Helix' Kenny Keys with the driving layin in earlier Spartan Classic action. (By Ken Stone, LaMesaPatch.com)

© East County Sports.com
CHULA VISTA (12-31-10) — No matter what sport it is, the competition between Helix and Grossmont is without a doubt the most intense in East County history.

On the boys basketball front the Highlanders and the Foothillers, who have been united in the same league – the Grossmont Hills – are guaranteed two meetings this season.

But due to their respective recent successes, they were obligated to cross paths for a third time in Thursday’s (Dec. 30) finals of the Spartan Classic at Chula Vista High.

Helix dominated, using a stinging defensive effort to down the Foothillers, 48-34.

“This wasn’t the World Cup but it was for a tournament championship and we’re glad to come out on top,” commented Helix veteran coach JOHN SINGER.

There’s no secret about Helix – it’s all about defense.

“We’re not pretty on the offensive end but we can defend,” Singer said.

The Helix defense began with guards TOMMIE YOUNG and KEVIN WILLIAMS, who neutralized Grossmont point guard DeSEAN WATERS.

“We made it tough for Waters to get any shots,” Singer said of Grossmont’s veteran point guard, who finished with 4 points.

Helix, which held Grossmont to a season-low 34 points, also focused on the Foothillers’ 3-point marksman MICHAEL WNEK.

“He’s a good shooter but we wanted to neutralize him and his 3-point shooting,” Singer added.

Singer credited TITUS YOUNG for shutting down Wnek, who hit only one three and totaled 8 points. Nearly half of Wnek’s points came from his free throw shooting.

Senior KENNY KEYS provided the offensive spark for Helix, hitting 9 of 13 shots en route to a game-high 20 points.

“They pounded the ball inside to Keys,” said Grossmont coach FRANK FOGGIANO. “We had no answer for him. He’s tough on the post because he’s too quick for us. We started out playing behind him but he just spun on us. I told my guys we should front him, but somehow they got confused and didn’t do it.”

The 6-foot-3 Keys netted 9 of 13 shots from the floor.

“He’s our go-to guy,” said Singer.

BRIAN VALADEZ rolled a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds for the Highlanders, who have won four in a row. The 6-foot-3 junior has collected 60 rebounds in his last four games.

Titus Young pitched in with 12 points and 5 assists.

“This was a good confidence thing for us,” said Singer. “The one thing about our Helix kids is they never lack for confidence. Kids with natural ability are usually on the offensive side, learning to play defensively. It’s much harder. Just the ability of our kids to play defense gives us an edge.”

ROBBY NESOVIC led Grossmont with 11 points, while DEREK RUSTICH tossed in 9 points and bagged 8 rebounds.

Helix: Kenny Keys 20 (7 reb, 1 stl), Titus Young 12 (3 reb, 5 ast), Brian Valadez 10 (12 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl), John Singer 2 (4 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl), Kevin Williams 2 (3 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl), Gary Thompson 2 (2 reb), Tommie Young (2 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl).

Grossmont: Robby Nesovic 11 (5 reb), Derek Rustich 9 (8 reb), Michael Wnek 8 (1 reb), DeSean Waters 4 (3 reb, 3 ast), Nick Persinger 2 (2 reb), Marcus Flisher (1 reb).

HILLTOP 52, MOUNT MIGUEL 43 – While the Matadors continue to search for balance from their offense, Hilltop demonstrated such a winning formula to capture Thursday's (Dec. 30) championship of the Aztecs Holiday Classic at Montgomery.

Mount Miguel guard MARCUS BOOKER, receiving little assistance from his teammates, single-handedly gave his team a 28-26 lead at halftime. He registered 26 of the Matadors' first-half points, while assisting on the only other bucket to account for all of his team's scoring.

But when Booker went cold in the second half (0-8 FG, 0-2 FT), only center THOMAS BUTLER could counter with all of his 11 points in the second half. However, his teammates managed just two other buckets after the intermission, as the Matadors fell to 10-5 entering next week's Grossmont Conference Tournament.

"We had so many shots bounce out-- we couldn't buy a basket," said senior guard SHAKEEL HILL, who tried to spark the offense into gear with 4 assists. "But we'll bounce back when we play Steele Canyon."

Meanwhile, Hilltop came back on hitting a series of 3-point goals, including consecutive third-quarter bombs by Mike Redd to take the lead. The outside shooting opened the middle for Lancers center Carlos Perez, who led the comeback with 17 points and 15 rebounds to gain MVP honors as selected by the attending media.

Chris Shaw added 14 points for Hilltop (10-3), while Redd scored eight of his 10 in the second half.

“We had to play hard after our poor start,” Perez noted about Hilltop's first six possessions which all resulted in turnovers to trail 9-0 out of the gate. “But we made some big shots and fixed our defense to stop No. 12 (Booker).”

Hilltop's rally was also sparked by a 41-17 rebounding advantage.

Mount Miguel (10-5) saw a six-game winning streak come to an end.

“I’m disappointed with the loss,” Matadors coach JAY ROWLETT said. “But I’m not disappointed by our effort. I don’t know what happened in that second half, but we couldn’t buy a basket.”

Mount Miguel shot a dismal 7 for 29 (24 percent) from the field in the second half and 33 percent (19-for-58, including 2-19 behind the arc) in the game.

Mount Miguel: Marcus Booker 26 (3 reb, 2 stl, 1 ast), Thomas Butler 11 (4 stl, 2 reb), Izzy Wagner 4 (2 stl, 2 ast), Mohamud Abdi 2 (3 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk), Shakeel Hill (4 ast, 1 reb, 1 stl), Cory Littleton (8 reb, 5 stl, 1 blk), Safen Mohammad (1 ast).

All-tournament: Mount Miguel; Cory Littleton, Mount Miguel; Marcus Booker, Mount Miguel; Tyson Kygar, El Capitan; Omar Hernandez, Hilltop; Lex Leyva, Mar Vista; Myles Nolen-Web, Mater Dei; Yogi Henderson, Mar Vista; Travis Waller, Bonita Vista, Damon Hines, Montgomery; MVP: Carlos Perez, Hilltop.

EASTLAKE 50, MONTE VISTA 49 – As close as the final score was, Monte Vista was playing catch-up throughout Thursday’s (Dec. 30) championship game of the Monarchs Inaugural Basketball Classic.

Monte Vista (9-3) opened up with a 6-0 lead early in the first period, but could not maintain their momentum.

Eastlake (8-4) rebounded to take a 13-0 advantage by the close of the opening eight minutes.

Entering the fourth quarter Eastlake was sitting on a 36-27 advantage.

“When Eastlake went to the press we kept dribbling to the sidelines instead of staying in the middle,” said Monte Vista assistant coach KEITH HOUSTON. “That led to 23 turnovers. Eastlake is not tall but they fly to the ball.”

Monte Vista revved up its pressure defense to outscore the Titans 22-14 in the fourth quarter.

“We were able to close the gap by scoring some transition baskets,” Houston said. “We cut the deficit to two but just couldn’t get any closer. We had to foul at the end and Eastlake took a 4-point lead.”

BRIAN STERLING, the Monarchs’ leading scorer with 17 points, hit his second 3-pointer at the buzzer, leaving Monte Vista one point short.

REUBEN NWANDO added 15 points, while KYLIE LUSTER rolled a double-double of 11 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocks.

“This is a tight-knit group of kids and they hate to lose, that’s why they took this loss so hard,” Houston noted.

Monte Vista: Brian Sterling 17 (7 reb, 2 blk, 2 ast), Reuben Nwando 15 (8 reb, 2 blk, 1 stl), Kylie Luster 11 (10 reb, 5 blk), K.J. Houston 4 (8 reb, 5 ast, 3 blk, 1 stl), Jahmani Lockett 2 (7 reb), Devin Rendo (9 reb, 3 blk, 2 stl), Jahzdion Taylor (9 reb, 3 blk, 1 stl), Terrance Peterson (2 reb, 1 ast), Darrius Wellington (1 reb, 1 stl).

El Paso PARKLAND 74, FOOTHILLS CHRISTIAN 48 – The more experienced Texans from El Paso Parkland eventually broke down the youthful Foothills Christian Knights in Thursday’s (Dec. 30) finals of the Sportland Holiday Classic at Granite Hills.

Foothills actually earned a 16-14 edge after one quarter. Parkland slipped in front 26-23 by intermission thanks to a long-range three-pointer at the second quarter buzzer.

“In the first quarter we did a good job of controlling the ball and boards,” said FC assistant coach GEORGE CUNNINGHAM. “In the third quarter their uptempo defense started wearing us down. Then it was turnover after turnover. We lost the composure we had in the first half.”

The Knights committed 24 turnovers.

“On top of that we had only three assists,” Cunningham said. “The ratio of turnovers-to-assists isn’t very impressive.”

Parkland put the game away with a 25-8 scoring burst in the third quarter.

“We have to walk away from this tournament knowing that we won three games and earned the opportunity to play for a championship,” Cunningham said.

Foothills Christian: Jamal Aytes 19 (10 reb, 3 blk), Dalton Mosser 17 (6 reb, 3 ast, 2 blk, 1 stl), Ian Mathisen 7 (2 reb), Caleb Hoffman 3 (2 reb), Daniel Labahn 2 (5 reb), Joe Buenrostro (2 reb).

SANTANA 57, Las Vegas AGASSI PREP 54 – A 28-point fourth-quarter outburst by the Sultans (10-4) produced a victory over Las Vegas Agassi Prep in Thursday’s (Dec. 30) third place game of the Mtn. View Christian Holiday Classic.

Six-foot-7 junior post RYAN BICKFORD powered in 10 of his team-leading 18 points in the fourth period for the Sultans.

“When we finally took the lead Agassi was fouling and Bickford wanted the ball. He is so confident,” said Santana coach TIM BARRY. “With 20 seconds left he hit both ends of a one-and-one, and Agassi scored a two. Then Bickford was fouled another time and again hit both ends of the one-and-one to put us up by 3. Agassi missed a 3-point shot at the end of the game.”

This was no solo effort, however.

In the fourth quarter MIKE ROSOLINO, DANIEL LEVENS-LOWERY, CHRISTIAN BARRY and A.J. BRATILEN all hit 3s.

TREY BASS injured his knee and played only briefly in the second half, but Levens-Lowery chipped in with 12 points.

“The standout in the second half was Levens-Lowery – he was amazing,” coach Barry stated. He hit 4 threes in the second half. He just hit a 23-footer… actually he hit two 3s in the first half and two 3s in the second half. It was just explosive. We had five 3s from late in the third quarter and the fourth. These 3s were from guys who usually get one or two apiece.

“It was the craziest game I have ever coached. I’ve never seen a team come together with the big guns on the bench – Bass (knee), JASON CORBISEZ (ankle) and LANDON LOZOYA (ankle) – and play the way they did in the third and fourth quarters.”

Santana: Ryan Bickford 18 (9 reb, 2 blk), Daniel Levens-Lowery 12 (4 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl), A.J. Bratlein 8 (6 reb, 3 ast), Christian Barry 4 (1 reb, 3 ast), Jason Corbisez 4 (2 reb), Trey Bass 4, Mike Rosolino 3 (1 ast), James Doherty 2 (3 reb, 1 stl), Jordan Khalaf 2.

EL CAPITAN 58, EC-SOUTHWEST 38 – After hitting a low ebb the day before, the Vaqueros rebounded on the strength of TYSON KYGAR’s 26 points, seven rebounds and five steals to polish off El Centro Southwest in Thursday’s (Dec. 30) final day of the 28th annual Aztec Holiday Classic at Montgomery.

Not to be overlooked was NESTOR RAMIREZ, who collected 11 points and nine steals as El Capitan (5-8) took a 30-16 halftime lead and continued on to snap a three-game losing streak.

El Capitan: Tyson Kygar 26 (7 reb, 1 ast, 5 stl), Nestor Ramirez 11 (1 reb, 2 ast, 9 stl), Cody Kygar 9 (3 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk), Austin Betts 7 (5 reb, 4 ast, 4 stl), Austin Digenan 3 (4 reb, 1 blk), Ryan Quinten 2 (1 reb), Scott Ross (1 reb, 1 stl), Travis Hulsey (2 reb), Kameron Brown (1 reb).

GRANITE HILLS 54, ARCHBISHOP MACDONALD (Canada) 16 – Host Granite Hills race-horsed past visiting Archbishop MacDonald of Canada in Thursday’s (Dec. 30) consolation action of the Sportland Holiday Classic.

“We played with a lot of defensive intensity all four quarters,” said Granite Hills coach RANDY ANDERSON, whose Eagles (10-4) took a 17-3 lead and built it to 37-8 by intermission.

Granite Hills: Garrett Larch-Miller 16 (8 reb, 2 ast, 6 stl), Dalton Otineru 12 (8 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl), John Petty 9 (1 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl), Scott Atkinson 7 (7 reb, 9 blk, 1 stl), James Sadik 5 (5 reb, 1 at, 1 stl), Joey Grubb 3 (1 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 3 stl), Danny Densel 2, Nate Bennett (3 reb, 2 stl), Wil Wilson (2 reb, 1 blk), Nate Jeter (1 reb).

RAMONA 58, CHRISTIAN 42 – Even an inspirational speech from fallen teammate ICARO PARISOTTO couldn’t provide the Christian Patriots with a much needed emotional lift in Thursday’s (Dec. 30) Monarchs Inaugural Basketball Classic at Monte Vista High.

The Patriots (6-6) fell behind Ramona (8-6) by a 17-8 count in the opening period and trailed 39-17 by intermission.

“It was a frustrating game,” said Christian assistant coach DEREK LARSEN. “We still have high hopes, but when you lose someone who’s your main scorer, you have to almost rebuild from scratch.”

Larsen was referring to Parisotto, who is lost for the season to a knee injury requiring surgery.

“Icaro was there tonight and talked to the team about playing from the heart,” the coach said. “We just are going to have to learn little things that we have to do without Icaro in order to be a winning team. We’re going to have to depend on our defense.”

That the Patriots did in the second half against Ramona. “We pressed the whole time and caused a lot of turnovers,” Larsen said. The result was the Patriots gained a 25-19 scoring edge.

SHANE DILLON once again paced Christian with 22 points, which included 5-for-10 shooting from above the arc.

On the low side, Christian was 5-for-20 on free throws.

Christian: Shane Dillon 22 (6 reb, 1 ast, 2 blk, 1 stl), Tyrone Sauls 8 (7 reb, 1 ast), Trenton Sauls 4 (4 reb, 2 stl), Aaron Hueslein 3 (1 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Josh Feldscher 3 (1 reb), Jake Larsen 2 (5 reb, 4 ast, 4 stl), Stephen Johnston (2 reb), Tyler Ballard (1 reb, 1 ast), Josh Harrison (1 reb).

SWEETWATER 70, STEELE CANYON 65 – Frustration continued to stalk the Steele Canyon Cougars in Thursday’s (Dec. 30) last round of the Chula Vista Spartan Classic in South Bay.

This latest outing, which featured Steele Canyon ’s most prolific scoring effort of the season, was knotted at 62-62 with two minutes remaining.

“Sweetwater scored and we took a bad shot – ran a play for a three that we missed, and they got the rebound,” Cougars coach DEREK STEPHENS said. “We should have won this game, but we had too many silly turnovers in the first half and missed too many layups.”

Stephens noted the free throw difference between the two teams – Sweetwater shot 32 from the charity stripe, while the Cougars hoisted only 13 tries from the foul line.

Bottom line here, though, is the Cougars made only three free throws.

Steele Canyon: Andrew King 9 (3 reb, 10 ast, 2 stl), Drew Myles 9 (2 reb), Justin Norwood 9 (6 reb, 1 stl), Isaac Curia-Tobin 8 (1 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl), Danny Bwinika 7 (2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Casey Balikian 7 (8 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Ryan Gilbert 5 (2 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl), Dylan Kirchhofer 5 (3 reb, 2 stl), Michael Jordan 4 (8 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Aundre Belcher 2 (3 ast, 1 stl).

CANYON CREST 77, EL CAJON VALLEY 25 – When DOMINIQUE MILLER scores only four points the El Cajon Valley Braves (2-9) are in deep trouble. That was the case in Thursday’s (Dec. 30) final round of the Braves Classic at El Cajon Valley High.

“All I can say is, I’m glad we don’t have a team like that in our league,” said Braves coach MARTY ELLIS. “Our guys see those tall kids (on Canyon Crest) and it just bothers them. Even preparing myself for playing them I brought five JV players if we needed them. I played them for a whole quarter. They did actually better as far as not backing down and playing defense.”

According to Ellis, the Braves’ Player of the Game was DIANTE ASHBY.

"'Mr. Active,'I call him,” Ellis said. “He just stole somebody’s minutes. He came out ready. He’s got confidence and he slid into somebody else’s spot. He’s 5-foot-5 and he started today.”

