Cesar Yerena scored 12 points including two big buckets in the fourth
(El Monte) – Mountain View broke open a close game with a 14-2 blitz in the fourth quarter and went on to beat Gabrielino 56-41 Friday night at home.
With the victory the Vikings moved into sole possession of first place in the Mission Valley League with a 5-1 record, a full game ahead of the 4-2 Eagles.
View was up 42-39 after three quarters and then busted it open in the fourth. The Viking defense put the screws to Gabrielino holding the Eagles to just one basket in the quarter. Gabrielino was just one of 12 from the floor in the final period and the Eagles also were 0-4 from the charity stripe.
The Vikings got a pair of baskets from Angel Aguilar and also four points each from Cesar Yerena and Erick Martinez down the stretch to secure the victory.
“This was a good game for us. I thought after the first quarter we really played good defense. We still have a lot of lot of work to do but we took care of business tonight,” said Mt. View Coach Bob Averill.
In the first period it was indeed Gabrielino who was in control. Tyler Shimamoto got off to a hot start scoring eight points in the opening stanza as the Eagles jumped out to a 16-8 led after one. Gabrielino opened the game on a 10-2 run.
Mt. View got right back into it in the second. The Vikings scored the first ten points in the quarter to grab an 18-16 lead. They outscored the Eagles 18-6 in the period to assume a four point halftime lead. Yerena had six in the quarter, Jonathan Benitez hit a three and Jeremy Acosta had a couple of deuces down low.
The Eagles stayed close in the third as Shimamoto warmed up again. He scored seven in the quarter including one from downtown and Tyler Lam tossed in six. They only cut the lead down by one however as Acosta went to work in the paint for eight points.
The Vikes scored the first eight in the fourth and that was pretty much all she wrote.
Acosta led the Vikings with 17 points and Yerena added 12. Martinez and Joe Angelo chipped in nine and eight respectively.
Shimamoto led the Eagle attack with 17 and Lam pitched in 12 but no other Eagle player scored more than four.
“I thought Acosta and Angelo played well for us tonight. We’re not a great outside shooting team but we did a good job going inside,” Averill added.
G 16 6 17 2 41
MV 8 18 16 14 56
G- Ben Chan 2, Shimamoto 17, James Epstein 2, Lam 12, Aron Castrellon 4, Anthony Ching 4.
MV- Martinez 9, Yerena 12, Benitez 3, Acosta 17, Angelo 8, Tony Munoz 3, Aguilar 4.
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