A SECOND CHANCE

Roosevelt rolls past St. Joseph, earns rematch with Harvard-westlake

The Roosevelt High boys basketball team eyed a rematch with Harvard-westlake in the immediate moments after a heartbreaking loss to the Wolverines in the CIF Southern Section Open Division championship game.

Any fears the Mustangs might be looking too far down the road were laid to rest Saturday evening.

Brayden Burries had game highs with 29 points and eight rebounds, and Roosevelt delivered a master class on defense en route to a 58-41 victory over Santa Maria St. Joseph in a CIF State Open Division regional semifinal game.

Roosevelt (31-3) has earned that rematch against Harvardwestlake (31-3), and the Mustangs will have the opportunity to avenge the 54-47 loss to the Wolverines when they head to Studio City for the regional championship game Tuesday night.

The 41 points scored Saturday marked a season low for St. Joseph (31-4), which was last year’s CIF State Open Division runnerup. Roosevelt held the Knights to single-digit points during each of the first three periods of the game (9, 9 and 8).

“I think our guys came back in the gym and were locked in,” Roosevelt coach Stephen Singleton said. “Last Friday stung, but we focused on trying to correct all of the mistakes we made in that game. And it all started with locking in on defense.”

Roosevelt pulled out a 62-61 victory over St. Joseph when the teams met in a showcase event in January. The rematch was tight throughout the first half, but Burries scored 11 in the third quarter to extend Roosevelt’s lead to double digits.

Saturday’s game featured two of the best juniors in the nation: Burries and St. Joseph’s Tounde Yessoufou.

“I always feel like I’m the underdog and just want to prove myself against other big players, said Burries, who made 10 of 17 shots from the field Saturday night. “I wanted to come out and make a statement tonight.”

Yessoufou came into the game averaging 32.9 points and 10.3 rebounds. Saturday night, he finished with only 13 points

PHOTO BY MILKA SOKO Roosevelt’s Myles Walker, right, goes up for a shot against St. Joseph’s Julius Price in Saturday’s CIF State Open Division regional semifinal.