Fabian Ruiz made five 3-pointers and had a game-high 20 points, and Jagger Saul had 19 points, seven rounds, and two blocks as Murrieta Mesa defeated Warren 63-56 in a CIF Southern Section Division 3 boys basketball semifinal on Friday night in Downey.

Murrieta Mesa (22-10), which was playing in the semifinals for the first time in program history, advanced to next weekend’s championship game, where the Rams will face Aliso Niguel, a 66-59 winner over Gahr.

On Friday night, Warren (24-7) trailed for most of the game as the Rams made nine 3-pointers and played tough interior defense.

Trailing by five points heading into the fourth quarter, Warren had a chance to pull out a victory, but every time it made a push, Murrieta Mesa answered with a run of its own.

The Rams held a 13-point lead, 58-45, after Saul nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key with just 2:30 left in the fourth quarter.

However, the Bears responded with an 11-1 run in the next two minutes, sparked by senior guard Donovan Knighten. He scored 10 of his team-high 17 points in the final period to keep the game close for Warren.

Knighten made two free throws to cut Warren’s deficit to just three points, 59-56, with 16 seconds left in the game.

Saul made all four of his free throws in the final seconds to close out the win for Murrieta Mesa, earning then Rams a trip to the finals.

“We knew they could shoot the ball,” Bears head coach Zaiid Leflore said. “We talked about that a lot, about contesting, high hands, fighting through screens, switching on screen towards the end. But they made shots when they needed to. Donovan was amazing, but when we can’t score too much or the ball gets stagnant, this is what happens.”

Ruiz credited his teammates setting him up for great looks that he was able to knock down.

“It was mostly my point guards, just passing to me at the right stride,” said Ruiz. “It just felt good, and they hit me at the right time, so it felt good going in.”

— Chris Camello

Ramona 60, Placenta Valencia 57: Senior Garrett Pickens banked in the game-winning 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds remaining to lift the Rams on Friday night in a CIF-SS Division 6 semifinal game in Riverside.

“I know I’m just glad to be here,” Pickens said. “The bank was open, yes sir.”

Pickens finished with a game-high 19 points and eight assists as Ramona held on despite sophomore C.J. Margain fouling out in the fourth quarter.

The Rams (27-5 overall) move on to play Laguna Hills next weekend in the championship game. It will be the second consecutive section final appearance in just two seasons for second-year coach Eric Tabatabai.

“We’ve talked about it since last year,” Tabatabai said. “Like, we wanted a second chance. They’ve put in a lot of work all year and we’re lucky enough to be getting that second opportunity.”

Senior Gautham Venguswamy had 17 points for Valencia (17-15), which trailed by as many as 10 points early in the fourth quarter before rallying to tie the score with less than 90 seconds left.

After a timeout, Ramona ran a high screen-and-roll play and Pickens nearly turned the ball over, but junior Cary Moore grabbed the ball and tossed it back to Pickens. From just beyond the left arc, Pickens heaved the ball off the backboard and through the cylinder as the shot clock expired.

“He told me to just throw it up,” Pickens said. “It was always falling in.”

— Dennis Pope

Rialto 52, Rowland 44: Amari Gary had 19 points and made 4 of 6 free throws late in the game and the host Knights outscored Rowland by 10 points in the fourth quarter en route to Friday night’s CIF-SS Division 7 semifinal victory.

Rialto (16-14) advances to play Salesian for the title next weekend at a site and time to be determined. Rowland (17-14) will continue its season in the state playoffs that begin March 3.

“In the locker room, I told them, ‘Every team is going to make a run,’ ” Rialto coach Dante Rouzan said. “We made our run in the first quarter, they made theirs in the second quarter. … I said we have to win each quarter after that. They stayed locked in, they stayed together, and pulled through.

“We slowed down our offense and made sure we got the right shot.”

The game was a rematch of a Division 4AA first-round game last year, won by host Rowland, 59-42.

The victory gave the Knights their first CIF championship game appearance in school history.

“I knew this (team could make CIF finals) from day one,” Rialto senior guard Amari Gary said. “We had the team, we weren’t clicking at first. We started clicking at the end and that’s what we wanted.”

The Knights trailed 34-32 after the third quarter, then took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Joey Puyol with 6:22 to play that made it 37-34. It was part of a 10-2 run to start the quarter that didn’t seal the game but put the Raiders in desperation mode. Puyol scored all seven of his points in the fourth quarter.

— Pete Marshall