Ashby paced the Braves with nine points, six rebounds and three steals.

“This year it’s a fun bunch to be around. We took fourth in our tournament and I had a special trophy made. In my eyes they’re winners. I think we are moving in the right direction.”

El Cajon Valley: Diante Ashby 9 (6 reb, 3 stl), Brenden Brocious 5 (1 reb), Dominique Miller 4 (7 reb, 3 blk), Alex Jacinto 2 (2 reb, 1 stl), C.J. Miller 2 (4 reb), Sangar Hasan 2 (2 stl), Tyler Verela 1, Frank Williams (5 reb, 1 stl).

© East County Sports.com
EL CAJON (12-30-10) — Five East County boys basketball teams have qualified for the championship round in four holiday tournaments. Although the coaches may beg to differ, the marquee attraction pits Grossmont Hills League rivals Helix (7-4) and Grossmont (9-4) in opposite corners for the Spartan Classic tournament title Thursday (Dec. 30) night at Chula Vista High School. Tipoff is slated for 7:30.

In other tourney title bouts on Thursday, Monte Vista (9-2) hosts Eastlake (7-4) in the inaugural Monarchs Challenge finale, Foothills Christian tackles El Paso Parkland for the Granite Hills Holiday Classic laurels, and Mount Miguel (10-4) meets Hilltop at Montgomery in the finals of the 28th annual Aztec Holiday Classic. All start at 7:30 except the Mount Miguel-Hilltop joust which begins at 8:30 p.m.

MOUNT MIGUEL 57, MONTGOMERY 32 – Coach JAY ROWLETT likes his chances of bringing home a title in Thursday’s (Dec. 30) championship game against Hilltop in the finals of the 28th Annual Aztec Holiday Classic at Montgomery.

Perhaps that’s because of the manner in which the Matadors performed in Wednesday’s (Dec. 29) semifinals against host Montgomery.

“This was the best defensive game we’ve played all year,” Rowlett said. “From the opening tip-off our communication was great. Everybody knows you have to talk on defense to have success.”

Mount Miguel, which has won six in a row and eight out of nine, led 35-9 at halftime.

“Our full court man pressure in the first half ate ‘em up,” Rowlett said. “Any time you hold a team to 9 points in one half, it says something. We didn’t press in the second half because their coach is a friend of mine.”

Mount Miguel: Cory Littleton 13 (9 reb, 3 stl), Izzy Wagner 13 (4 ast, 4 stl), Marcus Booker 10 (4 ast, 3 stl), Mohamud Abdi 8 (11 reb, 2 ast), Thomas Butler 7 (7 reb, 2 stl), Shakeel Hill 4 (3 reb, 5 stl, 3 ast), Safen Mohammed 2 (3 stl, 1 ast), Hasani Jarvis (1 stl).

HELIX 47, MORSE 34 – Remember the name BRIAN VALADEZ. The 6-foot-2 junior gobbled up 16 rebounds on Wednesday (Dec. 29), giving him 48 in the first three games of the Chula Vista Spartan Classic.

Valadez also muscled in 12 points, while KENNY KEYS added 16 points and 10 rebounds to help vault Helix past Morse and into Thursday’s (Dec. 30) Spartan Classic championship game.

“Honestly this is the first time we’ve actually played two whole halves of basketball,” said Helix coach JOHN SINGER. “Give our kids credit – they broke Morse’s press and did what I asked them to do.”

According to Singer, Morse came in averaging nearly 80 points in the tournament.

“We nullified them on the glass – beat them 46-21 on the boards and that was huge,” he said.

Singer said “I know people think everything’s wonderful right now, but that’s not the case. I’m still trying to figure who we are. I know we’re not a high-powered scoring team that’s going to blow anybody out. This is a committee team with no super stud. We have to work as a group and when we D up, we win. That was the case today.”

Helix: Kenny Keys 16 (10 reb, 1 ast), Brian Valadez 12 (16 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 2 blk), Kevin Williams 5 (2 ast, 2 stl), Titus Young 4 (7 reb, 6 ast, 1 stl), Kene Anigbogu 4 (3 reb, 1 ast), John Singer 2 (6 reb, 2 ast, 2 blk), Tommie Young 2 (3 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl), Mike Todd 2 (1 reb).

FOOTHILLS CHRISTIAN 60, HUNTINGTON PARK 23 – Foothills Christian bolted out to a 12-0 lead and then slapped the vise clamps on Huntington Park in Wednesday’s (Dec. 29) Sportland Holiday Classic at Granite Hills.

For one of the few times this season the Knights enjoyed a breather as they built a 40-14 halftime lead.

“This was a much slower pace than the night before,” said Knights assistant coach GEORGE CUNNINGHAM. “But we were able to adjust.”

Point guard DALTON MOSSER paced Foothills Christian with 19 points – the majority of which came on 5-for-9 three-point shooting.

While Mosser was Mr. Outside, JAMAL AYTES was Mr. Inside, finishing with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

“Their game plan was to play a 2-3 collapsing zone on Aytes and make us beat them from the outside,” Cunningham said. “But once again we had great ball movement, made all the right passes.”

Foothills Christian: Dalton Mosser 19 (4 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl), Jamal Aytes 17 (11 reb, 4 ast, 2 blk), Ian Mathisen 7 (4 reb, 2 blk), Caleb Hoffman 6 (3 reb, 1 ast), Daniel Labahn 5 (3 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl), Joe Buenrostro 4 (2 reb, 2 stl), Corey Haines 2 (1 reb), Ricky Adams (5 reb).

GROSSMONT 51, SD-SOUTHWEST 46 – ROBBY NESOVIC scored 25 points and collected 11 rebounds to carry Grossmont past San Diego-Southwest in Wednesday’s (Dec. 29) championship game of the Chula Vista Spartan Classic.

But it was the overall guidance of senior point guard DeSEAN WATERS that put the cap on the Raiders and cast the Foothillers into the tournament finals.

“Waters has definitely developed a winning attitude,” said Grossmont coach FRANK FOGGIANO. “Hopefully that will spread throughout the team.”

Added Foggiano, “I think we’re playing okay right now but I thought we were playing better in our first five games. I guess you could say we’ll be ready when the Grossmont Conference season starts (next month).”

Grossmont trailed by four points with three minutes remaining.

“That’s when Waters and Nesovic took over,” Foggiano said. “They each scored six points in the fourth quarter.”

Grossmont: Robby Nesovic 25 (11 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), DeSean Waters 10 (4 reb, 4 ast, 3 stl), Michael Wnek 9 (2 reb), Derek Rustich 5 (8 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Nick Persinger 2 (2 reb), Austin Swisher (1 reb), J.T. Barnes (2 reb).

MONTE VISTA 68, CHRISTIAN 48 – Earlier when these teams met it resulted in a one-point victory for Monte Vista.

The rematch, which came in Wednesday’s (Dec. 29) semifinals of the Monarchs Inaugural Basketball Classic, also belonged to Monte Vista and in a much more lopsided fashion.

“This is probably the best game we’ve played all year,” said Monarchs head coach JAMES CARROLL. “Without a doubt it is the best we’ve shot and moved the ball.”

Monte Vista shot 57.4 from the floor and 10 of 14 from the free throw line.

Guards BRIAN STERLING and K.J. HOUSTON were a combined 15-for-20 from the floor. Sterling was 3-for-5 from above the arc to lead Monte Vista with 20 points.

Playmaker Houston was 7-for-10 from the floor with one three and two free throws while delivering 7 assists and recording 6 steals.

Four Monarchs finished in double scoring digits in a game Monte Vista led 20-8 after one quarter. KYLIE LUSTER rolled a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Monarchs.

Christian (6-5) continued to feel the loss of senior ICARO PARISOTTO, who suffered a torn ACL and a deep bone contusion earlier in the season which probably will end his high school career.

SHANE DILLON led Christian with 24 points, including a trio of triples, 7 of 10 free throws and 7 rebounds.

Nobody else reached double scoring digits for Christian although the SAULS brothers – TYRONE and TRENTON – plucked 9 rebounds apiece.

Monte Vista: Brian Sterling 20 (1 reb, 2 ast, 4 stl), K.J. Houston 17 (5 reb, 7 ast, 1 blk, 6 stl), Kylie Luster 15 (10 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl), Reuben Nwando 12 (7 reb, 3 ast), Jahzdion Taylor 4 (2 reb), Jahmani Lockett (5 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Darrius Wellington (1 stl).

Christian: Shane Dillon 24 (7 reb, 1 blk, 3 stl), Tyrone Sauls 9 (9 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Jake Larsen 8 (2 reb, 3 ast, 4 stl), Clarence Carter 5 (4 reb), Trenton Sauls 2 (9 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 3 stl), Josh Feldscher (1 stl), Aaron Hueslein (1 stl).

GRANITE HILLS 74, El Paso CHAPIN 65 – Senior GARRETT LARCH-MILLER seemed to bloom in the swift tempo of Wednesday’s (Dec. 29) Sportland Holiday Classic contest at Granite Hills.

The Granite Hills guard rang up 35 points, including a pair of treys and 11 of 12 free throw shooting while garnering 9 rebounds.

The bottom line in this game was Granite Hills’ free throw shooting, as the Eagles converted 31 of 33 chances. Six-foot-9 SCOTT ATKINSON was 10 for 10 from the charity stripe as he finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds.

Without question the unsung hero in the latest victory for the Eagles (9-4) was 6-foot senior JOHN PETTY who came off the bench for a career high 14 points and 6 rebounds.

“John Petty was real solid off the bench,” said Eagles coach RANDY ANDERSON. “He had a good game all the way around – he’s been playing well all year. I was real happy with his effort tonight. I thought we played real well in the first half.”

Granite Hills’ free throw shooting was the focus of a 27-point fourth quarter when the Eagles made 19 of 20 attempts. Anderson noted that the Eagles made 18 straight charity shots in the second half.

Granite Hills: Garrett Larch-Miller 35 (9 reb, 2 ast, 2 blk), John Petty 14 (6 reb, 1 at), Scott Atkinson 12 (13 reb, 1 ast, 5 blk), Dalton Otineru 6 (3 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Joey Grubb 4 (1 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl), Nate Bennett 3 (2 reb, 3 ast), Blake Perry (2 reb).

STEELE CANYON 49, OLYMPIAN 43 – Steele Canyon halted a three-game losing streak in Wednesday’s (Dec. 29) final round of pool play in the Chula Vista Spartan Classic.

DYLAN KIRCHHOFER’s17 points and MICHAEL JORDAN’s 15 rebounds were the cornerstones in the Cougars conquest of the Eagles.

“Kirchhofer attacks the basket well,” said Cougars coach DEREK STEPHENS. “He made a lot of layups off cuts.”

Jordan, a 6-foot junior, remains one of East County ’s better rebounders in spite of lacking the size most post players carry. He collected 15 caroms against Olympian.

“Michael has incredible hands and a real feel for the ball,” Stephens said. “

Steele Canyon (4-9) held an 11-point lead with two minutes remaining.

Steele Canyon: Dylan Kirchhofer 17 (3 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Michael Jordan 9 (15 reb, 2 stl), Andrew King 7 (3 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl), Casey Balikian 6 (7 reb, 3 ast), Danny Bwinika 4 (1 reb, 1 ast), Isaac Curia-Tobin 2 (6 ast, 1 reb), Ryan Gilbert 2 (1 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl), Drew Myles 2 (2 reb, 1 stl), Justin Norwood (2 reb, 1 blk).

PAHRANAGAT VALLEY (Nev.) 54, SANTANA 42 – One of East County’s top band of marksmen, the Sultans of Santana (9-4) could not line up much of anything as they fell in Wednesday’s (Dec. 29) Mtn. View Christian Holiday Classic at Las Vegas.

Santana was 16 for 48 from the field overall and 4 of 18 from three-point range.

“It was just not a good night for us,” Santana coach TIM BARRY said. “We played without passion.”

As he usually does, Barry implemented a series of different defenses in hopes of befuddling Pahranagat Valley (Nev.)

“Nothing seemed to rattle them,” Barry admitted. “Shooting could have saved us tonight, but you can’t expect to have a hot hand every night.”

One steady force for Santana continues to be 6-foot-7, 215-pound post RYAN BICKFORD, who has clicked on 14 of 16 shots the past two games.

Santana: James Doherty 10 (2 reb), Trey Bass 9 (7 reb, 5 ast, 2 stl), Jason Corbisez 9 (9 reb, 1 ast), Ryan Bickford 8 (2 reb, 2 blk, 2 reb), Jordan Khalaf 3 (2 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl), Mike Rosolino 3, Daniel Levens-Lowery (1 stl).

VALLEY CENTER 66, EL CAJON VALLEY 40 – El Cajon Valley (2-7) saw its two-game winning streak come to a halt on Wednesday (Dec. 29) when visiting Valley Center outscored the Braves across the board in a Braves Classic contest.

“When we won those two games, we played with a lot of energy,” El Cajon Valley coach MARTY ELLIS said. “Energy is the key.”

FRANK WILLIAMS is one of the Braves’ energy cells.

“He is a rebounder. The thing about Frank is he’s an energy-type guy,” Ellis said. “When he’s not around we’re just deader than a doorknob. He got there late so we didn’t have a big guy in there. Today we were just real flat.”

El Cajon Valley: Dominique Miller 12 (9 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk), Brenden Brocious 9 (3 reb, 1 ast, 5 stl), Diante Ashby 5 (4 reb), Tyler Verela 4 (1 reb), C.J. Miller 4 (2 reb, 2 stl), Corey Evans 4 (1 stl), Frank Williams (11 reb), Danny La (4 reb), Laqman Sulyman (1 reb).

MAR VISTA 55, EL CAPITAN 36 – The Vaqueros generated their poorest offensive output of the season Wednesday (Dec. 29) as they suffered their third straight loss in the 28th Annual Aztec Holiday Classic at Montgomery.

For the only time this season El Capitan (4-8) failed to have a player reach double scoring digits.

“I think in the first half we were 4-for-20 (shooting) from the field,” El Capitan coach JASON CAVAZOS said. “We were kinda in it defensively but we couldn’t make a basket. We’re a young team so it’s hard for us to play back-to-back-to-back games. I know others are doing it, but we’re not skilled enough – we have to have practices between games. I’m super excited because we’ll have four practices (after tomorrow) before we play again next Friday.”

El Capitan: Cody Kygar 9 (3 reb, 2 ast, 4 stl), Tyson Kygar 9 (5 reb, 2 stl, 4 stl), Nestor Ramirez 8 (2 reb, 2 ast, 6 stl), Austin Betts 4 (2 ast, 3 stl, 1 blk), Ryan Quinten 4 (3 reb), Austin Digenan 2 (2 reb, 2 ast).

© East County Sports.com
EL CAJON (12-29-10) — Important steps taken by the El Cajon Valley basketball team finds the program with its first winning stretch of the season. However, the type of victory achieved is what has the Braves excited.

Following a 10-point loss to Orange Glen earlier in the season, ECVHS bounced back to take Tuesday's (Dec. 28) rematch with a 58-51 triumph over the visiting Patriots in Braves Classic tournament action.

DOMINIQUE MILLER paced the Braves with 23 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 blocked shots, giving the team a modest 2-game win streak after opening the campaign on the short side of their first six contests.

"Everyone is starting to heat up," noted Miller, who scored 10 of his game-best 23 points in the second period to give ECVHS the lead for keeps. "I did my job distributing the ball, while others did their jobs, too."

On five different occasions, Orange Glen battled back to within two points, but the resilient Braves never allowed the visitors from eastern Escondido to tie or take the lead in the second half.

"There was a lot more energy which made for better defense," added Miller. "And we kept playing hard throughout the whole game – we don't always do that."

While Miller provided steady play throughout, guard LANDALL BUTRAS provided a pair of dramatic buckets in the fourth quarter when Orange Glen made several bids to reclaim the lead.

Butras took a feed from Miller for a layin while being fouled with 3:28 remaining. Then with 52 seconds left, Butras grabbed an offensive board off a missed free throw, again scoring while getting hammered inside for another emotional lift.

The Braves then sank their final seven free throws over the final 37 seconds to secure the decision. Conversely, Orange Glen shot an anemic 6-for-18 from the line.

"We had a lot of people contribute," added Williams. "BRENDEN (BROCIOUS) made some big shots early, while FRANK (WILLIAMS) was solid on defense."

Brocious drained four 3-point goals over the opening 9 minutes, keeping El Cajon Valley close after the Patriots took a 15-6 lead. Two of his bombs came in the final minute of the first period to get the Braves even at 15-all by the end of the quarter.

For the contest, Brocious made five shots from above the arc – all in the first half – as part of his 19 points. However, he was outdueled by older sister NATASHA FERNANDEZ, who made seven treys in a girls division victory on the Braves Classic over Liberty Charter.

