By Tim Peterson
(Pasadena) – Maranatha broke open a close game with a big second half and went on to beat Keppel 66-44 Tuesday night in the first round of the CIF Division III State Playoffs.
The Minutemen outscored the visiting Aztecs by 13, 23-10, in the fourth quarter to put the game away. Harrison Harper scored nine points in the quarter and finished with 19 overall to lead Maranatha in the scoring column.
Harper also had a couple of buckets in the third quarter doing all his work down in the paint. Maranatha held just a two-point lead at halftime before establishing some separation in the third quarter to lead by nine after three. Bryan Lopez-Wood had five in the third as well as Jagger Topp who also had a couple of big steals. By the time the third quarter ended the Minutemen led 43-34 and then blew it open in the fourth.
“He’s had a big CIF Tournament for us,” said Maranatha head coach Tim Tucker of Harper. “Both teams came out a little rusty. We hadn’t played in about 10 days. But it picked up later.”
Keppel and Maranatha played it close to even in the first half. The Minutemen led 10-5 early as Harper threw down a jam and Giacomo Manzella knocked down a couple of threes.
Maranatha still led 25-19 late in the second quarter but Keppel scored the last four points of the quarter to cut it to 25-23 at the break. Manzella kept Maranatha in the mix scoring 12 points in the first half-all three pointers.
“Gio kept us in the game because they went on a couple of runs themselves,” Tucker said. “They (Keppel) are well coached and a very good team.”
For the Aztecs Maddox Hang and James Osorio were both in double figures with 10 points each. Reese Song had nine, Alex Benitez eight and Chris Contreras finished with seven.
After Harper’s 19, Lopez-Wood had 15, Manzella 12 and Chris Smith finished with nine.
Keppel finished the season 26-7 overall while Maranatha, now 15-17, advances to the second round in Division III.
K 11 12 11 10 44
M 12 13 18 23 66
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