By Tim Peterson
(San Gabriel) – Los Altos jumped out to a 20-13 lead after the first quarter and never relinquished the advantage in a 69-55 win over Temple City Friday night to win the San Gabriel Winter Classic Tournament.
The Conquerors outscored the Rams in every quarter as they extended the lead to 10 at the half and eventually went on to the 14-point victory. Arturo Navar hit a pair of threes in the first quarter and had eight points in the opening stanza as Los Altos got off to a hot start. Brandon Bolanos had five in the first quarter.
Preston Lewis had two buckets in the second quarter and Isaiah Meza knocked down a three for the Conqs as they kept up the offensive pressure with 18 in the frame. Temple City tried to keep pace as Jaden Hong scored six points but the Rams still trailed by 10 at the break.
Navar buried two more treys in the third quarter as Los Altos maintained its margin.
Down by 12 heading into the fourth quarter Brandon Falk went to work for Temple City. He had 12 of his team’s 14 points in the final frame but it wasn’t enough as Los Altos had an answer for every Rams run. Lewis had seven in the fourth and Navar continued his hot shooting with six.
Navar led Los Altos in the scoring column with 24 points on 9 of 10 from the field. Lewis finished with 20 and Meza was also in double figures with 11.
Falk led all scorers with 26 and Hong had 10 for the Rams.
Los Altos improved to 12-4 on the season with the victory in the SGV Winter Classic title game while Temple City fell to 6-11.
Good to see the Conqs doing OK after the transfer of the Gardner kids. Happy New Year to all at MVS!