Montebello Big Man Antonio Worthy (left) had 11 Points and 13 Rebounds
By Corey Kwok
At La Salle:
Championship – Montebello 62, St Francis 52
Montebello mercilessly pounded on a cold St Francis offense in the first half and appeared on its way to a titanic rout with a whopping 33 to 6 lead at halftime. But it wasn’t that easy as the Oilers, (15-1), ranked 13th in the CIF Southern Section and 25th in all of California, turned away a tenacious Golden Knights’ rally in the second half to capture the tournament title by a score of 62-52.
The Oilers started out on a 16-0 run backed by a pair of Marcos Mejia drives and floor scorching offense from their triple threat of Michael Carabes (12 points, 8 rebounds 2 assists, 2 steals), Andrew Torres (17, 8 rebounds), and Jeremy Solis (5 steals).
St Francis didn’t hit the board until 1:34 left in the first when Zach Gardea found an opening underneath to chuck it in.
Montebello cooled down a bit in the second but kept its rhythm afloat as 7’0″ center Antonio Worthy (11 points, 13 rebounds, 3 blocks, 1 assist) added nine rebounds and two blocked shots in the period.
St Francis then suddenly went on an all out assault in the second half, stringing together four bombs amidst a 22-5 eruption to surge back into contention. Emerson Castaneda, Spencer Nieves, and Austen Mumper each tripled before a Gardea trey made it a ten point Montebello ballgame with 1:39 left in the third. Torres scored off of a Worthy dish while Solis topped the third off with a lay up, and the Oilers held a 43-30 lead into the final quarter.
Another Castaneda long ranger followed by a Tommy Jordan trey turned the pressure on Montebello, as their lead shrunk to seven 1:14 into the fourth. But the Oilers went on a 16-8 run the next five minutes to seal the win despite missing 9 of 12 free throws in the last 90 seconds of the game as fatigue set in late.
M: 19 14 10 19 – 62
SF: 2 4 24 22 – 52
M: Torres 17, Solis 13, Carabes 12, Worthy 11, Mejia 4, Daniel Flores 3, Javier Castillo 2
SF: Jordan 15, Nieves 10, Gardea 9, Castaneda 9, Mumper 3, Travis Talianko 2, Justin Posthuma 2, Sevan Zarifian 2
3rd Place: Mark Keppel 68, Crescenta Valley 57
Keppel (12-2) got off to its signature fast start using an up tempo offense to go up 23-9 after one. The Aztecs had to fend off a stubborn Crescenta Valley squad the rest of the way hitting clutch baskets to pave the way to a 68-57 triumph.
Timmy Wong, leading scorer overall with 25 points, was a thorn in the side of the Falcon defense by converting on all four steals and completing a hat tricks’ worth of three point plays. Teammate Justin Young (17 Points, 9 rebounds) stole four, blocked two shots, and notched 10 of his 17 points in the first where he dropped in a trio of back door passes.
Sam Thim scored 12 points and also contributed 3 steals and 3 assists.
CV, (9-3), trailed by at least 10 for most of the contest before a 10-4 rally in the fourth featuring solid post play from Christian Misi, (8), Coltrane Powdrill (18). Nick Dragovich (19 points, 5 rebounds, 1 block), kept the Falcons close.
The Aztecs shut out the Falcons for the following 2:04. A three point play from Wong and four free throws down the stretch put it in the fridge.
CV: 9 13 16 19 – 57
MK: 23 11 15 19 – 68
CV: Nick Dragovich 19, Powdrill 18, Misi 8, Davis Dragovich 5, Oshin Mahoodian 3, Mohammad Shanowaz 2, Henry Leff 2
MK: Wong 25, Justin Young 17, Thim 12, Jordan Young 8, Cameron Lee-Sung 2, Max Katz 2, Eric Yu 1, Jonathan Saisho 1
5th Place: La Canada 69, Temple City 44
The 5th place showdown featured a preview of Rio Hondo action as tournament Co-host Temple City (4-5) stayed in contention with league foe La Canada (10-2) for a half before yielding to a perfect Spartans’ storm in the third quarter. LC held TC to five points and one field goal that period – a Jordan Hill basket twelve seconds in. LC went on to post a 69-44 rout.
Three Spartan ballplayers finished in double figures. Dario Civon led the LC defense with 3 steals and scored 15 points. Mason Holle contributed a dozen, and Rocky Moore (12 points) did likewise, topping it off by drilling a pair of threes in the fourth off assists from Sean Mintie and Jeff Grigg.
Moore was the leading LC rebounder with 7 caroms. Omar Rady sparked the Spartans early by making his first 3 shots (2 treys) and scored 8 points.
Matt Valazza was the lone Ram in double figures, scoring 16. Zach Aquino and a surging Ryan Cosato each added 6 while Caleb Halverson and Harriman Chiang had 5 points each.
