CHATSWORTH — The Sierra Canyon boys basketball team had a night that could be summed up by a pair of dunks late in the game from its duo of McDonald’s All-Americans.

Senior forward Maxi Adams collected a loose ball underneath the basket and finished with a double-clutch dunk. Seconds later, Santa Margarita turned the ball over and the ball made its way to senior guard Brandon McCoy. He delivered a windmill dunk that put an exclamation point on the evening for the Trailblazers.

McCoy finished with a team-high 23 points as Sierra Canyon defeated Santa Margarita 72-60 to advance to the CIF Southern California Open Division Regional final.

The Trailblazers will be home to face Harvard-Westlake for the regional title Tuesday, with a chance to move to the state championships in Sacramento.

“It’s exciting, like we work so hard to get in this opportunity,” McCoy said. “So to be able to show out and put on my best performance, it means a lot.”

As the second ticked down at the end of the third quarter, Santa Margarita senior guard Kaiden Bailey, who finished with 11 points, was trying to score as he went against McCoy.

Bailey couldn’t shake McCoy and chucked up a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded. He missed.

McCoy went to the Sierra Canyon bench, fired up, making it clear to everyone that Bailey couldn’t score on him.

It’s that type of energy he brings into every game.

“Just trust my work,” McCoy said of playing intense defense. “Like being out there, trying to hit a flow state where, like, you just play and don’t think too hard and just do well. So that’s what I’m trying to reach every game, every moment.”

The Trailblazers went into halftime up 43-28 despite some struggles in the first quarter.

Santa Margarita senior forward Drew Anderson had eight points in the first period and finished with a team-high 20 points.

Anderson went down in the third quarter with an apparent right knee injury and didn’t return.

“They were able to get a lot of easy buckets,” Sierra Canyon head coach Andre Chevalier said of the Eagles’ play in the first period. “We were able to lock in and figure things out and be able to get the win.”

It didn’t hurt Sierra Canyon, but the team overall shot 14 of 27 from the free-throw line. It’s a stat that doesn’t happen too often for the Trailblazers.

The team knows it certainly can’t happen against Harvard-Westlake again on Tuesday.

Sierra Canyon is 2-0 over the Wolverines this season, but that doesn’t matter to the Trailblazers.

“Great team, got a great coach, and we’re just gonna prepare,” McCoy said of Harvard-Westlake. “You know how it is, playing multiple teams multiple times. So we’re gonna forget about that, act like we never played them before. Trust our scout and work hard and get the win.”

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