Meanwhile, Williams, who never took a shot all contest, dominated the glass with 10 rebounds and prevented Orange Glen from scoring in the paint. Brocious also blocked a shot with help-side defense at the low block.

In all, ECVHS drained nine treys, including a pair of jumpers by LAQMAN SULYMAN in the fourth quarter to further thwart Orange Glen's comeback effort.

The Patriots received a team-high 17 points from Sammy Klass, but only eight came after the first period when the Braves adjusted to stop the small forward.

El Cajon Valley: Dominique Miller 23 (10 reb, 7 ast, 4 blk, 3 stl), Brenden Brocious 19 (4 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk), Laqman Sulyman 6 (1 stl), Landall Butras 5 (9 reb, 1 blk), Ty Verela 3 (2 ast, 1 reb), Diante Ashby 2 (4 reb, 2 stl, 1 ast), Frank Williams (10 reb, 1 blk), Alex Jacinto (1 reb).

FOOTHILLS CHRISTIAN 95, El Paso CHAPIN 79 – It was like the Foothills Christian days of old on Tuesday (Dec. 28) when the Knights ran past El Paso Chapin to qualify for Wednesday’s semifinals of the Sportland Holiday Classic at Granite Hills.

“For the first time I can say we played like a good basketball team,” said Knights assistant coach GEORGE CUNNINGHAM. “We really looked sharp. We created good, open looks and made it clear that we were playing with a desire to win.”

After taking a 56-53 halftime lead Foothills Christian gradually built its lead to 20 points. But El Paso never quit, chopping that lead in half in the fourth quarter.

“In games like this it’s the little things that make the difference,” Cunningham pointed out.

Just when it looked like El Paso was starting to gain momentum, junior RICKY ADAMS landed a 3-pointer that seemed to poke a hole in any thoughts El Paso had of coming all the way back.

“That was the turning point of the game,” Cunningham said. “Just a huge 3-pointer. That shot right there is just one of the reasons why I say we played the best basketball we have all season.”

Six-foot-6 sophomore JAMAL AYTES scored a season-high 41 points, hitting 17 of 24 shots from the field, including one trey. He was also 6-for-8 from the free throw line.

As a team the Knights shot better than 62 percent from the field (36 of 58) and were deadly from 3-point range where they connected on 11 of 20 attempts.

Perhaps the key to Foothills Christian’s breakout game was junior point guard DALTON MOSSER, who nailed 10 of 17 shots from the floor – half of them from 3-point range – on his way to a 28-point finish.

“Mosser played with a terrific sense of urgency,” said Cunningham. “He did a superb job of beating their press and making the right pass.”

Cunningham also praised the work of IAN MATHISEN, who pitched in with 8 points and 8 rebounds.

“His work on the boards was like we haven’t seen before,” Cunningham said. “He cleared the ball and made great outlet passes, helping us push the ball up the court to beat their traps.”

Freshman CALEB HOFFMAN also had his finest moments, draining a trio of 3s on his way to an 11-point finish.

“This is a really fun game to be a part of, whether you’re a player or a coach or a fan,” Cunningham said.

Foothills Christian: Jamal Aytes 41 (9 reb, 2 ast, 2 blk), Dalton Mosser 28 (4 reb, 5 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl), Caleb Hoffman 11 (5 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl), Ian Mathisen 8 (8 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl), Daniel Labahn 4 (1 reb, 1 stl), Ricky Adams 3 (4 reb, 1 ast).

GROSSMONT 66, VISTA 64 (OT) – The Foothillers built a 32-19 halftime lead and appeared on their way to an easy Chula Vista Spartan Classic victory Tuesday (Dec. 28).

Vista (8-5) had different ideas, pouncing on the Foothillers with a 24-6 third quarter burst.

Grossmont fought back to tie it 53-53 on DeSEAN WATERS’ 3-point bucket from the top of the key with 11 seconds remaining in regulation. Waters then stole the Panthers’ inbound pass but missed the lay-up that would have won the game in standard time.

Waters’ fervor continued in overtime as he buried a 3-pointer to give Grossmont a lead it would not lose.

ROBBY NESOVIC added two free throws for Grossmont to make it 58-53 in the extra stanza.

Grossmont’s DEREK RUSTICH scored 5 of his 14 points in the extra period. He also led the team with 11 rebounds.

MICHAEL WNEK led a balanced scoring attack for Grossmont with 18 points – more than half of which came on his four 3-point buckets.

“Once we got that 12-point lead we might have become a little bit complacent,” said Foothillers coach FRANK FOGGIANO. “By the same token we showed we could come back.”

The Foothillers are one victory away from reaching Thursday’s tournament championship game.

Grossmont: Michael Wnek 18 (2 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Robby Nesovic 17 (6 reb, 4 ast, 3 stl), Derek Rustich 14 (11 reb, 2 stl), DeSean Waters 13 (4 reb, 4 ast, 3 stl), Adam Robinson 2, Nick Persinger 2 (2 reb).

WEST HILLS 84, SD-HIGH TECH HIGH 59; WEST HILLS 60, GUAJOME PARK 53 – West Hills executed a double-header sweep Tuesday (Dec. 28) in its second and final day of the Coronado Tournament. It was the second twinbill in 24 hours for the Wolf Pack.

West Hills (6-7) has won five of its last seven games.

“We finally got our transition game going,” coach JEFF ARMSTRONG said, as the Pack registered a season-high 84 points against San Diego High Tech High. “When we can do that we’re a lot better team.”

NICK FINDLEY cashed in 40 points – including 7 treys – in the Wolf Pack’s latest two-game sweep.

“Nick did what Nick does best, and that’s shoot the basketball,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong also praised the work of freshman point guard D.J. LEWIS, who – because of injury – made his first start of the season.

“His best attribute is defense, but he also gave us 27 points and 13 assists in these two games.”

West Hills streaked to a 52-33 halftime lead over High Tech High. KEVIN STRAUB, who finished with 14 points in that contest, led a 32-point second quarter with 10.

ALEX PARSONS netted 11 of 14 shots from the field on his way to a 23-point finish against HTH. The 6-foot-2 junior netted 11 of 14 shots from the floor on his way to a 23 point finish. He also made 8 steals and blocked 4 shots.

“Parsons is big on our press,” Armstrong noted. “He did a great job of jumping the passing lanes.”

Parsons contributed a quiet double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds against Vista’s Guajome Park. Findley buried four 3s in that one and Lewis hit a pair of treys.

“Probably the greatest attribute Lewis had going in that game was his defense,” Armstrong said.

West Hills will not play another game until January 7 of next year against El Cajon Valley at home.

“Some people may wonder why we played back-to-back double-headers,” Armstrong said. “Well, there are pros and cons. The positive end of things is our kids get a 10-day break now, which we need since we’re tired and banged up.”

West Hills (vs. SD High Tech High): Nick Findley 24 (3 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl), Alex Parsons 23 (5 reb, 3 ast, 4 blk, 8 stl), Kevin Straub 14 (6 reb, 7 ast), D.J. Lewis 12 (6 ast), Jonny Preston 6, Joey Clark 3, Gus Lopez 2.

West Hills (vs. Guajome Park): Nick Findley 16, D.J. Lewis 15 (4 reb, 7 ast, 4 stl), Alex Parsons 10 (10 reb, 5 ast), Jonny Preston 8, Kevin Straub 8, Joey Clark 3.

SANTANA 67, LAKE MEAD (Nev..) 34 – Junior RYAN BICKFORD of Santana seemed to be enjoying the Nevada air in the Las Vegas Mtn. View Christian Holiday Classic contest.

For the second game in a row Bickford was a focal point for the Sultans (9-3), knocking down 10 of 11 shots from the field on his way to a game-high 21 points to go along with 11 rebounds in Tuesday’s (Dec. 28) conquest of the Lake Mead Eagles.

“This tournament is really big for guys like Bickford who are trying to draw attention of college recruiters,” said Sultans coach TIM BARRY.

In the first two games Bickford has mustered up 51 points and garnered 29 rebounds.

Against Lake Mead, Santana used a 19-2 scoring run to break a 10-10 tie.

No doubt one of the keys to the victory was Santana’s defensive strategy.

“Lake Mead has a kid who scored 35 points in the first game and 39 in the second game of this tournament,” Barry said. “He has the quickest release I’ve ever seen.”

So Barry decided to run a box-and-one against the Lake Mead hot hand with CHRISTIAN BARRY, DANIEL LEVENS-LOWERY and A.J. BRATILEN sharing the chores as the primary defenders.

“Christian shut the guy out in the first quarter,” Barry said of his sophomore son. “Then I rotated all three guys and they all face-guarded that kid up and down the court. You could see that he was frustrated and it totally threw their team into disarray.”

Santana: Ryan Bickford 21 (11 reb, 2 blk), Jason Corbisez 12 (3 reb, 3 ast, 4 stl), Trey Bass 9 (6 reb, 8 ast, 2 blk, 4 stl), Jordan Khalaf 8 (1 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), James Doherty 6 (1 reb), A.J. Bratlein 6 (2 reb, 1 ast), Christian Barry 3 (2 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl), Daniel Levens-Lowery 2 (2 reb).

MOUNT MIGUEL 44, MATER DEI 39 – SHAKEEL HILL and CORY LITTLETON led the Matadors over Mater Dei in Tuesday’s (Dec. 28) defensive battle that vaulted Mount Miguel (9-4) into Wednesday’s semifinals of the

28th Annual Aztec Holiday Classic at Montgomery.

“We won this one with defense, and Shakeel and Littleton were our co-MVPs,” said Matadors coach JAY ROWLETT. “I’m trying to stress to my players that you don’t have to be a big scorer to be a major contributor.

“In our philosophy Shakeel takes our opponent’s best perimeter player and Littleton takes on our opponent’s best post player. Our philosophy for those two guys is ‘rebounds, steals and deflections.’”

The duo combined for 7 deflections against Mater Dei.

The Matadors, who have won 5 in a row and 7 of their last 8, will take on host Montgomery in the tournament semifinals.

Mount Miguel: Marcus Booker 13, Izzy Wagner 9, Thomas Butler 7 (5 reb), Cory Littleton 6 (14 reb), Safen Mohammed 5 (3 ast, 2 stl), Shakeel Hill 4 (6 stl, 3 ast), Mohamud Abdi (4 reb), Marcellus Jones (1 ast).

HELIX 55, OLYMPIAN 33 – The Highlanders (6-4) churned out their most lopsided victory of the young season in Tuesday’s (Dec. 28) romp over Olympian in the second round of pool play in the Chula Vista Spartan Classic.

Be that as it may, veteran coach JOHN SINGER wasn’t ready to throw a party.

“Too many times this year we’ve only played just one half,” he said. “We’re not going to get away with that against the better teams.”

Helix managed a slim 23-19 advantage at intermission before earning a 32-14 scoring edge over the final two quarters.

The YOUNG brothers – senior TOMMIE and sophomore TITUS — combined for 19 points, 9 assists and 11 rebounds in the romp over the Eagles.

Always one to be conservative in passing out complements, Singer said “I thought Titus had a nice game and Tommie led us in scoring.” The coach was pleased that 11 Highlanders reached the scoring column.

BRIAN VALADEZ grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds, giving him a carom collection of 32 over the last two games.

Helix: Tommie Young 11 (4 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl), Kenny Keys 8 (5 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 2 blk), Titus Young 8 (7 reb, 5 ast, 1 stl), Brian Valadez 6 (12 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl),John Singer 4 (3 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Gary Thompson 4 (1 reb), Kevin Williams 4 (2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Kene Anigbogu 4 (5 reb, 2 stl), Mike Todd 2 (1 ast), Isaac Sullivan 2 (1 stl), Ray Contreras 2 (3 reb), Vann Sabin (1 reb, 1 ast).

MONTE VISTA 62, SITKA (Alaska) 55 (OT) – Back-to-back buckets by KYLIE LUSTER gave Monte Vista (8-2) a 57-53 overtime lead in the Monarchs Inaugural Basketball Classic on Tuesday (Dec. 28) in Spring Valley.

The Monarchs, who blew a 6-point lead in the final 90 seconds of regulation, produced a 9-2 advantage in the four minute overtime.

Luster lifted Monte Vista into the lead with a putback and followed that with a drop-step spin move in the paint to make it 57-53. Sitka countered with a steal and a transition bucket to tighten the game.

However Monte Vista put the game away on a putback BY JAHZDION TAYLOR, a free throw by K.J. HOUSTON and a pair of charity tosses by Sterling.

Four Monarchs reached double scoring digits, led by BRIAN STERLING’s 18 points. Houston coined a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Luster went double-double with 10 points and 11 boards. REUBEN NWANDO contributed 16 points and 8 rebounds for the Monarchs.

Monte Vista: Brian Sterling 18 (3 reb, 2 stl), Reuben Nwando 16 (8 reb, 2 ast, 3 blk), K.J. Houston 14 (10 reb, 8 ast, 2 blk, 4 stl), Kylie Luster 10 (11 reb, 1 ast, 2 blk, 2 stl), Jahzdion Taylor 2 (4 reb, 2 blk), Jahmani Lockett 2 (8 reb, 2 stl), D’ondre Coleman (1 reb), Darrius Wellington (3 reb, 2 stl), Xavier Daniels (3 reb, 1 stl), Terrance Peterson (1 reb, 1 stl), Devin Rendo (3 reb).

CHRISTIAN 46, North Hollywood OAKWOOD 30 – The Patriots turned in one of their finest defensive efforts of the season against North Hollywood Oakwood, which resulted in an easy victory in Tuesday’s (Dec. 28) Monarchs Inaugural Basketball Classic.

Christian (6-4) made it three wins in a row as they built a 40-20 lead after three quarters.

“We got solid defense and things generally fell into place for us,” said Christian assistant coach DEREK LARSEN.

SHANE DILLON carried the offensive load, hitting 7 of 13 shots and 4 of 5 free throws en route to a game-high 21 points.

The Patriots continue to hold their breath as standout shooting guard ICARO PARISOTTO undergoes examinations to determine his future this season. He underwent an MRI on Tuesday, however, the results were not known.

Christian: Shane Dillon 21 (7 reb, 2 ast, 4 blk, 4 stl), Aaron Hueslein 9 (4 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Tyrone Sauls 7 (4 reb, 1 stl), Clarence Carter 4 (4 reb, 2 ast), Josh Feldscher 3 (1 stl), Jake Larsen 2 (7 reb, 6 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl), Trenton Sauls (2 reb), Phillip George (3 reb).

KEARNY 50, GRANITE HILLS 45 – For the third time in the last five games the Eagles were rationed to 48 points or less in Tuesday’s (Dec. 28) Sportland Holiday Classic action at Granite Hills.

Not surprisingly Granite Hills (8-4) – which came in averaging more than 60 points per outing – won only two of those five contests.

This is a team where offense is supreme. If the Eagles aren’t on their shooting mark they are going to struggle. They shot a forgettable 34 percent in the loss to Kearny. GARRETT LARCH-MILLER accounted for more than half his team’s points with 23. He was 9-for-10 from the free throw line.

“We played poorly, didn’t shoot well,” said Granite Hills coach RANDY ANDERSON. “It wasn’t a good game for us.”

Granite Hills: Garrett Larch-Miller 23 (8 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl), Dalton Otineru 11 (2 reb, 1 stl), Scott Atkinson 6 (11 reb, 1 blk), Joey Grubb 3 (2 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl), Nate Bennett 2 (1 reb), James Sadik (2 reb), John Petty (1 reb), Wil Wilson (1 ast).

BONITA VISTA 63, EL CAPITAN 59 – A strong third quarter surge by the Vaqueros pulled El Capitan even heading into the final period of Tuesday’s (Dec. 28) second round game against Bonita Vista in the 28th Annual Aztec Holiday Classic at Montgomery High.

The Vaqueros (4-7) received a tidy double-double of 14 points and 10 assists from TYSON KYGAR, but came up short when the Barons gained an 18-14 scoring edge over the last eight minutes.

El Capitan: Tyson Kygar 14 (7 reb, 10 ast, 1 blk, 5 stl), Ryan Quinten 14 (3 reb), Cody Kygar 13 (7 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl), Austin Betts 11 (3 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl), Nestor Ramirez 5 (7 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl), Austin Digenan 2 (4 reb).

CHULA VISTA 50, STEELE CANYON 47 – After jumping out to a 14-7 lead at the end of one quarter, the Cougars’ offense began to sputter in Tuesday’s (Dec. 28) Chula Vista Spartan Classic action in South Bay.

Despite falling behind in the second half the Cougars (3-9) still managed to position themselves for a last-second victory. Trailing 48-47 Steele Canyon turned the ball over twice in the final 14 seconds to suffer a third straight loss.

“We just threw the ball away,” said Cougars assistant coach STANLEY WELLS. “The second time we had a 3-on-1 break and never got off a shot.”