LC: 17 14 17 21 – 69
TC: 12 11 5 16 – 44
LC: Civon 15, Holle 12, Moore 12, Rady 8, Grigg 7, Mike Magnuson 5, Joe Zarefsky 4, Matt Faber 4, Mintie 2
TC: Valazza 16, Cosato 6, Aquino 6, Halverson 5, Chiang 5, Sebastian Chairez 4, Hill 2
7th Place: Arcadia 59, La Salle 50
Arcadia, (7-5), sprinted out to a 13-3 lead near the end of one and clung to a 28-26 halftime lead as La Salle rallied. The Apaches outscored La Salle, (7-5), 21-6 in the third quarter to open it up. The Lancers had one more run left cutting the lead to six in the fourth but Arcadia held on for a 59-50 victory.
The Lancers stumbled in the first period with only six points missing 13 of their first 14 shots. Michael Edwards finally hit a trey from the left wing three seconds before the buzzer to break the standstill. Consecutive buckets in the post by Josh Anderson inched La Salle to within two at halftime.
The third quarter Apache assault saw Kiran Koneru (14) nail back to back 3-pointers and Taylor Lagace (15 points, 9 rebounds) score 10 of his team high 15 points. Agile point guard Franky Yan contributed another 14 in addition to seven caroms, an assist, and two steals.
High scoring center and shooter Matt Nolan (7 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks), capped the end of a La Salle 13-2 surge that trimmed the gap to six by converting an Anderson dish. Anderson, the lone Lancer in double figures, finished with 16 points, 12 rebounds.
Arcadia guard CJ Perez interrupted the Lancer stampede 23 seconds later. Only 31 tics would pass until Koneru splashed a key bomb at 2:50. Perez clinched it for the Apaches on a set of free throws with 26 seconds left.
A: 13 15 21 10 – 59
LS: 6 20 6 18 – 50
A: Lagace 15, Koneru 14, Yan 14, Perez 8, Maury Bruce 5, Conrad Sarreal 2, Robby Haines 1
LS: Anderson 16, Edwards 9, Akinbayode 9, Nolan 7, Matt Stoddard 3, Ian Schuler 2, Darryl Oliver 2, Isaiah Johnson 2
9th Place (Consolation Final): Chatsworth 59, Maranatha 48
Chatsworth, (11-4), converted 6 of 8 free throws in the third quarter and 11 of 12 in the fourth to seal a come from behind, 59-48 win over Maranatha (8-6). Jason Monje led the Chancellors’ charge, scoring 16 points and 11 rebounds, followed by Myles Mungcal’s 12 points and 4 steals.
The Minutemen controlled the tempo during the first half and held nine point leads on three occasions, once on a Jesse Brummel layup and twice on clutch Dominic Johnson threes. Johnson finished with 15 points.
Chatsworth and Maranatha exchanged baskets for most of the third period before consecutive Patrick Moreno steals and Frankie Flores baskets gave the Chancellors the lead for good. Flores, along with teammates Moreno, Robert Rivadeneira, and Gabriel Gadia, combined to be a perfect 14 for 14 on free throws.
Maranatha missed 11 consecutive freebies stretching from late in the first to the waning minutes of the fourth.
Baskets by Johnson and Robert Schneider ran them to within 3 at 5:15 to go, but the Minutemen yielded to a defensive stand by the Chancellors, who iced it on an 11-2 surge.
C: 6 15 18 20 – 59
M: 15 11 10 12 – 48
C: Monje 16, Mungcal 12, Flores 10, Rivadeneira 6, Moreno 6, Gadia 4, Jordan Rosales 3, Bryan Figueroa 2
M: Johnson 15, Andrew Elffers 7, R.J Straker 6, Isaiah Braithwaite 6, Schneider 4, Stephen Van Spronsen 4, Brummel 2, Ryan Holstein 2, Josh Chamberlain 2
11th Place: Franklin 57, Marshall 43
Franklin (6-5) closed out on a 15-2 run and buried four consecutive bombs during that stretch to defeat fellow Northern league (LA City Section) rival Marshall (2-4), 57-43.
The Barristers stumbled out shooting an anemic 6 of 27 from the field for only 12 points in the first half and trailed 25-12 at the break before igniting a run in the third.
Aaron Thomas-Luong took three steals coast to coast for Marshall who outscored Franklin 10-2 in less than a two minute span to cut the Panthers lead to 34-30.
An Alejandro Morales (11) trey at 4:27 followed by another Thomas-Luong theft to the rack 25 seconds later inched the Barristers to within one at 42-41.
But that was as close as they would get. Javier Ramirez was fouled on the next possession but missed both free throws which would have given Marshall its first lead of the game.
Julio Duarte (9) rebounded the miss, then took it up the floor and buried a three. That began a barrage of triples. Cesar Hernandez followed with two straight before a rare three-pointer by center Anthony Quiroz (13) wrapped it up for Franklin.
Alex Perea led all scorers with 17 points and also pulled down 17 rebounds.
F: 9 16 9 23 – 57
Mar: 6 6 18 13 – 43
F: Perea 17, Hernandez 14, Quiroz 13, Duarte 9, Eugene Gandara 4
Mar: Thomas-Luong 14, Morales 11, Edwin Leano 6, Mario Rodriguez 4, Sully Engels 4, Carlos Blanco 2, Ramirez 2
At Temple City:
13th Place: Paraclete 69 St Paul 42
15th Place: Gabrielino 74 Alhambra 65
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