The San Luis Obispo boys basketball team defeated Lemoore, 90-82, in the CIF Central Section Division 2 semifinals Wednesday night at SLO High.
San Luis Obispo senior guard Addason Wright scored a game-high 27 points on nine three-pointers to help guide the Tigers to the championship game.
SLO led Lemoore 42-33 at the half thanks to a 14-2 run which was capped off by Carson Leedom’s layup before the buzzer. Leedom chipped in 15 points for the Tigers.
Lemoore surged out of the locker room in the third quarter with a run of its own. The Tigers scored 14-straight points to take a 47-42 lead.
The two teams battled the rest of the third but it was three-straight triples by Wright which gave SLO the 67-63 advantage entering the fourth quarter.
Lemoore kept it close, but SLO buried the dagger with under a minute left as Connor Torell converted an and-one to make it 88-82.
After falling one game short of the CIF Southern Section title game last season, this was a huge victory for the Tigers.
“Our number one goal all along was to get back to the CIF finals, that was the one goal,” head coach Jeff Brandow said. “It wasn’t about a league championship, it wasn’t beating one school, it wasn’t about a certain number of wins. The sting of losing in the CIF semifinals hurt our guys and we wanted redemption.”
“It feels amazing,” senior guard Addason Wright added. “The team is super ecstatic because we’ve worked together to pump out this win. We’re ready to go to the CIF championship right now.”
San Luis Obispo will face top-seeded San Joaquin Memorial in the CIF Central Section Division 2 championship on Friday in Fresno, tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 P.M.
