Granada Hills Charter boys basketball takes down Sun Valley Poly in rematch, grabs spot in regional final

SUN VALLEY — In a boys basketball game that involved some of the best guards in the LA City Section, Granada Hills defeated Sun Valley Poly 65-56 on Saturday night to advance in the CIF Southern California Regional Division IV playoffs.

Senior point guard Julius Washington led the way for Granada Hills with a 29-point performance. He made 79 percent of his shots.

“Last time we played Poly they relished in the moment. I think our guys relished in the moment tonight,” Granada Hills coach Jonathan Bent said. “It was a rare opportunity for our guys to come out here in an environment they had to love today, and we’re excited for the opportunity to continue to compete.”

With the win, Granada Hills avenged last week’s 66-53 loss to Poly in the L.A. City Section Division I semifinals.

Poly’s loss Saturday snapped a 17-game winning streak.

The Highlanders advance to the Division IV regional final Tuesday night. They will travel to take on No. 1 seed Fresno Christian, with the winner of that game advancing to the state championships in Sacramento on March 14-15.

“It feels great to get the win, everyone came out and played their hearts out,” Washington said. “Especially with them beating us last week, we knew we had to get it back.”

Poly’s two leading scorers, guards JD Wyatt and Quian Khawaja, combined for 46 of the team’s 56 points. Wyatt, son of Poly head coach Jon Wyatt, had 27 points and Khawaja had 19 points, with 14 of them coming in the first half.

“We’re not containing those guys, we’re just trying to make it hard for them,” Bent said about Wyatt and Khawaja. “We knew if we could turn them into volume players, that would be in our favor and also just trying to get them to defend.”

Kristapor Kedikian and Quion Williams also had solid contributions for Granada Hills. Kedikian had 14 points with six rebounds and Williams had 12 points.

Poly held a 16-15 lead at the end of an opening quarter where both Williams and Khawaja were hot. Williams had nine in the quarter and Khawaja had eight.

Granada Hills got others involved offensively in the second quarter, including Kedikian and Williams, as it took a 31-28 lead at halftime. Washington had 13 points in the first half.

Washington had eight points in the third quarter to help Granada Hills jump out to a 47-40 lead after three quarters.

Granada Hills had a very strong defensive performance with Izaiah Williams and Mateo Achoyan leading the way. Williams had three blocks and Achoyan had two blocks.

Washington had eight points in the final quarter to help the Highlanders secure the victory.

“He’s a big time player. Last time we played these guys he didn’t have the game he wanted,” Bent said of Washington. “He relished in the moment and he played great tonight.”

Poly was not able to get much going offensively in the second half, apart from Wyatt, who had 17 points in the half. Granada Hills did a good job of forcing pressure on whoever was handling the ball for Poly in the game and not letting Khawaja or Wyatt get too comfortable.

This season will be one to remember for the Sun Valley Poly basketball team and second-year head coach Joe Wyatt. The Parrots won the City Section Division I championship and also the East Valley League championship.