Monarchs torch in fourth; Agbo, Saints stop Highlanders
- Updated: November 22, 2019
2019 EAST COUNTY PREP BOYS BASKETBALL
EastCountySports.com staff report
CHULA VISTA – Texas Tech-bound senior Chibuzo Agbo scored 38 points as second-ranked St. Augustine held off 16th-ranked Helix, 76-70, on Thursday in the San Diego Tip-Off Challenge at Montgomery High School.
Senior Maurice Holmes scored 18 points, while senior teammate Jadyn James finished with 16 points for Helix.
Junior guard Isaiah Brickner added 14 for Saints, including the exclamation point with a transition two-handed slam to increase the Saints lead to 76-67.
Agbo hit a baseline three-pointer to punctuates a 14-2 run as Saints led, 64-47.
At the end three St. Augustine led 57-47, as Agbo scored the Saints’ final seven points in a 7-2 run after the Highlanders cut the lead to five.
After Saints led 48-31, Helix went on a 14-2 run to trail 50-45.
James singlehandedly kept Helix in the game, carving up the Saints guards off the bounce.
Agbo is flat out dominating this game. Up to 21 after a thunderous lefty dunk. Saints up 48-31.
At halftime, Saints led 42-29, as they got a backdoor lob to Agbo to beat the buzzer. Agbo led all scorers with 17 points in the first half.
Holmes and James had 10 and 9, respectively, for the Highlanders in the first half.
Helix made a run just before halftime to stay in the game, as James, Xavier Otis, and Keshon Trice helped cut the Saints’ lead to 11, 40-29.
At the end of the first quarter, St. Augustine led 28-10, as Mark Dixon led the Saints with nine points on 3-of-3 from three.
Helix missed a lot of gimmes around the basket.
It was back-and-forth early as Helix trailed just 15-10, but St Augustine got off to a 23-10 lead with 1:34 left in the first quarter.
MONTE VISTA 71, CLAIREMONT 66 – Monte Vista was down at halftime, 33-27, and still trailed by five after the third quarter, but the Monarchs outscored Clairemont, 31-21, in a big fourth quarter.
Monte Vista newcomer Ivan Maynard scored 15 of his 23 points in the fourth, including 8-of-10 from the foul line.
Cameron McKan added 20 points, including seven in the fourth quarter. He had one of his two three-pointers in the fourth, as well, and grabbed a team-high four rebounds.
Deron Whitley added nine points for Monte Vista.
Anthony Sandoval had four steals and three assists for the Monarchs.
Sirr Young was 5-for-6 at the line in the fourth as Monte Vista’s accuracy from the stripe was critical to the comeback.
“We need to improve defensively and know our roles offensively,” Monte Vista head coach Mike Tulley said. “We have four returning but only two seniors so we pretty much have a younger team. We just need to compete at a high level by the time league starts.”
OLYMPIAN 64, SANTANA 25 – The Sultans fell to 1-1 with the road loss at Olympian.