Steele Canyon: Michael Jordan 14, Dylan Kirchhofer 10, Andrew King 8, Isaac Curia-Tobin 7, Casey Balikian 4, Justin Norwood 2, Aundre Belcher 2.

© East County Sports.com
LAS VEGAS (12-28-10) — Santana High head coach TIM BARRY admits that he was in awe when 6-foot-7, 215 pound RYAN BICKFORD checked in as a member of the Sultans.

“It’s not like Bickford is 7 feet tall, but the guy does dominate the middle against most teams,” Barry said.

In Monday’s (Dec. 27) opening round of the Mountain View Christian Holiday Classic, Bickford put together his finest game as a Sultan, pouring in 30 points and bagging 18 rebounds in a 76-42 victory over River Valley of Mohave Valley, Ariz.

“Because they were in a 1-3-1 zone it left huge gaps for offensive rebounds,” said Bickford, who scored off the majority of his 8 offensive caroms. “It was about crashing the boards and I got most of my points right around the hoops.”

Bickford, who was a sophomore at Skyview High School in Vancouver, Wash. last season, said he enjoys the freedom he’s gained at Santana.

“I barely got to play last year – averaged about 4 points and a couple rebounds per game,” Bickford said. “That’s because we had mostly seniors.”

Bickford went on to compare the game in the Pacific Northwest to where he is now.

“They have bigger players in Washington,” he said. “But they have a lot faster players down here.”

Barry wanted to point out the fact that the Sultans had 17 assists and five different players contributed to their 8 three-pointers.

Santana: Ryan Bickford 30 (18 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl), Jordan Khalaf 10 (2 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 3 stl), Jason Corbisez 8 (4 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl), A.J. Bratlein 8 (4 reb), Daniel Levens-Lowery 8 (2 reb), Trey Bass 4 (1 reb, 5 ast, 7 stl), Christian Barry 3 (4 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl), Mike Rosolino 3 (1 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl), James Doherty 2 (1 reb).

EL CAJON VALLEY 84, LIBERTY CHARTER 36 – El Cajon Valley won for the first time in 34 games in Monday’s (Dec. 27) opening round of the inaugural Braves Classic.

The Braves, who were 0-27 in coach MARTY ELLIS’ first year and came up empty in six games this season, raced to a 33-9 advantage over Liberty Charter and never looked back.

“Getting this first one feels pretty good,” said Ellis. “It was a good morale boost, but we’re not ready to celebrate. This was just a stepping stone for us – it’s a process.”

Five Braves reached double scoring digits led by DOMINIQUE MILLER’s 27 points.

El Cajon Valley: Dominique Miller 27 (7 reb, 2 blk, 3 stl), Brenden Brocious 13 (3 reb, 3 ast), Landall Butrus 11 (5 reb), Diante Ashby 11 (5 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl), Cory Lockman 11 (2 reb), Alex Jacinto 7 (2 reb), Tyler Verela 4 (2 reb, 3 ast), Frank Williams (9 reb, 1 blk).

HELIX 74, SWEETWATER 55 – Playing perhaps its best game of the season, Helix (5-4) scored its season high in Monday’s (Dec. 27) first round of the Chula Spartan Classic.

For one of the few times this season, Helix individuals registered some eye-catching numbers. At the head of the class was senior KENNY KEYS, who rolled a double-double of 27 points and 14 rebounds. Equally as impressive was BRIAN VALADEZ’s 20 rebounds and 11 points.

“We know Kenny is capable of games like this,” Helix coach JOHN SINGER said. “Valadez did a great job on the defensive glass, and TOMMIE (YOUNG) did a great job of running the show with 9 assists.”

Helix: Kenny Keys 27 (14 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl, 3 blk), Brian Valadez 11 (20 reb, 2 ast, 2 blk), Titus Young 13 (3 reb, 1 ast, 4 stl), Tommie Young 6 (1 reb, 9 ast, 6 stl), Kevin Williams 6 (1 ast, 1 stl), Mike Todd 5 (1 reb, 2 stl, 1 blk), John Singer 4 (2 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Isaac Sullivan 2, Kene Anigbogu (4 reb, 1 ast), Gary Thompson (1 reb, 1 stl).

WEST HILLS 68, DEL NORTE 43; 29 PALMS 61, WEST HILLS 46 – In the first of two Coronado Tournament double-headers, the Wolf Pack earned a split in Monday’s (Dec. 27) opening round.

In the opener the Wolf Pack outscored Del Norte 45-17 to pull off a victory in the first game of the twinbill.

ALEX PARSONS led a balanced attack, hitting 8 of 11 shots from the field and two free throws for 18 points to go along with 9 rebounds.

“The second half of that game was the best game we’ve had all season,” said West Hills assistant coach LUCAS ARMSTRONG.

Four members of the Pack reached double digits, including JOHN MAGOON, who hit 4 of 6 from the field and 4 of 5 free throws for a season-best 12 points.

“No question that was Magoon’s best game,” said Armstrong.

The Wolf Pack (4-7) was out-muscled by 29 Palms in the nightcap.

“They’re a mean team that knocked our kids around like pinballs,” Armstrong said. “The fact that we had only two free throws and five fouls in the game shows that we were not very aggressive.”

West Hills (vs. Del Norte): Alex Parsons 18 (9 reb, 1 ast, 4 stl, 1 blk), Nick Findley 14 (5 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Jonny Preston 12 (5 reb, 6 ast, 5 stl), John Magoon 12 (6 reb), D.J. Lewis 6 (5 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk), Joey Clark 2 (5 reb, 1 ast), Kevin Straub 2 (1 reb, 1 ast), Gus Lopez 1 (9 reb, 1 stl, 1 blk), Ralph Bedoe 1.

West Hills (vs. 29 Palms): Nick Findley 11 (3 reb, 2 stl), Kevin Straub 9 (3 reb, 5 ast), Alex Parsons 8 (8 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl, 2 blk), Jonny Preston 6 (2 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl), D.J. Lewis 4 (6 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl), Ralph Bedoe 3 (1 ast), Joey Clark 3 (4 reb, 1 ast, 4 stl), John Magoon 2 (4 reb, 1 stl), Gus Lopez (2 reb),

FOOTHILLS CHRISTIAN 64, CALIPATRIA 41 – Filling the shoes of the previous backcourt phenoms has been no small chore for Foothills Christian’s DALTON MOSSER, who tossed in 11 points, dished 6 assists and made 6 steals in Monday’s (Dec. 27) opening round of the Sportland Holiday Classic at Granite Hills.

“We’ve always recognized Mosser as an offensive threat,” said Foothills assistant coach GEORGE CUNNINGHAM. “But the most improved part of his game is defense. He did a great job of face-guarding Calipatria’s best player.”

Foothills Christian: Jamal Aytes 28 (10 reb, 4 ast, 2 blk, 1 stl), Dalton Mosser 11 (3 reb, 6 ast, 3 blk, 6 stl), Caleb Hoffman 8 (3 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl), Ricky Adams 6, Ian Mathisen 5 (1 reb, 1 ast), Joe Buenrostro 3 (1 reb, 2 stl), Daniel Labahn 3 (1 reb, 1 stl).

CHRISTIAN 55, SITKA (Alaska) 41 – The Patriots won the game, but probably lost its standout shooter ICARO PARISOTTO to a knee injury in Monday’s (Dec. 27) opening round of the inaugural Monarchs Basketball Classic.

Parisotto was injured on a drive to the basket midway through the second quarter.

“He made a jump stop and his knee popped out,” said Patriots assistant coach DEREK LARSEN. “His knee swelled up immediately.”

Parisotto finished with 11 points in what could be his final contest. He was carried off the court and taken to the hospital for X-rays.

“It didn’t look good,” said Larsen.

Christian: Shane Dillon 26 (5 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Icaro Parisotto 11 (1 reb), Clarence Carter 8 (5 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Tyrone Sauls 6 (10 reb, 1 stl), Jake Larsen 4 (2 reb, 8 ast, 2 stl), Trenton Sauls (2 reb, 2 stl), Aaron Hueslein (3 reb).

GRANITE HILLS 77, CALEXICO 49 – After falling behind 16-13 in the first quarter of Monday’s (Dec. 27) Sportland Holiday Classic at Granite Hills, the Eagles bounced back to post their eighth win in 11 decisions.

Known more for its offensive prowess — senior GARRETT LARCH-MILLER nailed 21 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 6 steals and blocked three shots –Granite Hills turned to its defense to shut down the Bulldogs in the second half.

“We held them to three points for the first 10 minutes of the second half,” Granite Hills coach RANDY ANDERSON said.

Six-foot-9 SCOTT ATKINSON grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked 8 shots for the Eagles.

Granite Hills: Garrett Larch-Miller 21 (10 reb, 8 ast, 3 blk, 6 stl), Dalton Otineru 14 (2 stl), Scott Atkinson 9 (11 reb, 1 ast, 8 blk, 2 stl), James Sadik 9 (2 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl), Joey Grubb 6 (2 reb, 1 stl), John Petty 5 (2 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl), Nate Bennett 4 (4 reb, 1 stl), Blake Perry 3, Wil Wilson 2 (1 reb, 1 ast), Stephen Keppel 2 (1 ast), Danny Densel 2 (1 stl).

GROSSMONT 63, POINT LOMA 53 – Veteran coaches such as Grossmont’s FRANK FOGGIANO realize they never know what to expect from their team coming off a holiday weekend.

“We were pretty methodical,” Foggiano said after the Foothillers survived a 23-point second quarter to punch out the Pointers in Monday’s (Dec. 27) first round of the Chula Vista Spartan Classic. “Coming off Christmas weekend like we did it is tough to stay focused. But we did shoot well.”

Traditionally an inside team, the Foothillers (7-4) buried eight three-pointers, including 3 apiece from DeSEAN WATERS and MICHAEL WNEK.

Grossmont: Robby Nesovic 20 (7 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Michael Wnek 18 (2 reb, 2 ast), DeSean Waters 17 (3 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl), Derek Rustich 5 (9 reb, 2 stl), Adam Robinson 3 (2 reb), Nick Persinger (1 reb).

MOUNT MIGUEL 67, EC-SOUTHWEST 28 – A career high 21 points by sophomore guard IZZY WAGNER – anchored by his five 3-pointers – spearheaded the Matadors (8-4) to Monday’s (Dec. 27) opening round victory in the 28th Annual Aztec Holiday Classic at Montgomery High.

Mount Miguel : Izzy Wagner 21 (2 ast), Marcus Booker 15 (3 reb, 3 ast), Mohamud Abdi 10 (6 reb), Safen Mohammed 6 (2 ast, 3 stl), Thomas Butler 6 (8 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl), Cory Littleton 4 (9 reb), Marcellus Jones 3 (1 ast), Shakeel Hill 2 (4 stl).

MONTE VISTA 53, Morgan Hill-OAKWOOD 38 – Hot-handed BRIAN STERLING swished 22 points and REUBEN NWANDO knocked down 14 points and corralled 13 rebounds leading host Monte Vista (7-2) to an opening round victory in Monday’s (Dec. 27) start to the inaugural Monarchs Basketball Classic

“We were able to get up the floor and run on them,” said Monarchs assistant coach KEITH HOUSTON. “We had too many missed lay-ups tonight but we had a good press.”

Monte Vista: Brian Sterling 22 (4 reb, 3 stl), Reuben Nwando 14 (13 reb, 1 ast, 4 blk, 6 stl), K.J. Houston 7 (4 reb, 5 ast, 2 blk, 2 stl), Devin Rendo 2 (3 reb, 2 blk, 1 stl), Jahzdion Taylor 2 (7 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl), Darrius Wellington 2 (2 reb, 1 ast), Jahmani Lockett 2 (3 reb, 1 blk, 2 stl), D’ondre Coleman 1 (3 reb), Kylie Luster 1 (8 reb, 2 blk, 3 stl), Xavier Daniels (4 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Terrance Peterson (2 reb, 1 stl).

HILLTOP 63, EL CAPITAN 45 – Hilltop outscored the Vaqueros (4-6) in all four quarters of Monday’s (Dec. 27) opening round of the 28th annual Aztec Holiday Classic at Montgomery.

El Capitan : Tyson Kygar 24 (6 reb, 1 ast, 3 blk, 3 stl), Cody Kygar 8 (1 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl), Austin Betts 3 (5 reb, 3 ast), Scott Ross 2 (1 stl), Travis Hulsey 2 (3 reb, 1 ast), Nestor Ramirez 2 (4 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl), Ryan Quinten 2 (2 reb), Anthony Agunat 2 (4 reb),

SD-SOUTHWEST 60, STEELE CANYON 43 – The Cougars (3-8) were tagged with 10 of the first 11 personals in Monday’s (Dec. 27) loss to San Diego Southwest in the Chula Vista Spartan Classic. Yet, they trailed by only three points at intermission.

“We missed at least nine layups in the first half and got killed on the boards in the second half,” said Steele Canyon coach DEREK STEPHENS.

Steele Canyon: Casey Balikian 15, Dylan Kirchhofer 10, Drew Myles 6, Michael Jordan 4, Aundre Belcher 3, Isaac Curia-Tobin 3.

© East County Sports.com
SAN DIEGO (12-24-10) — Mount Miguel High used a balanced attack led by junior guard MARCUS BOOKER’s 15 points en route to a 58-42 consolation round victory over West Hills in Thursday’s (Dec. 23) final day of the Xtreme Glass Holiday Invitational at Sweetwater.

“We came out with a lot of energy in the first half and sustained it through most of the game,” said Matadors coach JAY ROWLETT. “We got contributions from everybody because we did a good job of moving the ball around.”

Mount Miguel indeed began on a jet stream, taking a 16-0 lead.

“We didn’t start so well, but we played them even after those first few minutes,” said West Hills coach JEFF ARMSTRONG.

One thing Armstrong had to be pleased by is that his offense is coming to life. The Wolf Pack scored 197 points in the first three games of the four-game tournament.

“(NICK) FINDLEY had three big games for us (56 points for the tourney),” Armstrong said. “He was consistent. (JONNY) PRESTON handled the ball well, especially when we were up-tempo, and (ALEX) PARSONS gave us a lot of good minutes too.”

Findley shared game-high scoring honors, with the majority of his 15 markers coming on 4-for-9 three-point shooting.

Mount Miguel: Marcus Booker 15 (3 reb, 3 stl), Izzy Wagner 12 (5 reb, 5 ast), Thomas Butler 11, Mohamud Abdi 8 (2 reb), Shakeel Hill 6 (6 reb, 6 stl), Safen Mohammed 4 (3 stl), Cory Littleton 2 (8 reb, 2 stl).

West Hills: Nick Findley 15, Alex Parsons 8 (8 reb), Jonny Preston 8 (4 ast), John McGoon 4, Joey Clark 3, Gus Lopez 2, Kevin Straub 2.

Foothills Christian guard Joe Buenrostro (3) defends the dribble penetration by El Capitan's Tyson Kygar. (Photo by Frank Price, youatplay.com) ADDITIONAL PHOTOS HERE

© East County Sports.com
SAN DIEGO (12-23-10) — For fans who enjoyed watching a comeback from a double-digit deficit, one needed only to remain in their seats when another East County team repeated the trick.

In a double-header where each contestant closely mirrored the other, Mount Miguel rallied from a horrendous third quarter, making up 16 points to stun Fraser Valley of British Columbia, 59-56.

Moments later, West Hills repeated the performance in near identical fashion, trailing by 14 points early in the second quarter before flying back to stun Mar Vista, 61-58, during Wednesday's (Dec. 22) third round play in the Xtreme Glass Holiday Invitational at Sweetwater.

MOUNT MIGUEL 59, FRASER VALLEY (Abbotsford, B.C.) 56 – The Fighting Ficus posted a remarkable shooting streak, courtesy of a run of, shall we say, matador defense by the Matadors in an ugly third-quarter effort.

Following a 3-point goal, Fraser Valley converted 11 straight baskets on layins -- the final in the series was a reverse layup -- to mount a 48-32 advantage. Yet somehow, Mount Miguel turned the tables to post an improbable victory.

"We didn't give up and we put pressure on them in the fourth quarter," said guard MARCUS BOOKER. "Everyone could feel the intensity."

The rally featured a pair of treys by IZZY WAGNER, who tallied all of his 8 points in the fourth period, including a bomb off a Booker pass to tie the game at 54-54 with 1:56 remaining.

Booker then found THOMAS BUTLER open in the corner for the go-ahead baseline jumper with 1:11 left.

"Coach (JAY ROWLETT) showed he believed in us, and I believed in the team, too," Booker noted. "We just now need to do it for four quarters."

In the final minute, forward CORY LITTLETON, who recorded a double-double of 11 points and 14 rebounds, stole the ball to prevent Fraser Valley from an opportunity to force overtime. Booker then sank both ends of a one-and-one in the final seconds.

