division

Alex Killorn broke a tie off a scramble at 9:09 of the second period, Lukas Dostal stopped 29 shots and the Ducks beat the Utah Mammoth 4-1 on Friday night to pad their Pacific Division lead.

After the puck was cleared off the goal line behind goalie Vitek Vanecek, the Ducks’ Beckett Sennecke ended up with it on the left side and slipped a pass to Killorn for a shot before Vanecek was set. Killorn also had two assists.

Ryan Poehling, Cutter Gauthier and Mikael Granlund also scored to help the Ducks — playing without suspended defenseman Radko Gudas — rebound from a 3-2 overtime loss to Philadelphia on Wednesday night at home. They moved three points ahead of Edmonton in the division.

Gudas served the fourth game of a five-game suspension for kneeing Auston Matthews in a loss at Toronto on March 12. Matthews tore the medial collateral ligament in his left knee and will miss the rest of the season.

Poehling tied it with 6:23 left in the first, beating Vanecek with a nifty move on a shorthanded break. Poehling took a pass from Killorn, sped down the left side, cut right and shot against the grain to the left.

The Ducks (38-27-4) put it away with two empty-net goals, with Gauthier scoring his 36th goal on the first.

Dylan Guenther scored his 34th goal of the season for Utah — at 1:48 of the first of the Mammoth’s second shot on goal.

Utah remained six points ahead of the Kings for the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

The Mammoth (36-28-6) opened a four-game homestand. They had won two straight on the road, beating Dallas 6-3 on Monday night to snap a four-game losing streak and topping Vegas 4-0 Thursday night.

Up next for the Ducks: vs. Buffalo at Honda Center on Sunday.

A look at The Times’ top 25 high school baseball rankings for the Southland after the fourth week of the season:

Rk. School (Rec.); Comment; ranking last week

1. ST. JOHN BOSCO (4-0): Trinity League play begins vs. JSerra; 1

2. CORONA (4-0): Danny De La Torre is six for seven hitting; 2

3. ORANGE LUTHERAN (2-1): Faces Damien this week before trip to North Carolina; 3

4. SHERMAN OAKS NOTRE DAME (7-0): Dru Wilson is nine for 19 hitting; 4

5. HARVARD-WESTLAKE (7-1): Freshman Louis Lappe gets his first home run in high school; 5

6. NORCO (5-1): No runs allowed in 18 2/3 innings for Landon Hovermale; 7

7. GAHR (3-3): The pitching has been outstanding; 6

8. HUNTINGTON BEACH (4-2-1): Oilers get three-game sweep of rival Edison; 9

9. SIERRA CANYON (6-3): Armando Solorio emerging as ace; 8

10. ROYAL (7-1): Dustin Dunwoody eight strikeouts in six scoreless innings vs. Moorpark; 10

11. AQUINAS (3-0): Showdown with Arrowhead Christian this week; 13

12. SANTA MARGARITA (7-1): Brody Schumaker has four hits, seven RBIs vs. Los Osos; 16

13. MATER DEI (4-2): Three-game series with Santa Margarita; 11

14. EL DORADO (6-3): Pitching continues to be strong; 12

15. OAKS CHRISTIAN (7-2): Sophomore Dane Disney leads team with 11 hits; 14

16. SOUTH HILLS (7-1): Carson Baker continues to hit, pitch with the best; 15

17. CYPRESS (6-3): Bats came alive in two-game sweep of JSerra; 18

18. LA MIRADA (5-2): Faces Etiwanda on Wednesday; 19

19. AYALA (6-1): Ivan Ruddell is 10 for 16 hitting; 21

20. CORONA CENTENNIAL (5-3): Showdown with Norco this week; 20

21. THOUSAND OAKS (10-0): Is Jack Wilson back playing for the Lancers?; NR

22. NEWPORT HARBOR (7-1): Rivalry games against Corona del Mar this week; 22

23. VILLA PARK (7-2-1): Jack McGuire off to good start on mound; 23

24. SOUTH TORRANCE (8-0): Eleven hits, 10 RBIs for Owen Rhodes; 24

25. ALISO NIGUEL (7-0-1): Eleven hits for Carson Etnire; NR

SACRAMENTO — With more than 100 fans supporting from the bleachers, Garfield High’s boys’ soccer put on a strong performance at the inaugural CIF state Division V championship game Saturday morning before losing to Ross Branson 2-0 at Natomas High.

