BOYS: Yakou leads Eagles to first win
- Updated: December 3, 2019
2019 EAST COUNTY PREP BOYS BASKETBALL
EastCountySports.com
EL CAJON – The Granite Hills Eagles cracked the win column for the first time this season by defeating the Southwest Eagles, 67-39, on Monday.
John Yakou had 28 points and nine rebounds while Eric Hogan added 10 points and 12 rebounds to pace Granite Hills to the victory.
McKay Roberts came home with 12 points for the Eagles, while John Vrzich finished with nine points.
“John Yakou had a great game,” Granite Hills head coach Dan Duffy said. “John, Eric, and McKay, along with Caleb Erickson, are our go-to guys right now. We’re just very small as a team. I feel as though we’ve done it as a team all of these years and we’re still doing it as a team now.”
TORREY PINES 71, WEST HILLS 44 – Fourth-ranked Torrey Pines withstood the Wolf Pack’s best challenge in the first half, as West Hills trailed just 31-27.
“We were controlling the tempo and had them on the ropes at halftime,” West Hills head coach Tim Barry said. “We ran out of gas playing only seven guys with two out due to injury and three sitting due to disciplinary reasons.”
Kyle Dobyns led West Hills with 19 pts, while teammate Jayden Moreno added 11 points.
The Falcons led 10-2 before the Wolf Pack hit three-pointers from Dobyns and Eric Lozano. The Torrey Pines lead was 15-8 after the first quarter.
Dobyns had four three-pointers in the first half. He scored 12 points in the second quarter as the Wolf Pack was excited heading into halftime.
At the start of the third quarter, the Wolf Pack hit a basket by Luke Gibson to cut the Falcons lead to two, but the Falcons answered with a 10-0 run.
“Being down four points at halftime was big for us because it showed that we were able to compete with a top-ranked team like Torrey Pines,” Dobyns said. “Torrey Pines is a great team with a lot of talent.”
Torrey Pines small forward Brandon Angel, a Stanford commit, led all scorers with 22 points.
“They are one of the bigger teams that we have played so I knew it was going to be hard to drive to the basket and I had to rely on my outside shot,” Dobyns said. “Cash (Creighton) kept the tempo going and was moving the ball around which allowed me to get my shots.
“I have started to have more confidence with my shot which is allowing me to do more things on the court. I try to get my teammates involved in the game. I’m a pass-first kind of player but if I need to, I can drive to the basket or shoot the ball.”
Creighton, a junior guard, had a three-pointer in the fourth quarter.
“Our game plan was to slow the tempo down and use a lot of the shot clock,” said Creighton, West Hills’ junior point guard. “I made sure to keep our turnovers to a minimum and get the ball in Kyle’s hands in scoring positions. (Coach Barry) told me to slow the game down and that we want to limit the time of possession of Torrey and play a low scoring game.”
West Hills’ next game is scheduled to be played on Wed. Dec. 4 at 5:30 p.m. versus the Southwest Eagles.
“I’m extremely proud competing hard versus the No. 4 team in the county,” Barry said. “There was no quit, just a little too much from Angel in the second half.”
Torrey Pines will travel to Granite Hills High School on Wed. Dec. 4 at 5:30 p.m. to play Granite Hills, as play continues in the Horsman Automotive Armstrong Memorial Tournament.
SAN MARCOS 95, EL CAPITAN 53 – Senior Jake Pfitzner scored 25 points on 10-of-20 shooting, grabbed four rebounds and handed out two assists for El Capitan.
El Capitan junior guard R.J. Lugtu added 11 points on 4-of-7 from the field, including three three-pointers.
Vaquero senior guard Jaqori Harris contributed 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting, along with grabbing five rebounds and dishing out three assists.
“You couldn’t tell by the score of how well we played and how hard we played,” El Capitan head coach Elias Totah said. “I was very pleased with our performance tonight. We competed and met the challenge tonight from a preseason top 10 team in San Diego County.”
Devon Arlington, a sophomore for San Marcos, had 31 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists.
“We hit shots at good percentages tonight,” Totah said. “We got all of the looks we wanted. The tempo and pace were too much for us all in all. San Marcos didn’t stop playing and gave us their best every minute of the game.”
El Capitan fell to 2-2 on the season and will face Mt. Carmel at home on Wednesday at 7.