Mount Miguel: Thomas Butler 16 (5 reb), Marcus Booker 15 (7 ast), Izzy Wagner 12 (1 stl), Cory Littleton 11 (14 reb), Safen Mohammed 5 (5 stl), Mohamud Abdi (2 reb), Shakeel Hill (4 reb, 2 ast, 4 stl), Marcellus Jones (1 reb).

WEST HILLS 61, MAR VISTA 58 – Everything seemed lost after the Wolf Pack made just one of their first 11 shots to fall in a huge sinkhole to the Mariners, who led 18-5 after the first quarter before stretching the advantage to 24-10.

"We talked about that at halftime," said West Hills sophomore guard JONNY PRESTON. "We did some soul searching to the extreme."

The Xtreme Glass Holiday Classic gave Preston & Co. the perfect forum to get their act together, which they shockingly did to post a second victory in three starts at the tournament.

Taking advantage of Mar Vista's switch to zone defense over the final five minutes after its top defender fouled out, ALEX PARSONS registered five assists by finding the open men in the gaps for an array of jumpers.

NICK FINDLEY started the streak with a 3-ball, one of his five for the contest to register a game-high 19 points. Then JOEY CLARK hit a pair of bombs, the latter giving West Hills the lead for keeps at 54-53 with 1:01 remaining.

"When Mar Vista clamped down on Findley, Clark came up with a pair of big shots," said head coach JEFF ARMSTRONG. "The whole team adjusted well whenever they made changes defensively."

Preston finished with 15 points, while also taking a charge on defense. He also survived a flagrant foul when he was sharply taken down to the floor in the final minute.

West Hills: Nick Findley 19 (3 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Jonny Preston 15 (3 ast, 2 reb, 2 stl), Joey Clark 10 (2 ast, 1 reb, 1 stl), Alex Parsons 9 (5 ast, 4 reb, 4 blk, 2 stl), John McGoon 3 (5 reb, 1 ast), DJ Lewis 3 (4 reb, 2 stl), Kevin Straub 2 (2 ast, 2 reb, 1 stl), Ralph Bedoe (1 ast), Gus Lopez (1 reb).

GRANITE HILLS 68, GREEN VALLEY (Nev.) 62 – After being tagged with a season-low 9 points the day before, GARRETT LARCH-MILLER returned to his high-scoring perch by pouring in 32 points in Wednesday’s (Dec. 22) final round of the Foothill Holiday Classic in Las Vegas.

Larch-Miller nailed 9 of 18 shots from the field, including one three and converted 13 of 15 free throws. The 6-foot-2 senior also led the Eagles with 12 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 blocks and 3 steals.

DALTON OTINERU, who is known more for his ball handling and defense, recorded a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Eagles (7-3). The senior missed only one of six shots from the floor.

“Dalton Otineru is our best defensive player and for him to grab 10 rebounds was a real plus for us,” said Eagles coach RANDY ANDERSON.

Six-foot-9 SCOTT ATKINSON added 12 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks for Granite Hills.

The Eagles, who led 35-30 at halftime, survived 26 turnovers.

“It was a tough game. They put an awful lot of pressure on us and we didn’t handle it very well,” said Anderson. “We had a tough time rebounding and our free throw shooting was poor (17-for-32). We let them get into transition too much. We shot very well from the field (51 percent) and had good team balance.”

Granite Hills: Garrett Larch-Miller 32 (12 reb, 8 ast, 3 blk, 3 stl), Scott Atkinson 12 (5 reb, 1 ast, 2 blk), Dalton Otineru 10 (10 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Joey Grubb 9 (4 reb, 2 ast), James Sadik 4 (3 reb, 1 blk), Nate Bennett 1 (5 reb, 3 ast), John Petty (4 reb, 2 ast), Nate Jeter (1 reb).

EL CAPITAN 77, FOOTHILLS CHRISTIAN 50 – El Capitan scored a season high at the expense of the Foothills Christian Knights in Wednesday’s (Dec. 22) final round of the Grossmont Winter Classic at Grossmont High.

Sure-handed TYSON KYGAR paced the Vaqueros with 30 points, hitting 9 of 15 field goals, including 6 threes to go along with converting all 6 free throw attempts for El Capitan (4-5).

El Capitan led 37-32 at halftime and never looked back.

“For the most part I think the kids got the idea what we’re trying to do,” said Vaqueros coach JASON CAVAZOS. “It’s always good when you put up 77 points. We pushed the ball and got a lot of open shots. It looked like the kids were having fun – that’s important.

“This is the first time in awhile that all 10 guys buy into what we’re trying to do – we’re starting to jell well together.”

CODY KYGAR added 18 points and 6 assists for the Vaqueros, and NESTOR RAMIREZ contributed 11 points and 6 assists.

“We started the tournament out kinda slow, then we started playing really well,” said Cavazos. “Today we had a game plan to stop two of their players: No. 5 and No. 13 (6-foot-6 JAMAL AYTES and point guard DALTON MOSSER). I think we did a good job.”

El Capitan: Tyson Kygar 30 (2 ast, 7 reb, 2 stl), Cody Kygar 18 (6 ast, 3 reb), Nestor Ramirez 11 (6 ast, 3 reb), Austin Betts 9 (6 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl), Kameron Brown 3 (3 reb), Scott Ross 2 (3 stl), Anthony Agunat 2 (2 ast, 8 reb), Austin Digenan 2 (1 ast), Ryan Quinten (2 reb).

Foothills Christian: Dalton Mosser 11 (4 ast, 2 reb, 1 blk, 3 stl), Jamal Aytes 10 (6 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl), Daniel LaBahn 9 (1 reb), Caleb Hoffman 8 (1 ast, 2 reb, 2 stl), Joe Buenrostro 6 (1 stl), Ian Mathisen 3 (2 reb), Ricky Adams 3 (1 ast, 6 reb, 1 stl), Corey Haines (2 reb, 1 blk).

MADISON 54, SANTANA 52 – While their leading scorer – LANDON LOZOYA – watched from the sidelines on crutches, the Sultans nearly pulled off a significant upset in Wednesday’s (Dec. 22) consolation championship of the Grossmont Winter Classic at Grossmont High.

JASON CORBISEZ picked up the slack for his wounded comrade, pouring in a team-best 21 points and hauling down 6 rebounds.

“Corbisez possesses skills similar to those of Lozoya,” said Santana coach TIM BARRY. “He really came through, as did (TREY) BASS, who has been playing on a sore knee for the last three games.”

Santana led the whole game until the final 30 seconds of the third quarter when a Madison player fired a 60-foot bank shot to give the Warhawks a 38-36 advantage.

“That was unbelievable,” said Barry. “The guy picked up the ball at the top of the opposite key and just let it fly. That was definitely a momentum switch.”

None the less the Sultans fought back to lead through the first three minutes of the final period.

Trailing by five points with 90 seconds remaining, Corbisez hit a bucket with 50 seconds left, cutting the deficit to 3.

“With 10 seconds left I thought we got a pretty good look at a 3-pointer but Madison smacked it out of bounds with 1 second left,” Barry said. “We got one last chance when DANIEL LEVENS-LOWERY was able to get off a shot at the buzzer. The ball hit the rim and bounced off.”

“I could easily be frustrated by this loss, but considering we didn’t have Lozoya I was amazed that we had an athletic team like Madison on the ropes.”

“Not having Lozoya obviously changes our game,” Barry continued. “On the positive side, it helps our other kids find themselves so I guess it might be a blessing in disguise.”

Santana: Jason Corbisez 21 (6 reb), Ryan Bickford 11 (12 reb, 6 blk), Trey Bass 7 (7 reb, 6 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl), James Doherty 7 (1 reb, 1 ast), Christian Barry 6 (1 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk), Jordan Khalaf 1 (4 reb, 1 ast).

Mr. Quarterback

Grossmont High guard DeSean Waters (Frank Price, youatplay.com) ADDITIONAL PHOTOS HERE

“I’m happy where we are,” he said. “We played some top-notch competition with an inexperienced bench.”

Six-foot-4 sophomore DEREK RUSTICH paced the Foothillers with 17 points, 12 rebounds and 3 steals. He did most of his damage from the free throw line where he converted 11 of 16 foul shots.

Steady junior ROBBY NESOVIC added 16 points and 8 rebounds, while MICHAEL WNEK nailed a trio of 3-pointers.

Grossmont: Derek Rustich 17 (12 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl), Robby Nesovic 16 (8 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), DeSean Waters 9 (4 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl), Adam Robinson 6, Marcus Flisher 1 (1 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl).

CHRISTIAN 61, EL CAJON VALLEY 38 – SHANE DILLON provided the one-two scoring punch for Christian High as the Patriots improved to 4-4 with a lopsided victory over El Cajon Valley in Wednesday’s (Dec. 22) Grossmont Winter Classic at Grossmont High.

Dillon, who has been battling the flu, finished with 17 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocked shots, while senior CLARENCE CARTER was 5-for-5 from the floor.

As a team Christian shot 51 percent, nailing 25 of 49 attempts.

“We were very hungry for a win,” said Patriots assistant coach DEREK LARSEN. “They were a little undersized and we took advantage of it. We did a good job in transition that led to a lot of open shots. We did a fine job on defense, especially in the first half (when Christian led 32-15).”

Christian: Shane Dillon 17 (9 reb, 3 ast, 3 blk), Clarence Carter 10 (3 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Aaron Hueslein 9 (7 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk), Jake Larsen 8 (4 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl), Tyrone Sauls 6 (10 reb), Tyler Ballard 4 (2 reb, 3 stl), Josh Feldscher 4 (1 ast), Trenton Sauls 3 (6 reb).

El Cajon Valley: No information provided.

RIDGEWOOD (Ill.) 57, VALHALLA 34 – Ridgewood, located in the Chicagoland area of Illinois, bolted to a 12-0 advantage and left the Norsemen reeling thereafter in Wednesday’s (Dec. 22) final round of the Foothill Holiday Classic in Las Vegas.

“We had trouble handling the ball against their press,” admitted Valhalla coach KEITH JACKSON. “They were a very quick, aggressive team. Our shooting was really off today.”

The Norsemen (5-7) shot a smidgeon better than 41 percent, connecting on 14 of 34 tries from the field.

MANNY HERNANDEZ nailed six of eight shots from the field for 12 points and five rebounds against the Fighting Illini. But Valhalla teammate DAVID WILSCHETZ was the main weapon, finishing the four-game tournament with 76 points and 35 rebounds.

Valhalla: Manny Hernandez 12 (5 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk), David Wilschetz 11 (6 reb, 1 stl), Matt Butcher 5 (2 ast), Amil Hermiz 2 (1 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl), Thomas McDonald 2 (3 reb), Kevin Mills (2 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl), Kalend Hunter (2 reb).

Monte Vista junior guard K.J. Houston (Frank Price, youatplay.com) ADDITIONAL PHOTOS HERE

Sterling’s 21 points paced the Monarchs (6-2), while Nwando finished with a season-best 16 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.

“We are a Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde type of team,” said Monte Vista coach JAMES CARROLL. “Today we were Dr. Jekyll. We got a lot of contributions from our entire team – today we played like a real team.

“I think we played a strong game defensively and on the boards. After our last two games this was a big win for us.”

Point guard K.J. HOUSTON contributed 12 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds and a block for the Monarchs.

Although the Monarchs won, it was far from perfect as 6-foot-5 junior forward JAMES JACKSON suffered a severe ankle sprain and was taken to the hospital for evaluation.

Monte Vista: Brian Sterling 21 (4 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 4 stl), Reuben Nwando 16 (8 reb, 4 ast, 2 blk, 3 stl), K.J. Houston 12 (3 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk, 3 stl), Jahmani Lockett 8 (4 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl), Devin Rendo 4 (1 blk), James Jackson 2 (4 reb, 3 ast, 3 blk, 5 stl), Jahzdion Taylor 2 (4 reb, 2 blk), Xavier Daniels 2 (1 reb, 1 ast), Kylie Luster (8 reb, 1 ast, 3 blk), D’ondre Coleman (2 reb).

© East County Sports.com
EL CAJON (12-22-10) — In a match-up that is certain to become a traditional rivalry, Foothills Christian squeezed out a last-second 48-47 victory over the Christian Patriots in Tuesday’s (Dec. 21) Grossmont Winter Classic consolation contest at Grossmont High.

This was one of those nail-biters, which was decided at the buzzer when DANIEL LaBAHN hit a 3-pointer to provide the Knights with the thrilling victory.

“It was a crazy game – it was wild all game,” said LaBahn, a 6-foot-2 shooting guard. “I had already decided if I got a good look I was going to take a shot. I knew it was in from the moment I shot it.

“We’ve been looking for somebody to take a leadership role on the floor. Today I decided it would be my time.”

Foothills Christian point guard DALTON MOSSER penetrated the lane and passed the ball to post JAMAL AYTES, who was double-teamed, so Aytes – with 3 seconds remaining – kicked the ball out to LaBahn, who hit the final shot from the top of the key.

With 30 seconds left, JAKE LARSEN hit a field goal to put Christian up 46-45.

With 13 seconds remaining the Patriots’ SHANE DILLON stole the ball and was fouled. He made the first of his two free throws.

“We came out today and played better than we have through the whole tournament,” said Patriots assistant coach DEREK LARSEN. “It was a tight game the whole way – both teams went back and forth with the lead.”

Christian fell to 3-4 while Foothills Christian is now officially 1-7, although on the court the Knights are 4-4.

Despite the loss, the Patriots received a double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds from Dillon and a career-high 15 points from JAKE LARSEN.

Christian: Shane Dillon 18 (13 reb, 4 ast, 4 blk, 2 stl), Jake Larsen 15 (4 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl), Tyrone Sauls 7 (4 reb), Clarence Carter 4 (3 reb), Aaron Hueslein 3 (8 reb), Trenton Sauls (4 reb).

Foothills Christian: Further information not available.

SANTANA 64, MONTE VISTA 43 – The Santana Sultans (7-2) streaked into the consolation finals of the Grossmont Winter Classic at Grossmont High after upending Monte Vista (5-2) on Tuesday (Dec. 21).

It was a costly victory for the Sultans, however, as sharpshooter LANDON LOZOYA suffered an injured left ankle with 4 minutes to play. He was to get it checked out at the hospital after the game, but according to Barry, his return is questionable until after the first of the year

Prior to his injury Lozoya scored a team best 15 points.

TREY BASS (12 points), JORDAN KHALAF (11 points, 7 steals) and JAMES DOHERTY (10 points) helped pick up the slack in Lozoya’s absence.

“We opened up a 10-1 lead – we really came out to play today,” said Sultans coach TIM BARRY. “We played hard, we played well and we had balanced scoring. Start to finish this was Trey Bass’ best game of the season.”

BRIAN STERLING scored a game-high 20 points for the Monarchs, who were outscored in three of the four quarters.

Santana: Landon Lozoya 15 (1 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl), Trey Bass 12 (6 reb, 5 ast, 2 stl), Jordan Khalaf 11 (4 reb, 2 ast, 7 stl), James Doherty 10 (1 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl), Ryan Bickford 9 (3 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl), Jason Corbisez 3 (2 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl), Daniel Levens-Lowery 2 (2 reb, 1 ast), A.J. Bratlein 2 (2 reb).

Monte Vista : Brian Sterling 20 (1 reb), Reuben Nwando 7 (4 reb, 3 blk, 3 stl), James Jackson 6 (7 reb, 5 ast, 2 blk, 1 stl), K.J. Houston 4 (2 reb, 1 blk), Jahmani Lockett 4 (1 reb), Kylie Luster (4 reb), Xavier Daniels (1 reb, 1 ast), D’ondre Coleman (2 reb, 1 stl).

EL CAPITAN 65, EL CAJON VALLEY 28 – Something the El Capitan Vaqueros have come to realize in the early going this season is, when they scored 65 points or more, they win.

For the third time the Vaqueros reached that magic number in crushing El Cajon Valley in Tuesday’s (Dec. 21) Grossmont Winter Classic at Grossmont High.

The latest victory for the Vaqueros (3-5) snapped a 3-game losing streak.

Steady TYSON KYGAR led the Vaqueros’ surge with 24 points, including hitting 5 of 12 three-point shots and all 7 free throws.

“We are really preaching to the kids to play together and this was a step in the right direction,” said Vaqueros coach JASON CAVAZOS. “We are trying to get back on track playing defense and playing together. If we can do these two things we can really win some games.”

El Capitan built a 43-16 halftime lead and the game was – for all intents and purposes – over.

As usual DOMINIQUE MILLER paced El Cajon Valley with 16 points and 6 rebounds.

“My heart goes out to Dominique,” said Braves coach MARTY ELLIS. “He has to score, he has to play defense. . . If he had four other guys step up and score some points we would be okay. It’s hard to take the passion out of this game when you love it so much. I’m trying to get these kids to feel that passion.

Ellis practices what he preaches.

