By Tim Peterson
(El Monte) -Arroyo overcame a 12-point first quarter deficit and raced past Coachella Valley 73-65 Tuesday night at Mt. View High to advance to the CIF Division 5A Semi-Finals.
In a run and gun game from the outset it was the Knights that were the ones running past Coachella Valley towards the finish line.
After being down 24-12 after the first quarter Arroyo put up 21 points in both the second and third quarters and added 19 in the fourth to put it away.
“That’s our game”, said Arroyo Head coach Oscar Lopez. “We just keep on running and putting up shots and get them (the opponent) tired.”
After starting slow the Knights went on several runs the rest of the way to get the job done. Arroyo opened the second quarter with a 9-0 run to cut the lead to 24-21 as Noe Magana knocked down a pair of threes.
Coachella Valley battled back and still maintained a 41-33 lead at the half.
Arroyo began the third quarter the same way with a 9-2 run to get within one. The Knights kept up the pressure throughout the third quarter and built a four-point lead heading into the fourth. They outscored Coachella 21-9 in the third.
Arroyo increased the lead to eight points at 63-55 with 4:34 left in the contest. Coachella got to within three with 2:23 left but Johnny Vargas hit a huge three for the Knights to help keep Coachella Valley at bay. Arroyo held on to win by eight.
Luis Ventura scored 10 of Arroyo’s 12 points in the first quarter and led the team with 26. He also had eight in the big third quarter hitting a variety of shots in and around the paint.
Dorrantes had 16 and Vargas and Magana were also in double figures with 12 and 10 points respectively.
For Coachella Valley Israel Garcia led the team with 20 including five three-pointers. Joe Beltran hit three shots from beyond the arc and finished with 18 points. Gabe Lopez added eight.
But Coachella Valley is now making plans for next year while the Knights are running into the Division 5A Semis.
C 24 17 09 15 65
A 12 21 21 19 73
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Congratulations to the Arroyo hoops squad on showing mid valley readers what “rising” is supposed to look like. Condolences to the Pioneer Titan group, who attempted to rise (and made a loud point of the effort) only to get broomed early in CIF. As they say (often) in Titan land, there’s always next year.