Eagles defeat Pack; Knights edge Pats
- Updated: December 14, 2019
Granite Hills with possession against West Hills on Friday night. / video by Dave Dickens
2019 EAST COUNTY PREP BOYS BASKETBALL
EastCountySports.com staff report
SANTEE – The West Hills Wolf Pack defeated the Granite Hills Eagles, 61-56, in a Grossmont Tournament game at West Hills High on Friday night.
Senior Jayden Moreno scored 22 points and junior Kyle Dobyns scored 20 points to lead the Wolf Pack.
Wets Hills lead 21-13 after one period as senior guard Eric Lozano scored seven points, including a three-pointer, in the opening quarter. Dobyns also had a trey in the first period.
Kyle Dobyns at the line for West Hills on Friday night. / photo by Dave Dickens
The Pack held on to a 39-33 advantage at halftime as they scored the last four points of the first half in the final minute.
Moreno had seven points in the third quarter, including his second three of the game.
Trailing by nine entering the fourth quarter, the Eagles outscored the Wolf Pack, 14-10, over the final eight minutes.
Granite Hills’ John Yakou scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, including 7-of-7 from the fou line.
Yakou finished with a team-high 23 points, including three three-pointers in the first half.
Eagle junior Justus McComb had a pair of three-pointers in the second quarter and finished the game with 10 points.
Granite Hills’ McKay Roberts had a three-pointer in the first quarter and ended the contest with nine points.
McKay hit a field goal with just over three minutes to go in the third quarter to draw the Eagles back to within 47-40.
West Hills (4-2) will face University City at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday at the Grossmont Holiday Tournament.
Granite Hills (1-7) is slated to face Maranatha Christian next Thursday in the Grossmont Tournament at 6 p.m.
FOOTHILLS CHRISTIAN 51, CHRISTIAN 50 – Despite outscoring thrid-ranked Foothills Christian in the second half, 30-19, Christian lost by a point in a hard-fought, physical game.
Foothills jumped out to an early lead behind Yassine Gharram, who was attacking the basket and finding open teammates.
Gharram finished with 14 points, including 10 points in the second quarter, but fouled out.
Down by 12 starting the second half, Christian roared back behind huge shots by Kobe Sanders, who finished with a team-high 15 points.
Sanders hit 3-of-4 three-point attempts to start the second half, as the Knights led, 37-28, with 2:24 left in the third quarter.
Moments later, Christian had cut the lead to 37-31 with 1:04 to go in the third.
The Knights led 39-33 entering the fourth quarter.
Derrien Carter-Hollinger, a 6-foot-4 junior, had 12 points for the Knights.
Jalai O’Keith, a senior, also added 12 points for FCHS.
Mike Perez provided a needed lift off the bench with his great defensive play for Christian.
Foothills Christian (4-2) has a high-profile matchup on Saturday against 10-0 Windward High, of Los Angeles, a Carlsbad High. The tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m.
The Wildcats are one of the state’s top-ranked teams and are also highly-rated nationally in the top 50 teams.
HELIX 74, HILLTOP 32 – Helix outscored the Lancers in the first quarter, 22-7, and cruised to the win at the 43rd Hilltop Invitational.
Maurice Holmes had 18 points, while Keionte Scott had eight points, including a pair of three-pointers for the Highlanders.
Helix had a 42-19 lead then increased the advantage to 61-25.
The Highlanders improved to 5-3 overall.
Next up for 13th-ranked Helix will be a matchup with the seventh-ranked Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders at the Sweetwater Tournament on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.
MONTE VISTA 61, CRAWFORD 49 – The Monarchs improved to 7-3 win a tournament win over the Colts.
The Monarchs led 40-28 with 2:30 left in the second quarter.
Crawford cuts the lead to 42-38 with a run at the end of the third quarter.
The Monarchs will face Calexico (7-2) on Saturday in a Grossmont Tournament game at 4:30 p.m.
The Bulldogs lost at home on Friday night to San Ysidro, as Cougar freshman Mikey Williams scored a San Diego Section single-game record 77 points.
CALEXICO 58, EL CAPITAN 53 – El Capitan senior Jake Pfitzner scored 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting, while teammate Jaqori Harris had 19 points on 7-of-9 from the field, but the Bulldogs won at the Destined to be Stars event at Grossmont High.
The Vaqueros had a pretty furious rally in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Bulldogs, 23-14.
“We came out flat with no energy and it cost us the game,” El Capitan head coach Elias Totah said. “We started playing our style in the second half but it was too little, too late. This was a bad loss for us.”
Pfitzner also had 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and a steal, while Harris added four boards and an assist.
El Cap’s Daisean Desinor had 10 pts on 4-of-7 from the field.
El Capitan shot 51 percent from the field.
Junior Jacob Howard led the Vaqueros on the boards with eight rebounds.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 15-7 lead and led 25-17 at halftime.
Next up for El Capitan is Clairemont on Saturday night at West Hills High. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.
FRANCIS PARKER 85, VALHALLA 30 – The Lancers stormed past the Norsemen in an early barrage.
Junior Bashar Noor scored a three-pointer early for the Norsemen to tie the game at 3-all but the Lancers were got off to a rolling start after that, building a huge lead by halftime.
