MidValleySports.Com

By Alex A. Gonzalez

San Marino – Tuesday night was the regular season finale for the San Marino Titans when they hosted Temple City for their Senior Night. After the pregame festivities, the Rams crashed the party when Dylan Lam scored a game high 29 points in their 65-54 win.

Read more: Rams, Lam, Crash Titans Senior Night

From the tip, the Rams offense caught fire as they opened the game by going on a 10-3 run, with Lam leading the way hitting his first two 3-point attempts. The same could not be said for the Titans as they were able to get to the basket but saw their shots fall short. 

Then at the 1:14 mark of the quarter, Gavin Hang and Lam helped extend the lead to double figures when Hang found Lam for a wide open 3-point attempt, making the score 20-9 before San Marino called a timeout. 

The Titans did manage to cut into the deficit before the quarter ended thanks to their frontcourt duo of Zane Daoud and Marcus Chen who combined for nine of their team’s 12 points to end the quarter. However, Lam led all scorers with 16 points, including hitting all four of his 3-point attempts. 

Temple City continued to be aggressive in the second quarter behind Jake Vasquez, Brayden Kwan and Lam who helped keep their double digit lead intact by scoring 14 of the teams 21 points before intermission. They would also apply suffocating defense on Nicholas Chen and Zachary Fong as they crossed halfcourt. 

After the break, the Rams saw their 41-23 lead evaporate within the first three minutes of the third quarter. San Marino reminded Temple City why they are Rio Hondo league champs as they forced three consecutive steals that would turn into eight quick points.

Their defense also stopped Lam from shooting the long ball as the team only allowed six points in the quarter. The Rams did manage to keep their double digit lead intact when the quarter ended at 47-37, despite going ice cold from the field and turning the ball over five times. 

San Marino kept their momentum going as the fourth quarter started when they started to feed Chen, who once he got possession on the low block made a quick move for the easy bucket. 

Unfortunately, Chen was the only bright spot for the Titans in the quarter as the rest of the team would get flustered and shoot contested three pointers as the final eight minutes unfolded. 

The Rams ended Chen and the Titans chances at a comeback at the 2:26 mark of the quarter when Lam threw a no-look pass to Hang who converted a wide-open lay-up. Then on their ensuing possession, Hang out rebounded three Titan defenders for a put back attempt to bump the teams lead back to double figures. 

San Marino managed to get two more buckets before the final buzzer but the Rams were able to run the clock out as they ended the game 65-54. 

Even with the loss, San Marino remains Rio Hondo league champions and will await to see who their first-round opponent of the CIF-SS playoffs will be on Saturday. The Rams will have to see if they make the postseason as an at-large bid when the brackets are released on Saturday.