Spartans sneak by the Wildcats
(Monrovia)- Koko Kurdoghlian scored all seven points in overtime including two free throws with five seconds left to secure a 64-61 La Canada win over Monrovia in the Rio Hondo League opener Wednesday night. Antoine Gholar’s three point attempt at the buzzer hit the rim but fell to the floor and the Spartans survived.
The Wildcats were up by eight after one and still led by seven, 34-27 at the half but the Spartans battled back in the final two quarters to pull even. Monrovia had a big first quarter outscoring La Canada 18-10 as Marcel Harris scored seven points and Gholar added seven.
La Canada went on a 10-2 run to open the second to tie it at 20. Jacob Brown and Kurdoghlian each had a couple of buckets to lead the charge. But Monrovia responded with a 10-3 run of its own to go into the break up by seven. George Frazier, DeShawn Potts and Tyln Sago each had four points in the quarter.
Mario Del Cueto hit a pair of three balls to get La Canada back in it in the third. The Spartans racked up 19 in the quarter as Dan Jun also nailed one from behind the arc and Ryan Lee tossed in four points.
The Spartans had a chance to win it in regulation when Lee was fouled by Luis Javier with :09 left but Lee’s free throw clanked off the rim giving the Cats new life. Monrovia couldn’t find the basket however in overtime converting only two field goals.
Kurdoghlain was four for four from the line and hit a three in the extra session to lead the Spartans to the victory. The freshman had a game high 20 points. Lee finished with 13. For Monrovia Gholar took scoring honors with 18, but nobody else was in double figures. Justus Tucker added eight.
Monrovia fell to 2-16, 0-1 in the Rio Hondo while La Canada improved to 9-7 and 1-0.
LC 10 17 19 11 7 64
M 18 16 12 11 4 61
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