Two communication errors on defense proved costly for the Bulldogs, who took a bus from East Los Angeles on Friday, stayed overnight and were set to return after the match.

Coach Pablo Serrano praised his team. “I felt we played outstanding,” he said.

Goalkeeper Javier Zarate turned in another impressive performance. “He can only do so much,” Serrano said.

Zarate, without prodding, went up to CIF executive director Ron Nocetti and thanked him for what will become an annual state soccer championship event.

On Friday, Irvine University won the Division IV boys’ title with a 3-2 win over Del Mar.

Cole Barkett, Jake Raboid and Brendan Leung scored goals.

SACRAMENTO — Heartbreaking loss.

That’s the only way to describe what San Juan Hills players, coaches and fans were feeling on Saturday at Golden 1 Center when Alex Osterloh made two of three free throws with 0.3 seconds left to give Atherton Sacred Heart Prep a 47-45 victory in the Division IV state boys’ basketball championship game.

Osterloh was fouled at the top of the key by Kellen Owens with the scored tied.

“I’m pretty sure I was fouled,” Osterloh said.

San Juan Hills had earlier lost the ball on a turnover, its 19th of the game, surrendering its chance to take the lead.

“It was a tough ending,” San Juan Hills coach Jason Efstathiou said. “We turned over the ball too much. Nineteen is insane. Ultimately we didn’t do a good enough job handling pressure.”

San Juan Hills (22-14) came back from a 12-point deficit in the second quarter to take a four-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Garrett Brehmer finished with 17 points while Rocco Jensen had 10 points and eight rebounds for San Juan Hills. Osterloh scored 15 points and Pat Bala had 13.

“There’s a little distaste,” Efstathiou said, “but at the same time we got to be here.”

SACRAMENTO — If anyone knows how to help shooters feel comfortable when things aren’t going well, it’s Damien coach Mike LeDuc, who produced two of the Southern Section’s best scorers in Tracy Murray and Casey Jacobsen during his Glendora days.

So when Zaire Rasshan was only two of nine from three-point range at halftime on Friday night in the state Division I championship game, the message and mentality was keep shooting.

“I told him to start making them,” LeDuc said.

“I knew they were going to fall,” Rasshan.

He made a three to start the third quarter, launching a 10-0 surge that Folsom never recovered from. Damien came away with a 58-55 victory at Golden 1 Center, becoming the fifth straight team from the Southern Section Open Division to drop down to Division I and come away as state champion.

Rasshan finished with 18 points, including five threes. His three with 1:05 left moved Damien to an eight-point lead. Elijah Smith had 18 points and four assists. Eli Garner scored 15 points and had 13 rebounds. The only other player to score for Damien was Cameron Murray with seven points. He’s the nephew of Tracy Murray.

Throughout the fourth quarter, the Spartans (32-7) kept finding open players with near-perfect execution on offense.

“Their level of execution was on another level from anyone we’ve played,” Folsom coach Mike Wall said.

Joven Dulay and Parks Weaver each scored 16 points for Folsom, which fell behind 57-47 with 39 seconds left after two Smith free throws. Damien outrebounded Folsom 32-21 and had an 11-2 edge in offensive rebounds and took 30 threes to Folsom’s 18.

LeDuc, who has been coaching since 1979-80, said of the Spartans, “I really do believe this team, more than any other team I’ve coached, has been overachieving.”

The Spartans lacked height this season but got all five players on the court to rebound as a group, helping overcome any disadvantages. And Smith, as the point guard, rose up in the postseason.

“This run we’ve had, this guy has been ridiculously incredible,” LeDuc said of Smith.

As for the execution in the fourth quarter, LeDuc said, “We run a lot of plays. Basketball is a real simple game. It’s a game of repetition and if you do it over and over, you expect it to be done perfectly.”

SACRAMENTO — Delaney Shiring, a 5-foot-10 senior at El Dorado High, kept delivering clutch baskets when her team needed them most during a nerve-racking second half that enabled the Golden Hawks to win their first state girls’ basketball championship with a 42-40 win over San José Valley Christian in the Division III final on Friday at Golden 1 Center.

“It’s amazing,” said Shiring, who finished with 15 points and six rebounds. “It’s meant to be. Everything is so historic. We bought into those big moments.”

El Dorado (24-14) appeared to have a comfortable nine-point lead midway through the third quarter when Kenedi Nomura, who scored 18 points, helped ignite a Valley Christian rally. A basket by Shiring near the end of the quarter ended a 5-0 Warriors run.

