

Benjamin said the Spartans employed defenses that the Comanches hadn’t seen before, which made it difficult to run their offense.

“I don’t think we were ready as a team,” Benjamin said. “I just think now that we know what other teams are capable of doing and what they want to do, and different types of defenses, we’re going to be ready for anything that comes at us from now on.”

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