“We had a good time this morning (prior to the game),” he said. “I made my team breakfast and we sat around and bonded. I try to do everything possible to get something out of these guys.”

Ellis isn’t just talking. He was a former East County Player of the Year from Monte Vista.

“Coach ZACH PECK gave me my passion for the game and I’m trying to do that for my players. Without it you can’t win.”

El Capitan: Tyson Kygar 24 (3 ast, 5 reb, 3 stl), Cody Kygar 11 (3 ast, 9 reb, 2 blk, 2 stl), Nestor Ramirez 8 (4 ast, 6 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl), Kameron Brown 6 (3 reb), Ryan Quinten 6 (3 reb), Austin Digenan 4 (4 reb, 1 blk), Austin Betts 2 (4 ast, 4 reb, 2 stl), Ross Scott 2 (1 ast, 1 stl), Anthony Agunat 2 (2 reb).

El Cajon Valley: Domique Miller 16 (1 ast, 6 reb, 4 blk, 1 stl), Tyler Verela 4 (1 ast, 2 reb, 1 stl), Brenden Brocious 5 (3 reb), Jeremy Medley 2 (3 reb, 2 stl), Logman Sulyman 1 (1 reb, 1 stl), Alex Jacinto (1 reb).

ST. AUGUSTINE 61, GROSSMONT 57 – This was one of those close games that might go unnoticed by the various pollsters. It was a nice matchup in Tuesday’s (Dec. 21) third round of the Grossmont Winter Classic at Grossmont High.

With 4 minutes left in the game the score was knotted at 50-50. The lead changed back and forth until 30 seconds remained, with St. Augustine leading by 5.

Grossmont junior ROBBY NESOVIC, who paced the Foothillers with 19 points, hit a 3 to cut the spread to 2 points.

“Then we had to foul and they made both free throws,” said Grossmont coach FRANK FOGGIANO.

The outcome might have been more favorable for Grossmont (6-3) had the Foothillers not been manhandled 14-4 in the second quarter, which staked St. Augustine (7-1) to a 32-21 halftime advantage.

“We didn’t make shots and they switched their defense on us,” said Foggiano. “That confused us a little. We made some adjustments at the half and we did a good job in the second half.”

Grossmont: Robby Nesovic 19 (8 reb), DeSean Waters 17 (4 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl), Michael Wnek 13 (6 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Derek Rustich 8 (10 reb, 1 stl), Adam Robinson (2 reb).

WEST HILLS 66, PREUSS 36 – West Hills charged up its offense to pound UCSD Preuss in Tuesday’s (Dec. 21) Xtreme Glass Holiday Invitational action at Sweetwater.

It was a balanced attack for the Wolf Pack (2-5), which led 18-4 after one period and closed things out with a 25-point scoring spree in the final period.

“To get 18 points in the first quarter, that’s a lot of points for us,” Pack coach JEFF ARMSTRONG said.

In its last two outings, West Hills has produced 136 points after averaging just 44 points in its first five games.

“We have had some very difficult games thus far this season. It was good for the kids to get this win,” Armstrong added.

West Hills: Kevin Straub 13, Jonny Preston 11, Alex Parsons 9, D.J. Lewis 9, Nick Findley 8, Ralph Bedoe 5, Gus Lopez 4, John McGoon 4, Joey Clark 3.

Las Vegas-GREEN VALLEY 55, VALHALLA 50 – Although the Norsemen have given up more points, Valhalla coach KEITH JACKSON said Tuesday’s (Dec. 21) Foothill Holiday Classic loss to Green Valley in Las Vegas was “our worst defensively game of the season.”

Yet, the Norsemen (5-6) trailed only 53-50 with one minute to play.

“We missed a 3-point shot, then had to foul,” Valhalla coach KEITH JACKSON said.

DAVID WILSCHETZ paced the Norsemen with 22 points.

“We fell behind early – were fortunate to be down by only 4 at the half (27-23),” Jackson added. “We didn’t shoot very well (42 percent) and we rebounded poorly.”

None the less, Valhalla was clinging to a 44-42 advantage midway through the second half.

“Then we went ice cold,” Jackson said. “We made one more run at them, but couldn’t get it done.”

Valhalla: David Wilschetz 22 (4 reb, 1 blk, 2 stl), Spencer Havird 10 (1 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl), Thomas McDonald 10 (4 reb), Matt Butcher 3 (1 reb), Kalend Hunter 3 (1 ast, 2 stl), Manny Hernandez 2 (6 reb, 2 ast), Kevin Mills (1 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl), Andrew Lewellen (2 reb, 1 ast), William Speegle (3 reb).

MOUNT MIGUEL 58, SAN PASQUAL 45 – One thing is certain about the Mount Miguel Matadors – they are not a streaky team.

Only once have the Matadors (5-4) posted back-to-back victories. By the same token, they’ve been beaten in consecutive contests only once.

Junior guard MARCUS BOOKER scored a season high 26 points and handed out seven assists to pace Mount Miguel in Tuesday’s (Dec.21) Xtreme Glass Holiday Invitational victory over San Pasqual at Sweetwater High.

“We came out with a lot of energy today,” Mount Miguel coach JAY ROWLETT said. “I was glad to see it after yesterday’s loss. Hopefully we’ll keep it up.”

Consistency is a phase of the game Rowlett is hoping to add to Mount Miguel ’s game plan.

Mount Miguel: Marcus Booker 26 (7 ast), Thomas Butler 14 (5 reb), Izzy Wagner 11 (2 stl), Safen Mohammed 3 (3 stl), Cory Littleton 3 (8 reb), Mohamud Abdi 2 (5 reb), Shakeel Hill 2 (1 ast, 6 stl), Marcellus Jones (1 reb).

RIDGEWOOD (Ill.) 63, GRANITE HILLS 43 – The team from Chicago made life miserable for Granite Hills (6-3) in Tuesday’s (Dec. 21) Foothill Holiday Classic at Las Vegas .

“Ridgewood is a very quick and aggressive team,” said Granite Hills coach RANDY ANDERSON. “Their style bothered us the whole game.”

So did personal fouls. Granite Hills’ scoring ace GARRETT LARCH-MILLER was in foul trouble much of the game and eventually fouled out with a season-low 9 points.

“We didn’t shoot real well today,” Anderson said. “We were really bad at the foul line (14 for 29). We got into early foul trouble and that really affected the way we wanted to play.”

Granite Hills: Joey Grubb 10 (3 reb, 1 stl), Garrett Larch-Miller 9 (3 reb, 1 ast), Danny Densel 7 (1 reb), Scott Atkinson 4 (6 reb, 1 blk), Nate Jeter 4 (4 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl), Nate Bennett 3 (2 reb, 1 ast), John Petty 3 (3 reb), Wil Wilson 1.

© East County Sports.com
LAS VEGAS (12-21-10) — One thing about the Valhalla Norsemen, you never know what’s going to happen. Five of their 10 games have been decided by 3 points or less.

In Monday’s (Dec. 20) opening round double-header of the Foothill Holiday Classic in Las Vegas, the Norsemen took both games down to the wire to earn a split.

They edged Desert Pines of Las Vegas, 66-64, in the opener and fell short against Las Vegas' Shadow Ridge, 50-48, in the nightcap.

“That’s our mantra, I guess,” said Valhalla coach KEITH JACKSON. “Somehow we always end up in a close game.”

In the victory over Desert Pines MATT BUTCHER buried a buzzer beater from 3-point range in the left corner.

“AMIL HERMIZ made a great play out of that. He deserves as much credit for the win as anybody,” said Norsemen’s assistant coach DON ROLLINS. “We were down by two with 12 seconds to play and Hermiz drove the lane.

“DAVID WILSCHETZ was drawing double coverage so Hermiz was going to shoot but their defender jumped the passing lane and Hermiz kicked it out to Butcher, who hit a 20 footer.”

Wilschetz, who was 11-for-15 from the floor and 7 of 8 from the free throw line, scored 30 points to go along with 12 rebounds.

In the second game against Shadow Ridge, Valhalla fell behind 32-20 by halftime.

“We were chasing 17 points in the first half,” said Jackson. “But we chipped away the entire second half and tied it at 48-all. We got a 3-and-one from SPENCER HAVIRD and a 2-and-one from MANNY HERNANDEZ.”

“I thought we had a chance to go overtime when they missed a shot,” Jackson said. “But they tipped in the rebound with 5 seconds left to beat us.”

Valhalla (vs. Desert Pines): David Wilschetz 30 (12 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl), Matt Butcher 13 (4 reb, 4 ast, 3 stl), Manny Hernandez 7 (1 ast, 4 blk, 6 reb), Spencer Havird 6 (2 ast, 1 reb, 1 blk, 2 stl), Amil Hermiz 5 (3 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl), Kevin Mills 4 (3 ast, 3 reb, 1 stl), Thomas McDonald 1 (2 reb, 1 ast).

Valhalla (vs. Shadow Ridge): David Wilschetz 13 (13 reb, 4 ast, 5 stl, 1 blk), Spencer Havird 10 (5 stl, 2 ast), Manny Hernandez 8 (3 reb, 1 blk), Matt Butcher 7 (2 stl), Amil Hermiz 4 (2 ast, 1 reb, 1 stl), Thomas McDonald 4 (1 reb, 2 stl), Kalend Hunter 2 (2 ast, 1 stl, 1 reb), William Speegle (5 reb, 1 ast), Josh McLenachen (1 stl), Kevin Mills (2 stl).

GRANITE HILLS 71, Las Vegas-DEL SOL 60; Reno-HUG 63, GRANITE HILLS 48 – Head coach RANDY ANDERSON’s Granite Hills Eagles earned a split in Monday’s (Dec. 20) opening double-header of the Foothill Holiday Classic in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Not surprisingly, GARRETT LARCH-MILLER was the Eagles’ top gun, pouring in 49 points and snagging 13 rebounds as the Eagles’ record fell to 6-2.

In the victory over Del Sol of Las Vegas, Granite Hills jumped out to an 11-0 lead but early foul trouble allowed the Dragons (2-5) to get back into the game.

The Dragons had a 2-point lead midway through the second half as Granite Hills’ Larch-Miller and NATE BENNETT were on the bench in foul trouble.

Sophomore JOEY GRUBB came off the pine to score a season high 16 points, while DALTON OTINERU contributed a dozen markers and JAMES SADIK had 6 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks.

“We got a great job from our bench,” Anderson said. “That enabled us to take control over the last eight minutes.”

In the nightcap, the Eagles fell behind 33-20 at halftime and never recovered against the Hawks of Reno.

Granite Hills shot only 32 percent from the field and made only a pair of 3-pointers.

“We shot very poorly,” said Anderson. “We ran out of gas – having to play two games in one day was just too much for us. Reno was more athletic then we were.”

Granite Hills (vs. Del Sol): Garrett Larch-Miller 24 (7 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl), Joey Grubb 16 (4 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl), Dalton Otineru 12 (6 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), James Sadik 6 (6 reb, 3 blk), Nate Bennett 5 (4 reb, 4 ast), Scott Atkinson 4 (5 reb, 1 ast, 3 blk), Kyle Pierson 4, John Petty (1 reb, 1 stl).

Granite Hills (vs. Reno Hug): Garrett Larch-Miller 25 (6 reb, 2 blk, 1 stl), Joey Grubb 9 (3 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Scott Atkinson 6 (8 reb, 2 ast, 4 blk), Nate Bennett 5, John Petty 2, Dalton Otineru 1 (4 reb, 2 ast, 4 stl), Stephen Keppel (2 reb, 1 blk), James Sadik (3 reb).

SANTANA 61, FOOTHILLS CHRISTIAN 51 – The Sultans used a balanced attack, placing four players in double scoring digits in Monday’s (Dec. 20) second round of the Grossmont Winter Classic at Grossmont High.

Six-foot-8 RYAN BICKFORD paced the Sultans with 13 points and 12 rebounds, and LANDON LOZOYA added 12 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists as Santana (6-2) snapped a two-game losing streak.

“It was good to pick up a win – it was good for morale,” said Sultans coach TIM BARRY. “We ran our sets real well. Unfortunately we shot horrendously (35 percent).”

Only one of the Sultans shot better than 50 percent from the field. JAMES DOHERTY netted 3 of 4 opportunities for 6 points.

“We got some good minutes, and with the injuries we’ve had, this is important for us,” Barry added. “Our defense really carried us today. We did a good job shutting down their offense.”

JAMAL AYTES led Foothills Christian (0-7) with a game-high 23 points and DALTON MOSSER added 13.

Santana: Ryan Bickford 13 (12 reb, 2 bl, 1 stl), Landon Lozoya 12 (7 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk, 3 stl), Trey Bass 11 (7 reb, 4 ast, 3 stl), Jordan Khalif 10 (4 reb, 2 stl), James Doherty 6 (3 reb), Christian Barry 5 (5 reb, 1 ast), Daniel Levens-Lowery 4 (1 reb), Jason Corbisez (2 ast, 1 stl).

Foothills Christian: Jamal Aytes 23, Dalton Mosser 13, Caleb Hoffman 9, Daniel LaBahn 4, Ian Mathisen 2.

Never was that more evident than it was in Monday’s (Dec. 20) second round of the Grossmont Winter Classic at Grossmont High. ICARO PARISOTTO’s 25-point scoring average would have come in handy.

The Monarchs (5-1) led by four points with less than a minute to play when Christian’s SHANE DILLON buried a 3-pointer.

The Patriots (3-3) had a chance to pull out a victory as they had the ball and called time out with 13 seconds remaining, trailing by one point.

Christian attempted to execute a pick-and-roll play between JAKE LARSEN and Dillon. The ball eventually wound up in the hands of AARON HUESLEIN in the right corner. He drove the baseline and put up a layup but it fell off.

“We had our chances to win today but we could not hit a big shot down the stretch,” said Patriots coach KELVIN STARR. “Free throw shooting hurt us today. We ran a good play for the last shot and got the kind of shot we wanted – Aaron just could not get the ball to go in. I thought we did an outstanding job on defense.”

Monte Vista: Reuben Nwando 10, K.J. Houston 9, Devin Rendo 5, Brian Sterling 5, James Jackson 2, Jahmani Lockett 2.

Christian: Shane Dillon 12 (8 reb, 1 blk, 3 stl), Jake Larsen 9 (7 reb, 5 ast, 1 stl), Tyrone Sauls 4 (7 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Trent Sauls 4 (3 reb), Aaron Hueslein 3 (2 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl), Clarence Carter (2 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl), Tyler Ballard (1 reb).

CHULA VISTA 72, WEST HILLS 70 (OT) – This was a tough loss for the Wolf Pack in Monday’s (Dec. 20) opening round of the Xtreme Glass Holiday Invitational at Sweetwater.

It was a seesaw affair with Chula Vista (5-1) taking a 24-17 first quarter lead, and the Wolf Pack (1-5) fighting back to tie up at 33-all by intermission.

West Hills led 65-62 with 20 seconds left in regulation.

“I called time out and told our kids that I wanted to make it a two possession game,” said Pack coach JEFF ARMSTRONG. “I didn’t want to give them an easy three or to foul them on a drive. But somehow ( Chula Vista ) managed to drop a three on us and force overtime.”

ALEX PARSONS paced the Wolf Pack with 25 points while KEVIN STRAUB added 15. NICK FINDLAY added 14 points – the majority coming on 4 treys.

West Hills had a chance to either win it or send the game into a second overtime as it trailed by 2 points with 7 seconds remaining.

“We didn’t have good clock recognition,” Armstrong said.

The Pack passed the ball inside to Parsons, who was smothered by Spartans defenders, so he kicked the ball back outside.

“We were unable to get a shot off,” Armstrong said.

West Hills: Alex Parsons 25, Kevin Straub 15, Nick Findlay 14, Jonny Preston 9, Joey Clark 3, D.J. Lewis 2.

BONITA VISTA 71, EL CAPITAN 62 – El Capitan coach JASON CAVAZOS wasn’t sure what his kids were thinking in Monday’s (Dec. 20) second round of the Grossmont Winter Classic at Grossmont High.

“We didn’t look like we were having much fun,” he said. “We scored enough to win but we didn’t do much on defense – didn’t play as a team, which is crucial for us because we’re so small.”

Bonita Vista outscored the Vaqueros 38-25 in the third quarter.

As usual, TYSON KYGAR led the Vaqueros with 24 points while his brother, CODY KYGAR (who was playing with a broken wrist) added 17 points and 6 assists for El Capitan (2-5).

“We’re not skilled enough to take a day off,” Cavazos said. “We all have to be on the same page or it’s going to be a long game.”

AUSTIN BETTS chipped in with 12 points for the Vaqueros.

El Capitan: Tyson Kygar 24 (5 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl), Cody Kygar 17 (6 ast, 3 reb, 3 stl), Austin Betts 12 (3 ast, 5 reb, 3 stl), Nestor Ramirez 7 (5 reb, 1 bl, 6 stl), Anthony Agunat 2 (5 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl), Scott Ross (1 ast), Austin Digenan (1 reb), Ryan Quinten (1 reb).

