MidValleySports.Com

By Alex A. Gonzalez

Temple City – It was the home opener Tuesday night at Temple City High School, where the Temple City Rams had a balanced attack offensively led by Mason Collins, who grabbed a team high nine rebounds and dished out eight assists, and Dylan Lam scored 17 points in their 58-41 win over South Hills. 

It was a slow and scrappy start for both schools as they traded baskets to start the first eight minutes of play. Both teams were able to create and find ways to break their opposition’s full-court press for easy buckets. However, they were able to create just as many turnovers as they did shot attempts. 

Cruz Valdez and Diego Rivera were the only two for the Huskies who scored in the first quarter, giving them an 11-9 lead after the first quarter. They, along with Justin Witcher in the middle, forced the Rams to take contested three-point shots and made it difficult for TC to get anything going at the rim. 

Then, as the second quarter started, the Rams found their groove and fed big man Salah Elgazar, who helped spark a 12-4 run midway through the second quarter. After Elgazar bulldozed his way past Witcher for back-to-back buckets, the South Hills defense started to collapse, and that is when Elgazar found Lam for a wide-open 3-point basket to give the Rams an 18-17 advantage. 

Then on their next offensive possession, Lam hit his second 3-point bucket, bumping the lead up to five. From there, the Rams offense took off and Lam stayed hot from behind the arc as the Rams closed out the second quarter up 30-21. 

The Rams’ defense then showed up in the second half, forcing three straight turnovers that led to six points. Lam never cooled off from the first half and continued to light it up from three-point land, adding two more deep shots. 

Once Jake Vasquez dropped his 15-foot jumpshot to increase the lead to 11 with 5:18 remaining in the third quarter, Collins started to dish out assists to both Gavin Hang and Justin Wong, making the Huskie defense look flustered. 

Temple City also out-rebounded South Hills 33-22 in the contest which led to multiple second-chance opportunities for easy baskets. It also helped when the defense suffocated the Huskies, forcing them to go 16-48 from the field. 

After another 3-point basket by Vasquez with five minutes to play, the Rams took a 20-point lead, and from there, both teams emptied their benches, and Temple City closed the game with their second win of the season. 

Temple City will travel to Mark Keppel on Wednesday night to face the Aztecs, who open their season against the Rams. For South Hills, they will look to bounce back on Thursday when they host Westminster.