MidValleySports.Com

Mason Holle hit the game winner. (Photo by Anne Cypress)

(La Canada) – Crespi’s Matt Mounier’s desperation three-point attempt at the buzzer went wide-right to give La Canada a 43-42 win in the CIF State Playoffs on Thursday night at the sold-out Sports Palace on the Campus of La Canada.

During the postseason, La Canada’s faithful must wonder if its team comes with a warning label saying “May cause heart-stopping and breath-taking moments.” The average margin of victory in its six playoff games is 4.5 points.

For the third straight game, the Spartans managed to have its student body, fans and alumni on a nail-biting trip with the outcome decided on the last play of the game.

Mason Holle picked the right time to hit his only three-pointer with 2:01 remaining in the game as it became the deciding factor in an up-and-down game that could have gone either way.

La Canada appeared to be going into the half with the lead, but the Celts took advantage of bad turnovers to turn a six-point deficit into a two-point lead after Christian Johnson scored the final five points of the second quarter.

Mounier came out to start the second half with a three-point with 7:29 remaining. The Spartans defense toughened up to just allow one field goal the remainder of the quarter.

After the three-pointer, La Canada went on a 10-4 run to take the lead at the end of the quarter. Mike McGlashan and Matt Faber spearheaded the comeback scoring eight of the Spartans ten points. Faber’s rebound and score after missing two free-throw attempts gave La Canada the lead with 16 seconds remaining in the third at 33-32.

The “standing room” only crowd, some waiting for as long as four-hours prior to the game to get in were rewarded with a baseline move by Faber that resulted in a slam-dunk to extend the lead to three. The dunk sent the Spartans crowd into a frenzy that continued the remainder of the game.

After McGlashan hit a jumper to make the score 37-32, Mounier answered with a three-pointer to keep Crespi within striking distance.

Mike McGlashan helped the Spartans in the win. (Photo by Anne Cypress)

The Celts tied the score with 4:23 remaining when Kenny Stenhouse stole the pass and took the length of the floor for a lay-up. Stenhouse finished leading Crespi with 13 points on the night.

Dario CiVon came up big out of a time out for La Canada with his only three-pointer of the game with 3:56 remaining to put the Spartans up by three.

Stenhouse and Mounier refused to allow the Celts to fold down the stretch by answering La Canada with three points of its own. Mounier hit one of two from the line and Stenhouse scored on a backdoor pass to tie the game at 40.

McGlashan led the Spartans with 18 points and Faber finished with 13.

The Spartans will host the winner of Price-Inglewood on Saturday.

Division 5

St. Bernard 68 Flintridge Prep 54