Shiring’s biggest basket came with 47 seconds left for a 41-38 lead. The lead dropped to 41-40 with 38 seconds left on a basket by Anaya Bannarbie. Then Riley Morikawa made one of two free throws with 13.1 seconds left for a two-point advantage. Valley Christian never got off a potential tying shot.

Kennedy Wood of El Dorado focus on making free throw in Division III state final.

(Greg Stein)

“They had some really good defenders,” Shiring said. “I really focus in big moments when the shot matters.”

El Dorado made the Southern Section playoffs as an at-large team before surging in the postseason under coach Matt Raya, winning a Division 4 section title and Division III regional title.

The Laguna Hills High girls’ basketball fan who was waving the sign, “Hawk Yea!” at the Golden 1 Center on Friday morning didn’t get much of a workout in the first half of the Division V state championship game against Woodland Christian.

The Hawks (21-12) made 15 turnovers and fell behind by 22 points at halftime. They were unable to overcome their slow start in a 63-30 loss. Woodland Christian scored the first 13 points of the second quarter and led at halftime 33-11.

The Sorbello sisters, Siena and Sofia, combined for 17 of the Cardinals’ 33 first-half points. Siena finished with 21 points and Sofia had seven.

Woodland Christian came in with a 32-3 record and was able to get the ball inside. Bailee Broward also made some outside shots, giving the Cardinals unstoppable inside-outside options. She finished with 17 points.

With the CIF state basketball championships set for Friday and Saturday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, how about a look back at some of the greatest individual performances in state history.

There was nothing quite like Tracy Murray scoring 64 points for Glendora in the 1989 Division II final at the Oakland Coliseum. Damien coach Mike LeDuc was then Glendora’s coach. Glendora lost to Menlo 89-83. Here’s a look back.

Last season, Brayden Burries scored 44 points to deliver an Open Division championship to Eastvale Roosevelt at Golden 1 Center. Here’s the report.

In 2008, Klay Thompson of Santa Margarita scored 37 points and made a record seven three-pointers at the notoriously tough Arco Arena in Sacramento to help the Eagles win the Division III title over Sacramento 72-55. Here’s the report.

Let’s not forget Josh Shipp delivering five threes to help Fairfax win the Division I title in 2004 over De La Salle 51-35, again at the tough-to-shoot Arco Arena. Here’s the report.

And how about the 2006 final when Palo Alto stunned Mater Dei 51-47 in Division II in which Jeremy Lin made a 25-foot bank shot from the top of the key. Here’s the report.

For girls, Cheryl Miller still holds the most points scored at 41 when Riverside Poly won Division I in 1982 at the Oakland Coliseum over Los Gatos 77-44. Both teams entered 33-0.

Lisa Leslie of Morningside scored 35 points in the 1990 Division 1 final in a 67-56 win over Berkeley at the Oakland Coliseum. Here’s the report.

In 2018, Charisma Osborne of Windward made six threes and finished with 26 points to help her team win the Open Division title over Pinewood 58-47. Here’s the report.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

When Birmingham High’s Tekeio Phillips and X’Zavion McKay were asked if they are surprised that the Patriots are playing for a Division III state boys’ basketball championship on Friday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento after losing in the first round of the City Section Open Division playoffs, the answer was unanimous: Yes.

The Patriots (22-7) have won four consecutive state playoff games to earn a spot against Antioch Cornerstone Christian (28-8) in a 4 p.m. final. Fellow City Section member Sylmar (24-12) is playing San Marin (21-13) for the Division V title at noon. On Saturday, Palisades’ girls’ team plays Faith Christian at 10 a.m.

Birmingham lost to Fairfax 66-58 on Feb. 11 in the City playoffs and didn’t play another game until March 3. How do you get your team motivated for state playoffs after three weeks off?

“We didn’t do anything the rest of the week and took the next week off,” Halic said. “We rested our bodies and emotionally refreshed.”

Most importantly, Patriot players decided they wanted to win in the state playoffs.

“It definitely helped us offensively connect better,” Halic said. “We’re playing a better game these last four games. When you lose you’re disappointed and sometimes going into state, people don’t care. It’s such a great opportunity for us.”

Phillips is averaging 22.8 points. McKay is averaging 12.6 points and 10.5 rebounds. Phillips has twice played at Golden 1 Center when he was a member of the Alijah Arenas-led Chatsworth team.

“It’s just a bigger gym,” Phillips said. “I feel comfortable.”

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.