By Tim Peterson
(Pasadena) – It wasn’t easy but the road to the Finals never is. Pasadena did enough to hold off Rancho Verde 48-46 Friday night to advance to the CIF Division 1 Finals next weekend.
Omari Moore led the team with 14 points and 11 boards. Bryce Hamilton got into foul trouble and scored 11 while Darius Brown II hit the go ahead jumper in the fourth quarter and finished with 10 points. Darius Mason did a solid job inside against a tough Rancho Verde team pulling down 10 rebounds and tossing in eight points.
The Bulldogs, who were coming off a huge win over Damien Tuesday night, will now face another area power in Chino Hills in the Finals.
The title game between the Huskies and Bulldogs should be epic. I just saw Chino Hills overwhelm a very good LB Poly team, and they did it strictly on the merits of their size. Poly had nobody over 6’4″, whereas Chino Hills had two players in the stratosphere. Pasadena’s got enough size to deal with those kids, so this matchup will be special.