Zach Aquino Scored 14 for Rams
(Temple City) – Temple City gave St. Francis all it wanted but the Golden Knights had enough to escape with a 63-56 win Monday night at the Temple City- La Salle Holiday Classic.
The Rams cut the lead to one at 41-40 in the second quarter and also got within two in the final period before eventually succumbing to deep St. Francis squad.
Zach Aquino and Matt Valazza shared scoring honors for Temple City with 14 points each. The pair combined to hit seven three pointers with Valazza knocking down four.
“This is the best game we played so far. If we played the way we did last week we would have gotten blown out. But we played well tonight,” said Temple City Coach Rich Hollinger.
Tommy Jordan continued to have the hot hand for St. Francis. He buried four from downtown and nailed five of five from the free throw line to finish with 21 points. He was joined by Sevan Zarifan who also had 21 which included three treys.
Jordan had nine (all threes) for St. Francis in the first quarter but Aquino kept TC close with five as St. Francis led 16-14. Jordan hit all five of his free throws in the second quarter and had ten in the period as the Golden Knights moved out to a 33-27 advantage.
Valazza’s two bombs from behind the arc and a three by Caleb Halversen sparked the Rams in the third. Zarifan warmed up later in the quarter for St. Franks to keep them at bay.
The Golden Knights hit six of eight free throws in the final period to ward off the Temple City run. Spencer Nieves was a perfect four for four in the final frame.
Leo Chu added eight for Temple City to help out Valazza and Aquino. Jordan Hill added six. After Jordan and Zarifan, the scoring dropped off significantly for St. Francis. Nieves was next in the column with six.
St. Francis advances to play the winner of the Keppel- Arcadia contest tomorrow night.
TC 14 13 16 13 56
SF 16 17 16 14 63
TC – Aquino 14, Denny Chong 4, Hill 6, Harriman Chiang 4, Valazza 14, Halversen 6, Chu 8.
SF- Jordan 21, Zarifan 21, Travis Tailanko 2, Ian Hamilton 2, Austen Mumper 3, Emerson Castaneda 3, David Chrikian, Justin Posthuma 2, Nieves 7.
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