Foothills Christian led 51-40 at the end of three quarters.
The Dons cut the lead to six points late in the third, but a couple of second-chance opportunities cashed in by Foothills stretched their lead.
Scotties, Patriots in tournament finals
- Updated: December 29, 2019
Helix grabs the final rebounds on Saturday against Carlsbad.
2019 EAST COUNTY PREP BOYS BASKETBALL
EastCountySports.com staff report
SAN DIEGO – The Helix Highlanders always seem to find a way to come up with a tournament championship each season.
On Saturday, the Scotties upset ninth-ranked Carlsbad, 65-58, in the semifinals of the Mt. Carmel Holiday Hoops Classic.
The Highlanders advance to the tournament championship game to be played on Monday.
Isaiah Robinson had a breakout performance for the Highlanders, scoring 21 points, including three three-pointers.
Robinson knocked down a pair of treys in the second quarter, as Helix led at halftime, 28-27. He then proceeded to score 15 points in the second half.
“It’s been a journey because we have a lot of new pieces on this team,” Robinson said. “After a close loss to Mater Dei, we knew how good we really were. We knew this (tournament) was our next best chance to show San Diego how good we are.
“I feel like this game brought us closer together as a team and made us even hungrier so I’m excited to see how we play the rest of the season.”
Keishawn Trice came home with 12 points for Helix, including six in the third period.
Sammy Stewart added 11 points for the Highlanders, while teammate Xavier Otis added 10 points.
Helix improved to 10-6 on the year and is probably playing its best basketball of the season, coming together just before league play in typical Highlander fashion.
“This was a great win for Helix,” Stewart said. “We are at a disadvantage not having a home gym to play in this season but we will move through this season as a team and will take this momentum into league.”
CHRISTIAN 61, ALISO NIGUEL 49 – Down by one point at halftime, the Christian Patriots won and advanced to the tournament division final at The Holiday Classic.
The Patriots will face Brighton, 56-44 winners over Laguna Beach on Saturday, in the Governors Division championship game on Monday night at 8:05.
Kobe Sanders led all scorers with 19 points, knocking down big-time shots despite being double-teamed most the night.
The game ball, however, went to Dasean Lynch, who single-handedly weathered the storm in the first quarter, scoring 10 of the Patriots’ 14 points. He finished with 12 points.
Christian (10-2) came out in the second half firing on all cylinders behind the clutch rebounding of Vincent Warren and Pat Roberts.
“I feel we settled too much in the first half,” Warren said. “No one was hitting jump shots and once the second half came, that’s when we really started to attack. My teammates were able to find me in the short corner for a quick bucket and attacking the rim changed the momentum of the game.
“Dasean played a big factor tonight, he was keeping us in the game during the first half knocking some big shots for us.”
Jake Tawhiao ignited the Patriot defense with four second-half steals to go along his 12 points, eight rebounds, and five assists.
FOOTHILLS CHRISTIAN 63, CATHEDRAL CATHOLIC 52 – The third-ranked Knights defeated the second-ranked Dons at The Holiday Classic at Torrey Pines High on Saturday.
Sophomore Jaden Lebel led Foothills Christian with 20 points, while Nico Meza added 14 points for the Knights.
Yassine Gharram had 10 rebounds and five assists for Foothills Christian.
Cathedral Catholic led 18-17 at the end of one quarter, as Jalai O’Keith had seven points in the opening period for FCHS.
Cathedral Catholic star Obinna Anyanwu was at the game but didn’t dress for the contest.
