Broncos Pull 69-68 CIF Playoff Win Over Chino Hills

Perhaps it was fitting that the CIF Division 1A second-round boys basketball playoff game between the seventh-seeded Chino Hills Huskies and Vista Murrieta went down to the wire.

It ended in a thrilling 69-68 win for the visiting Broncos as both teams combined for seven three-pointers in the second half, culminating in a wild finish.

The game was a far cry from the one-sided affair produced when both teams met on Jan. 3, when the host Huskies (17-11, 6-4) dispatched of the Broncos (16-11, 6-4) 67-47 in a 20-point blowout non-league matchup.

Davin Guinn and Anthony White came up big for the 10th-seeded Broncos, each finishing with 17 points respectively to lead all scoring. Guinn, a 6-foot-5 senior forward, had scored 32 in a 65-57 overtime victory Friday night against Alta Loma. But it wasn’t an individual effort that carried the Broncos to victory Tuesday—it was an inspired come-from-behind team rally.

The Huskies jumped to an early lead as they went on an 11-2 run, thanks in part to sinking outside shots and creating offensive opportunities on transition. The Huskies led 18-5 with 4:05 to play in the first quarter before Vista Murrieta inched within 10 to close it to 22-12 with a three-pointer at the buzzer from White.

After taking the lead, the Broncos went into halftime with a slim 38-36 advantage.

“It was just a great effort. When they made five out of six threes in the first quarter, we kept nice and even mentally and were able to sustain that, we just gave a great effort tonight," said Bronocs Head Coach Andy Rucker. 

He said defensive adjustments and more precise outside shootout led to the Vista Murrieta comeback.

“We just talked about getting back, that's all we had talked about yesterday in practice,” Rucker said. “It just took a second to get back to that, getting back on defense, and also it came from us making shots too.”

Even though Chino Hills went down 56-48 to close out the third quarter, they rallied to within four with less than six minutes to play. The game was tied at 58 before the Broncos were able to put some distance between the two teams on another three-pointer by Guinn. (His eight points were the most by any Vista Murrieta player in the second half.)

After the smoke cleared in the final quarter, the Broncos were one-point victors. Rucker said he was not surprised the game turned into a frenzied shootout.

“They are that good, Chino Hills is just that good. We got lucky, we just got lucky. They are a great team and we just gave great effort tonight, we made some shots in the fourth quarter.

"Evan Roberts coming in knocking down a few shots, Anthony White knocking down some shots—that helped us win too. They hit five, six, seven, threes and we come back in the second and third and hit just as many threes.

"As good as they are, I thought we matched how good there were tonight."

Vista Murrieta will host Capistrano Valley in a quarterfinal playoff game at home at 7 p.m. Friday.

Box Scoring

Vista Murrieta

Guinn (17)

White (17)

Zorotovich (8)

Roberts (11)

Benson (6)

Stevens (5)

Roldan (5)

Chino Hills

Deion Page (11)

Cyprian (15)

Curry (15)

Navar (20)

Deandre Page (3)

Bishop Mency (4)