SCRIPPS RANCH 63, GROSSMONT 50 – Three Grossmont starters fouled out in Monday’s (Dec. 20) second round of the Grossmont Winter Classic at Grossmont High, and that exposed the Foothillers’ lack of experience.

Needless to say, Foothillers coach FRANK FOGGIANO was not thrilled with the officiating.

“The guys they had working our game were not qualified in my opinion to work in a game of this magnitude,” Foggiano said. “It didn’t help because my kids lost their composure, which is something they can’t do. It’s my job as coach, and their job as players to fight through it. We didn’t do that tonight.”

It was only the second loss in eight decisions for Grossmont, which was led by MICHAEL WNEK’s 13 points, including two 3-pointers.

Grossmont: Michael Wnek 13, DeSean Waters 11, Robby Nesovic 11, Adam Robinson 4, Anthony Lawrence 1.

MAR VISTA 54, MOUNT MIGUEL 49 – Mount Miguel coach JAY ROWLETT had three words to say about his team’s performance in Monday’s (Dec. 20) first round of the Xtreme Glass Holiday Invitational at Sweetwater:

“Lethargic, lethargic, lethargic.”

“We were a disoriented squad today,” Rowlett added. “The way we are losing is not acceptable. We don’t place importance on every game. Sometimes we look fairly good and other times we show no energy at all. That’s frustrating because you can’t coach effort.”

The Matadors (4-4) blew a 39-37 lead in the final quarter.

Mount Miguel: Thomas Butler 15 (2 reb), Marcus Booker 15 (2 reb), Izzy Wagner 9, Cory Littleton 4 (6 reb), Mohamud Abdi 4 (5 reb), Shakeel Hill 2 (3 ast, 4 stl), Safen Mohammed (1 ast), Marcellus Jones (1 ast).

MADISON 70, EL CAJON VALLEY 38 – There is seemingly no stopping El Cajon Valley’s DOMINIQUE MILLER.

Once again Miller came up big with 24 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 assists, but the Braves (0-4) could develop little else and were never in the game against Madison (2-4) in Monday’s (Dec. 20) Grossmont Winter Classic at Grossmont High.

The Warhawks led 65-28 after three quarters.

One area where the Braves were sorely lacking was in scoring passes. Nobody other than Miller registered an assist as El Cajon Valley scored 16 field goals, including a pair of threes – one by Miller and one by BRENDEN BROCIOUS.

Football player DANNY LA added 6 rebounds and 1 block.

“We’re undersized and undermanned against almost every team we play,” said Braves coach MARTY ELLIS. “But it’s not about the score – it’s about us getting better.”

El Cajon Valley: Dominique Miller 24 (8 reb, 3 ast, 3 blk), Brenden Brocious 7 (3 reb), Logman Sulyman 3 (3 reb), Tyler Verela 2 (2 reb), Alex Jacinto 2 (2 reb), Danny La (6 reb, 1 blk), Jeremy Medley (4 reb).

Mr. Quarterback

Christian High's Shane Dillon (23) tells Westview shooter Brian McWilliam to, "Talk to the Hand," in the rejection of the Wolverines senior's attempt. (Frank Price, youatplay.com) ADDITIONAL PHOTOS HERE

© East County Sports.com
EL CAJON (12-19-10) — It was not the best of days for East County boys basketball on Saturday (Dec. 18). Of the nine teams that played, only the Grossmont Foothillers were successful, tripping up visiting Madison 54-45 in the opening round of the Grossmont Winter Classic.

DeSEAN WATERS and MICHAEL WNEK popped in 15 points apiece as the Foothillers improved to 6-1 by knocking off visiting Madison (1-4).

Grossmont led 31-19 at halftime and then held off a second half Madison challenge.

It was a solid inside-outside game for the Foothillers as Wnek dropped in a trio of triples, Waters hit a pair of 3s and AUSTIN SWISHER hit another long ball.

Once again DEREK RUSTICH was sturdy in the paint with 11 points, 11 rebounds and 4 steals. He also connected on 7 of 11 free throws.

“It was a methodical game,” said Grossmont coach FRANK FOGGIANO, “but we maintained our half-court defense throughout. We sort of let them back in the game in the third quarter because we missed too many easy shots.”

Grossmont took a 37-33 advantage into the final period but never gave up the lead.

Grossmont: DeSean Waters 15 (5 ast, 4 reb, 3 stl), Michael Wnek 15 (4 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Derek Rustich 11 (11 reb, 2 ast, 4 stl), Robby Nesovic 10 (9 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Austin Swisher 3, Marcus Flisher (1 reb, 1 ast).

ST. AUGUSTINE 65, EL CAPITAN 47 – The Vaqueros fought undefeated St. Augustine to a 31-31 draw in the first half of Saturday’s (Dec. 18) Grossmont Winter Classic.

It was a different story in the third quarter when the Saints (6-0) scored the first 7 points and embarked on a 24-5 scoring run.

“We played a good first half when we played together as a group,” said El Capitan coach JASON CAVAZOS. “We looked fresh and solid. For some reason, in the third quarter, we came out sluggish – gave up too many bang-bang baskets.”

Lamar Brynton ignited a third quarter surge for St. Augustine and finished with 22 points.

“We played pretty small,” Cavazos said. “But Saints is big and wore us down. I think we got frustrated chasing those big guys around.”

El Capitan: Tyson Kygar 24 (4 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk, 4 stl), Cody Kygar 11 (3 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl), Nester Ramirez 7 (8 ast, 1 reb, 1 stl), Anthony Agunat 2, Ryan Quinten 2 (1 ast, 2 reb), Austin Betts 1 (1 ast, 7 reb, 1 stl), Scott Ross (1 reb).

CATHEDRAL CATHOLIC 60, SANTANA 45 – This is a game Santana coach TIM BARRY would have liked to have won more than any of his non-league games.

But the Sultans (5-2) failed to answer the wake-up call against San Diego CIF Division III rival Cathedral Catholic (5-1) in Saturday’s (Dec. 18) first round of the Grossmont Winter Classic.

A team that lives by its keen shooting eye, Santana hit only 36 percent of 39 shots from the floor. The usually successful long-rangers were only 4 of 20 from above the arc.

To make matters worse for Santana was the fact that the Sultans converted only 13 of 26 free throws.

“We had a tough shooting game,” Barry understated. “We were sluggish. The ball just wasn’t dropping – we couldn’t get anything going. I think it was a little bit of a hangover from La Jolla (a 54-47 loss five days earlier).

“Cathedral is not 15 points better than us but we didn’t play well today. We never could get anything in the flow.”

Santana made a brief run in the second quarter, cutting the Dons’ lead to four points.

“Deep in the second quarter we made it a two possession game, then we turned the ball over. We only had eight players. We fouled out three of them and had three others with 4 fouls. We committed 30 fouls in the game.”

Santana: Landon Lozoya 12 (7 reb, 6 stl, 5 ast, 2 blk), Ryan Bickford 7 (3 reb, 3 blk), Trey Bass 7 (4 reb, 2 stl), James Doherty 6, A.J. Bratlein 6 (1 reb, 3 ast), Daniel Levens-Lowery 4, Jordan Khalaf 2 (1 stl), Christian Barry 1 (1 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl).

His absence, no doubt, affected the Patriots’ performance in Saturday’s (Dec. 18) opening round of the Grossmont Winter Classic versus Westview (4-2) at Grossmont High.

To add to their frustration 6-foot-6 junior SHANE DILLON was playing with the flu yet he still managed to score 13 points and snag 7 rebounds for Christian (3-2).

“You know what it means to us not having Parisotto and having Dillon playing sick,” said Patriots assistant coach DEREK LARSEN. “We had two freshmen on the court most of the game – TYLER BALLARD and TRENT SAULS.”

Sauls and Ballard combined for 10 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals. Ballard nailed a pair of treys, as did Dillon, who was also 5-for-5 from the free throw line.

Senior TYRONE SAULS played perhaps his best game of his career for the Patriots, hitting 5 of 10 shots from the field to finish with 12 points and 6 rebounds.

Christian: Shane Dillon 13 (7 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk), Tyrone Sauls 12 (6 reb), Jake Larsen 7 (6 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl), Tyler Ballard 6 (2 reb), Trent Sauls 4 (6 reb, 3 stl), Josh Feldscher 2, Clarence Carter (3 reb, 1 ast).

“We were just overmatched,” said Helix assistant coach ANDY MERIDETH. “ Oswego was so long and tall and they could run a biting full-court press. This team is known to play together year-round and you could tell they were used to playing together.”

Lake Oswego led 16-6 after one quarter and 40-20 by halftime.

TOMMIE YOUNG paced the Highlanders (4-4) with 12 points.

KEVIN WILLIAMS was named to the tournament’s All Attitude Team.

“You know when you come on a trip like this you learn a lot about your kids,” Merideth said. “You find out who can adapt to adversity and who can’t. Like in this game we didn’t compete until the second half. That’s the main thing – you just want your kids to compete.”

Helix: Tommie Young 12, Kevin Williams 9, Isaac Sullivan 6, Brian Valadez 6, Kenny Keys 6, Michael Todd 5, John Singer 4, Titus Young 3, Kene Anigbogu 2, Gary Thompson 1.

Temecula-CHAPARRAL 65, STEELE CANYON 34 – The Cougars (3-7) fell behind Temecula Chaparral 21-2 in the first quarter and wound up on a lopsided end of the score in Saturday’s (Dec. 18) final day of the North County Classic at Fallbrook.

“In the first quarter offensively we got really good looks but missed four layups – couldn’t make a shot,” recalled Cougars coach DEREK STEPHENS. “They are the best offensive team we’ve played all year. They were really, really good (8-3) – they made every open shot. They made seven 3s.”

Steele Canyon hit four 3-pointers but converted only 8 of 18 free throws.

“We didn’t play that bad. We were outsized a little bit (couldn’t get the ball inside) but we didn’t turn the ball over as much as we usually do. My guys handled a lot of things pretty well. We just didn’t have an answer to them.”

Steele Canyon: Isaac Curia-Tobin 7, Dylan Kirchhofer 5, Casey Balikian 4, Drew Myles 4, Aundre Belcher 4, Danny Bwinika 3, Michael Jordan 2, Andrew King 2, Ryan Gilbert 2, P.J. Russell 1.

SCRIPPS RANCH 66, EL CAJON VALLEY 33 – What DOMINIQUE MILLER needs is a little bit of help – from his teammates.

Miller scored 24 points and grabbed 15 rebounds but it wasn’t near enough as the Braves suffered their 3rd loss in as many decisions in Saturday’s (Dec. 18) opening round of the Grossmont Winter Classic.

Half of Miller’s points came on four 3-pointers. He also made 6 of 8 free throws.

“None of these guys played varsity basketball last year except Miller,” said Braves coach MARTY ELLIS. “One thing I was proud of is we didn’t lose any guys to grades. I’m working on erasing the stigma of El Cajon Valley basketball.”

All-League football player DANNY LA grabbed 7 rebounds and TYLER VERELA dished off 4 assists.

“La has never played the game of basketball,” Ellis noted.

“The only thing we can really do is bring energy. We have to give up to take away something. I just sat back in a 2-3 zone. My guys just got tired.”

El Cajon Valley: Dominique Miller 24 (15 reb, 3 stl, 1 ast, 1 blk), Brenden Brocious 6 (6 reb), Logman Sulyman 3, Jeremy Medley 2 (5 reb, 1 ast), Tyler Verela (4 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl), Alex Jacinto (5 reb, 3 stl), Danny La (7 reb).

Finger-tip save

Foothills Christian guard Dalton Mosser (13) gains possession before the basketball sails out of bounds against Escondido.. (Frank Price, youatplay.com) ADDITIONAL PHOTOS HERE

Posterized

Jamal Aytes of Foothills Christian plants the ball over an Escondido player for a resounding dunk in Grossmont Holiday Tournament play Saturday. (Frank Price, youatplay.com)

The fact the Knights, who had begun the season 3-2, had their record erased by forfeits due to the use of an ineligible player, obviously didn’t help matters either.

Escondido grabbed a 26-10 first quarter lead and never let go.

“We looked like we were still sleeping in our beds,” said Foothills assistant coach GEORGE CUNNINGHAM. “ Escondido forced us to rush our offense and we were so lackadaisical. We missed 21 layups.”

Foothills Christian: Jamal Aytes 21 (12 reb, 4 blk, 3 stl), Dalton Mosser 13 (5 reb, 1 stl), Daniel Labahn 6 (2 reb), Ian Mathisen 2 (3 reb), Caleb Hoffman (5 reb, 1 ast), Joe Buenrostro (1 stl).

UNIVERSITY CITY 55, MONTE VISTA 28 – After bolting to a 4-0 start to the season, the Monarchs went flat in Saturday’s (Dec. 18) Grossmont Winter Classic opener against University City (3-3) at Grossmont High.

Monte Vista (4-1) was down 25-9 by halftime and never recovered.

“This was one great big disaster for us,” said Monte Vista assistant coach KEITH HOUSTON. “UC took it to us and we backed away. This was by far the worst game we’ve played.”

Monte Vista: Darrius Wellington 6 (1 ast, 3 stl), Reuben Nwando 6 (3 reb, 1 stl), Devin Rendo 5 (3 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl), Jahmani Lockett 4 (3 reb), James Jackson 3 (6 reb), Kylie Lester 2 (4 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl), K.J. Houston 2 (3 ast, 3 stl, 1 reb), Terrance Peterson (2 ast), D’ondre Coleman (1 reb, 1 stl).

© East County Sports.com
SAN MARCOS (12-18-10) — Close encounters have not been part of the Steele Canyon agenda eight games into the season. In fact, only two of those contests have been decided by fewer than 10 points, either way.

For the first time the Cougars (3-6) took one down to the wire in Friday’s (Dec. 17) third round of the North County Basketball Classic at San Marcos.

Steele Canyon deposited this one in the win column when MICHAEL JORDAN scored on a layup over San Jacinto’s 6-foot-8 center with 1.5 seconds remaining, giving the Cougars a 54-52 victory.

“This was good for us to win a close game like this because we haven’t taken many games down to the wire,” said Steele Canyon coach DEREK STEPHENS. “We tied it three times in the fourth quarter.”

DYLAN KIRCHHOFER, who topped the Cougars with 19 points, missed a layup that would have given his team the lead. However teammate Jordan came down with the rebound and was fouled with 20 seconds left. Jordan hit the first free throw but missed the second.

The Cougars got another shot at winning when Kirchhofer stole the ball and was on his way to the bucket only to have the ball slapped out of his hands with 4 seconds remaining.

Steele Canyon inbounded the ball to Jordan who scored the game-winning layup.

“I thought the game was over because the buzzer went off,” Stephens said. “But the next thing I knew they were putting 1.5 seconds back on the clock.”

It didn’t matter though because San Jacinto never got a clear shot at the basket.

Jordan finished with a dozen points and 12 rebounds.

“Michael was a beast on the boards,” Stephens noted.

The coach was also pleased with Kirchhofer’s big night.

“He got some easy transition baskets, but better than that he did a great job of attacking the basket,” said Stephens.

Steele Canyon: Dylan Kirchhofer 19, Michael Jordan 11 (12 reb), Casey Balikian 8, Andrew King 7, Ryan Gilbert 5, Danny Bwinika 3, Aundre Belcher 1.

PLEASANT VALLEY 52, HELIX 50 – Even though the visiting Helix Highlanders came up short against Pleasant Valley (7-1) in Friday’s (Dec. 17) second round of the Red Bluff Invitational, coaches JOHN SINGER and ANDY MERIDETH were pleased by the East County team’s effort.

“We were 100 percent better than we were the night before,” said Merideth, the Highlanders’ assistant coach. “ Pleasant Valley is sorta like playing Torrey Pines. We had to grind it out. We were solid on defense. We’re not a great shooting team but we were patient with the ball on offense. We made the extra pass.”

Pleasant Valley led 38-36 after three quarters.

The Highlanders (4-3) had a chance to steal a victory but TOMMIE YOUNG was unable to connect with a long-range shot with 3 seconds left.

Pleasant Valley punished Helix from the free throw line in the final period, converting 10 of 14 chances. Only four of their points came via field goals.

TITUS YOUNG paced the Highlanders with 13 points, including a pair of treys.

KENNY KEYS delivered his usual double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Highlanders, who will face Lake Oswego of Oregon in the third place game Saturday (Dec. 18) at 4:30.

Helix: Titus Young 13, Kenny Keys 12 (12 reb), Brian Valadez 11, Tommie Young 5, Gary Thompson 4, Michael Todd 3, John Singer 2.

© East County Sports.com
RED BLUFF (12-17-10) — Making its 12th straight appearance in the annual Red Bluff Daily News Invitational on Thursday (Dec. 16), Helix knocked off the host Red Bluff Spartans 35-23 in front of a packed house.

