POMONA -- Diamond Ranch High boys basketball junior guard Devin Turner said he was a little nervous before his team's big game against La Puente. He knew a trip to the CIF-Southern Section Division 5AA championship game was at stake. But he quickly shook off those jitters and locked in to score 23 points to help lead his team to a 74-65 win in the semifinals on Friday night.
Diamond Ranch (19-13) will now play Kaiser next weekend for the championship. Kaiser defeated Sierra Vista 48-43 in the other semifinal.
This will be Diamond Ranch's first CIF-SS championship game appearance since winning Division 3A in 2016.
Turner said he's excited to play for a CIF championship for the first time. He was asked how he fought off his nervousness so early.
"I don't know," he said. "I normally just breathe and do what I do. It's a flow state I guess. I get locked in."
Turner displayed no visible signs of worry to start the game. He scored eight points in the opening quarter, nailing two 3s in the process.
"As soon as we went and got on offense I was like 'All right, I can do this,'" said Turner.
"Unbelievable," said Diamond Ranch coach Kevin Ryan about Turner's play. "Good. He's a stud."
Turner wasn't the only Panther to step up. Senior forward Michael Salazar had a double-double, scoring 20 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Junior forward Jaiden Pulian also had a double-double. He scored 15 points and hauled in 10 rebounds.
"Everybody stepped up," Ryan said. "It was great. (Salazar) and (Turner) are the backbones of the team so they're always there every night but everyone stepped up. It was wonderful."
Diamond Ranch led 20-10 after the first quarter and 37-25 at halftime.
Turner picked it up in the third quarter for Diamond Ranch. He scored eight points in the period as he helped push his team out to a 50-26 lead. The Warriors were held to just one point in the quarter's first 4:26.
La Puente (17-12) though didn't give up. The Warriors finally hit their first field goal of the quarter with 3:34 left and closed the period on a 17-2 run to cut the Diamond Ranch lead to 52-43 going into the fourth quarter.
The Warriors were led during that run by senior forward Luis Hernandez. He scored 11 of his game-high 30 points in the third quarter. 10 of those points came during that 17-2 surge.
Hernandez may have scored even more points in the game but sat out much of the first half due to foul trouble, He picked up two fouls in the first quarter.
"It was huge," said La Puente coach Jason Aceves about the effect of having Hernandez on the bench. "I wanted him all for the second half so we made a decision as a coaching staff to keep him out so he wouldn't have to come out in the second half with any foul trouble."
That strategy worked because Hernandez didn't foul out. He committed four fouls but two of those came late in the fourth with Diamond Ranch back in firm control of the game.
Hernandez did his best in the fourth quarter to keep his team alive. He scored 14 points and hit four 3s in the period but the Panthers regrouped and collected themselves after the end of the third quarter.
Ryan said he told his team the game isn't that hard.
"If the trap comes -- understand where the trap is coming from," he said. "We got to flash to the area that's open and step through and make a pass then turn and look up the court at that point. If we get a layup that's great. But if not, let's run the clock."
Diamond Ranch committed four turnovers during La Puente's 17-2 run but settled down in the fourth quarter. Salazar hit a 23-foot 3 early in the quarter to put the Panthers up 12 at 57-45.
La Puente's Ivan Lopez hit a layup with 1:10 remaining in the game to cut the Diamond Ranch lead to 68-59. But Turner hit a 3 on the next possession for the Panthers with 58 seconds left to put Diamond Ranch up 71-59.
Turner said he realized his team was going to the championship with about 30 seconds left in the game with his team up 73-62.
"We all did good," Turner said about his teammates. "Our energy was high. We were out there for each other just trying to stay positive as much as we can."
La Puente fought to the end. Aside from Hernandez, fellow senior Santos Gonzales played well. He scored 21 points. 11 of those came in the second quarter as he did all he could to keep the Warriors within striking distance of Diamond Ranch with Hernandez on the bench with two fouls.
Senior guard Vicente Rovira added eight points for the Warriors.
La Puente's season is not over. The Warriors qualified for CIF State playoffs which begin early next month.
"I told them to keep their heads up," Aceves said about his team. "This wasn't our last game. We got to go back to the drawing board tomorrow and throw the ball up and go again."