MidValleySports.Com

By Tim Peterson

(Montebello) – Schurr was outscored 25-4 in the fourth quarter but held on to beat Keppel 62-55 Tuesday night on the Spartans home floor. With the victory Schurr pulled into a first-place tie with the Aztecs in the Almont League.

Schurr carried a 58-30 lead into the final frame after some red-hot shooting through the first three quarters. The Spartans led by 25 at 39-14 at halftime and maintained the advantage heading into the fourth.

The Aztecs, after struggling offensively throughout the contest, went on an 18-0 run to open the fourth quarter. Maddox Hang hit four quick baskets and Kenji Shibata scored six. Alex Benitez knocked down a three in the barrage as well and just like that it was 58-48. A 28-point lead was down to ten and with just over four minutes left it was nervous time in Spartanville.

Seth White finally scored underneath for Schurr to stop the onslaught. The Aztecs did manage to get the lead down to eight points but Schurr was able to hold on.

The Spartans were burning up the nets early on. Nathan Ortega hit a pair of threes in the first quarter and Jacob Guzman also hit one from long distance as Schurr built a 17-8 lead after one.

The Spartans broke it wide open in the second quarter. Jacob Viramontes came off the bench and buried three bombs from beyond the arc and scored 10 in the quarter. Ortega had six including another three ball and Schurr outscored Keppel 22-6 in the second and led by 25 points at the half.

Keppel warmed up in the third but Schurr continued to shoot the lights out. White scored nine points in the third including a three and Viramontes hit another one as well as Schurr won the quarter 19-16.

The Aztecs then made the huge push down the stretch but the Spartans survived.

For Keppel Jake Amimoto-Ha led the team with 15 points. Shibata had 12 and Hang and Benitez each finished with 11. For Schurr White and Viramontes each scored 15, and Ortega had 14. The Spartans hit nine threes in the contest including four by Viramontes. Keppel hit just one all night.

With the victory Schurr improved to 11-14 overall but more importantly 6-1 in the Almont to pull even with Keppel. The Aztecs dropped to 15-9 and 6-1 in league.

K 08 06 16 25 55

S 17 22 19 04 62