“The reason we come up here every year is it’s such a great atmosphere, such a great bonding experience for us,” said Helix assistant coach ANDY MERIDETH. “Most of our kids have never been this far from home before.”

The Helix players are housed in the homes of the Red Bluff players’ families.

“The hospitality is tremendous and the whole town comes to the games,” Merideth added. “It’s a great deal.”

The Highlanders (4-2) spent the opening game ‘shopping for offense.’

“If we hadn’t played great defense we wouldn’t have won this game,” Merideth said. “Our defensive intensity and rotation was great throughout.”

Red Bluff led 10-5 after one quarter and 15-14 at the break. The Highlanders held the Spartans (4-3) to 8 points in the final two quarters.

Nobody reached double scoring digits for Helix, although KENNY KEYS and GARY THOMPSON dominated the boards with 12 and 10 rebounds respectively.

“Kenny was involved in a car wreck the night before we left and was taken to the hospital,” Merideth reported. “He did not get home until 1:30 in the morning. Less than 12 hours later he was on our bus and on his way to the airport.”

A standout defensive lineman for the Helix football team, this was Thompson’s first basketball game of the season.

Helix: Kenny Keys 9 (12 reb), Tommie Young 9, Titus Young 7, Gary Thompson 4 (10 reb), Michael Todd 3, Kevin Williams 2, Brian Valadez 1.

SAN MARCOS 66, STEELE CANYON 45 – Host San Marcos scored 16 unanswered points in the first quarter of Thursday’s (Dec. 16) third round of the North County Basketball Classic contest to erase a 9-8 Steele Canyon edge.

The Knights (5-3) went on to snap the Cougars (2-6) two-game winning streak.

“The last three minutes of the first quarter dictated the whole game,” said Steele Canyon coach DEREK STEPHENS. “That put us down 24-9.”

San Marcos led 36-17 at halftime.

“We gave up a lot of layups and they were back-dooring us all night,” Stephens said. “Our heart is in the right spot but we’re just doing too many things wrong. We need to practice.”

MICHAEL JORDAN paced the Cougars with 12 points and 9 rebounds. CASEY BALIKIAN chipped in with 11 points and DYLAN KIRCHHOFER bagged a team-high 10 rebounds.

The statistic that stung Steele Canyon the most was 29 turnovers.

Steele Canyon: Michael Jordan 12 (9 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 3 stl), Casey Balikian 11 (2 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl), Dylan Kirchhofer 8 (10 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl), Andrew King 5 (4 ast, 1 reb, 1 stl), Brandon Watson 4, Drew Myles 2 (3 reb), Justin Norwood 2 (1 ast), Isaac Curia-Tobin 1 (4 ast, 3 reb, 1 stl), Ryan Gilbert (2 reb, 3 stl).

© East County Sports.com
ESCONDIDO (12-16-10) — For the first time in three seasons, the Steele Canyon Cougars posted back-to-back victories Wednesday (Dec. 15) night as they put the squeeze on host Orange Glen 63-53 in the second round of the North County Classic.

Steele Canyon (2-5) finished 5-20 a year ago and never could string consecutive victories. During the 2008-09 the Cougars won as many as four straight.

“We feel pretty good about making it two in a row,” said Steele Canyon coach DEREK STEPHENS. “Our goal is to go into (Grossmont Hills) League play at.500.”

The Cougars used a balanced attack led by ISAAC CURIA-TOBIN’s 15 points.

MICHAEL JORDAN chipped in with 11 markers as Steele Canyon produced a season-high for the second night in a row.

“The thing that was pretty impressive was we scored all our points against a zone defense,” said Stephens. “We need to have a calling card and it’s not going to be our offense. We don’t shoot lights out.”

Thus Steele Canyon must rely on its quickness and defense.

The Cougars, who were plagued by foul problems, managed to build a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter.

“We got called for seven charges, and that’s hard to believe,” Stephens noted. “We had three guys with four fouls in the third quarter, but we got good support from our bench – guys like (senior) REGGIE WHITE, who did a great job on the boards.”

Steele Canyon: Isaac Curia-Tobin 15, Justin Norwood 9, Michael Jordan 11, Ryan Gilbert 8, Casey Balikian 7, Andrew King 6, Dylan Kirchhofer 5, Drew Myles 2.

MOUNT MIGUEL 60, PATRICK HENRY 37 – The Matadors fell behind visiting Patrick Henry 9-0 but rebounded in the second half to post a lopsided non-league victory on Wednesday (Dec. 15).

“We were sleep-walking in the first half, especially in the first quarter,” said Mount Miguel coach JAY ROWLETT.

The Matadors (4-3) trailed the Patriots 23-22 at intermission but pulled away with a 23-12 scoring run in the third quarter.

Junior CORY LITTLETON, the Grossmont Valley League player of the year in football, muscled in a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds for Mount Miguel.

“He took charge on the boards, gave us a lot of energy in the second half,” said Rowlett.

“SHAKEEL HILL isn’t a guy who will fill up the stats line but he did a great job on defense and ball pressure,” added the coach. “This is what we’re trying to teach our guys – everybody has a role.”

MARCUS BOOKER scored a team best 17 points – more than half of them coming on 3 triples. He also dished 6 assists and made 6 steals.

IZZY WAGNER drove them dizzy with his long-ball shooting, hitting 4 triples on his way to 16 points for the Matadors.

“The main thing is we’ve got to get better and more consistent leadership,” Rowlett said.

Mount Miguel: Marcus Booker 17 (4 reb, 6 ast, 6 stl), Izzy Wagner 16 (1 reb, 2 stl), Cory Littleton 12 (12 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl), Thomas Butler 7 (2 reb), Mohamud Abdi 7 (10 reb, 2 ast), Safen Mohammed 1 (1 reb, 1 ast), Shakeel Hill (1 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl), Marcellus Jones (1 reb).

© East County Sports.com
EL CAJON (12-15-10) — After suffering its first loss of the season to El Camino on Saturday, Granite Hills came back with a vengeance on Tuesday (Dec. 14), earning a 59-41 non-league victory over visiting Escondido.

The Eagles (6-1) led 26-19 with three minutes left in the first half and then widened their margin by scoring the final 8 points of the second quarter.

“Our defense played really well in the first half,” said Granite Hills coach RANDY ANDERSON. “It was good for us to have a game like this after El Camino (a 22-point loss).”

Six-foot-9 junior SCOTT ATKINSON was a force in the paint for the Eagles with 18 points, 15 rebounds and 5 blocks.

“He was solid the whole game,” said Anderson. “He is vastly improved over last year. He can run the floor and has a nice touch around the basket.”

Atkinson entered the game shooting 78 percent from the field. He connected on 7 of 12 floor shots against Escondido and was a spotless 4-for-4 from the free throw line. The Granite Hills big man has made 13 free throws in succession.

GARRETT LARCH-MILLER pitched in with a triple-double of 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 steals for the Eagles. The 6-2 senior also dished 8 assists and blocked 3 shots.

It was not Larch-Miller’s finest shooting night but more than half of his points came from above the arc.

“He has great hands around the basket,” Anderson said of Larch-Miller. “ Escondido came at us with a 2-2-1 trapping press and also a half court zone press. I’m happy with the way we broke their presses. Larch-Miller made numerous nice long passes.”

Granite Hills: Scott Atkinson 18 (15 reb, 5 blk), Garrett Larch-Miller 16 (12 reb, 8 ast, 10 stl, 3 blk), Joey Grubb 8 (7 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl), Dalton Otineru 6 (4 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Nate Bennett 6 (4 ast, 1 stl), Kyle Pierson 3 (3 reb), James Sadik 2 (3 reb), John Petty (5 reb, 2 ast).

Baseline jumper

Santana's Landon Lozoya (Frank Price, youatplay.com) ADDITIONAL PHOTOS HERE

© East County Sports.com
SANTEE (12-14-10) — It boiled down to a shooting derby between the visiting La Jolla Vikings and the Santana Sultans in Monday’s (Dec. 13) championship game of the San Diego D-III Challenge.

The Vikings (6-0) connected on 17 of 30 shots from the floor (57 percent) over the final three quarters to deal the Sultans a 54-47 loss.

The game was tied 39-39 after three quarters. The Sultans surged in front on back-to-back baskets by CHRISTIAN BARRY and LANDON LOZOYA to take the early lead in the final stretch.

After that Santana watched La Jolla embark on an 11-0 scoring run.

The Sultans clawed back on a putback by Lozoya and TREY BASS’ only bucket of the game to slice La Jolla ’s advantage to 51-47 with a minute to play.

Santana, which missed the front end of three one-and-ones in the fourth quarter, would not score again.

Probably the most damaging thing for Santana was point guard Bass picked up his third foul with 2:06 left in the first quarter and the Sultans leading 9-5. After missing the next five minutes, Bass returned to the floor only to be tagged with his fourth foul, forcing Barry to bring him back to the bench.

“There’s no doubt it hurt us to have Bass pick up fouls early like that,” said Sultans coach TIM BARRY.

But the coach also focused on the missed free throws in the fourth quarter.

“They weren’t bad shots, but they didn’t fall in,” he said. “Those have got to be made. You can’t play a good Western League team and not hit your free throws.”

A major part of Santana’s game this year is 3-point shooting. The Sultans made only 4 of 15 against the Vikings.

On the bright side Lozoya executed a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds and a team-high 4 assists.

Six-foot-8 junior RYAN BICKFORD also coined a double-double with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks.

As a team Santana shot only 36 percent from the floor, hitting 18 of 50 attempts.

“We did not have a good shooting night at all,” Barry concluded. “I think some of that has to do with La Jolla is a good fundamental defensive team. They play very solid and challenge shots.”

Santana: Landon Lozoya 16 (11 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk), Ryan Bickford 14 (11 reb, 1 stl, 3 blk), Jason Corbisez 8 (2 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl), Christian Barry 5 (1 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Trey Bass 2 (reb 7, 3 ast), Jordan Khalaf 2, Daniel Levens-Lowery (1 reb).

MONTE VISTA 54, MATER DEI 34 – Host Monte Vista kicked its transition game into high gear in the second half Monday (Dec. 13) to sprint past visiting Mater Dei (4-1) in a non-league contest.

Monte Vista outscored the Crusaders 37-20 over the final two quarters, helping hike the Monarchs record to 4-0.

“It was a slow-paced first half. (Mater Dei) got us to play at their pace,” Monarchs coach JAMES CARROLL said. “They are a very big team. They have a lot of size but they are very slow.”

Monte Vista used a balanced offense led by BRIAN STERLING who hit 6 of 10 shots from the field for a team-best 14 points.

Teammate JAMES JACKSON added 13 points and 10 rebounds, while REUBEN NWANDO pitched in with 10 points and guard K.J. HOUSTON chipped in with 10 rebounds and 7 assists.

“We came out after halftime and increased our pressure,” Carroll said. “We were able to turn up our press and forced many turnovers.”

In a bit of irony Monte Vista did not attempt a single free throw. The Monarchs shot 50 percent (24 of 48) from the field, including six three-pointers. Half of those triples were by Jackson.

Monte Vista: Brian Sterling 14, James Jackson 13 (10 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl), Reuben Nwando 10 (4 reb, 1 stl), Kylie Luster 8 (6 reb, 1 ast, 2 blk), K.J. Houston 7 (10 reb, 7 ast, 3 stl), D’ondre Coleman 2 (3 reb, 1 stl), Jahzdion Taylor (5 reb, 2 blk), Jahmani Lockett (1 reb).

STEELE CANYON 58, DEL NORTE 35 – Steele Canyon (1-5) snapped a 5-game losing streak in Monday’s (Dec. 13) opening round of the North County Basketball Classic by knocking off Del Norte (1-5) at San Marcos.

Steele Canyon scored a season high and led 50-24 after three quarters. Nine Cougars contributed to the scoring totals.

Senior guard ANDREW KING paced the Cougars with a dozen points, while MICHAEL JORDAN rolled off a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds.

“We needed a little confidence builder and we got one tonight,” said Cougars coach DEREK STEPHENS. “We need to concentrate more on defense. We led the whole game. It was nice to give my bench extended playing time.”

Steele Canyon: Andrew King 12 (1 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl), Michael Jordan 11 (10 reb, 2 blk, 1 stl), Isaac Curia-Tobin 8 (1 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl), Aundre Belcher 8 (1 ast, 3 stl), Dylan Kirchhofer 7 (2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Danny Bwinika 5 (5 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl), Casey Balikian 3 (4 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Justin Norwood 2 (6 reb, 2 stl), Reggie White 2 (7 reb), Ryan Gilbert (1 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), P.J. Russell (2 reb, 1 blk), Drew Myles (5 reb).

El Capitan's Tyson Kygar (Photo by Frank Price, youatplay.com) ADDITIONAL PHOTOS HERE

© East County Sports.com
CHULA VISTA (12-12-10) — Veteran coach FRANK FOGGIANO of Grossmont High realized going into Saturday’s (Dec. 11) championship game of the Eastlake Titan Tip-Off against Hoover that his club was overmatched in terms of depth.

Arguably, Foggiano’s starters can hold their own against most clubs. But his bench is laden with untested underclassmen, and that was clear as No. 2 ranked Hoover used an 18-5 third quarter run to capture a 60-40 victory over the Foothillers.

Four of Grossmont’s starters played all 32 minutes. The other starter got a one minute rest.

“I knew my kids were tired, having played four games in six days,” Foggiano said. “But I’m trying to bring my young players along slowly and not expose them to the No. 2 team in the county. I had one sub and he was in there for about a minute.”

Grossmont (5-1), which was able to control the tempo early, led 10-9 after one quarter. The Foothillers fell behind 26-20 by intermission but were still very much in the game.

“We weren’t trying to surprise anybody. Our objective was to slow the game down,” Foggiano said. “They came at us with full court man pressure and for the most part we were able to handle it.”

In the pivotal third quarter the Cardinals (6-0) took the Foothillers out of their game, if ever so briefly.

“They got three quick transition baskets, and that gave them a sizable lead,” Foggiano recalled. “But overall I think our half court defense made them do things that they didn’t want to do.”

Junior ROBBY NESOVIC paced the Foothillers with 13 points, including 7 of 10 free throw shooting.

The Foothillers 6-foot-4 sophomore DEREK RUSTICH rolled a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds despite the presence of Hoover ’s record-breaking 6-foot-9 senior shot blocker Angelo Chol (20 points).

For Grossmont the bottom line is the Foothillers, a Division I team, are 5-0 against Division I teams.

“I can’t be unhappy because our only loss is to the No. 2 ranked team in the county,” said Foggiano.

Grossmont: Robby Nesovic 13 (8 reb, 1 ast), Derek Rustich 11 (10 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl), Michael Wnek 10 (2 reb, 1 stl), Nick Persinger 4 (4 reb), DeSean Waters 2 (3 reb, 2 ast).

Granite Hills' Joey Grubb (Photo by Nathan Price, youatplay.com) ADDITIONAL PHOTOS HERE

The visiting Wildcats (6-0) forced 28 turnovers, including 17 steals and outscored the Eagles (5-1) in every quarter.

“It’s pretty obvious that we made too many turnovers,” said Eagles coach RANDY ANDERSON. “If we learn from it and correct the reason why those turnovers happened, this game will be worth it. Unfortunately we were only able to make a game of it against El Camino for one half.”

Anderson was talking about the first half, which El Camino led 35-27.

For the Wildcats it was a game of transition. They would make a steal and turn it into a basket. Granite Hills could simply not keep up with El Camino’s speed or match up with the Cats’ athleticism.

As always the Eagles counted on GARRETT LARCH-MILLER to lead the way, and he delivered 22 points and 13 rebounds – both team highs. El Camino was well aware that Larch-Miller was the Eagles’ triggerman and physically manhandled him all night.

Credit to Larch-Miller, he earned everything he got.

Chris Gorman led El Camino with 25 points and 4 steals. Included in his totals were five 3-pointers.

As a team Granite Hills – traditionally a 3-point shooting outfit – was 2-for-9 from long distance. Overall the Eagles had a decent percentage (.425) but only launched 40 shots (see turnovers).

El Camino, which shot well over 50 percent until bringing in the reserves, shot better than 50 percent overall and hammered down 8 three-pointers.

Granite Hills: Garrett Larch-Miller 22 (13 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk), Scott Atkinson 8 (7 reb, 1 stl, 1 blk), Dalton Otineru 6 (2 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl), Joey Grubb 6 (6 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), James Sadik 4 (2 reb), Nate Bennett 2 (1 reb, 1 ast), Stephen Keppel (2 reb), Nate Jeter (1 ast), John Petty (1 reb), Blake Perry (1 reb), Wil Wilson (1 reb), Kyle Pierson (1 reb).

CALVIN CHRISTIAN 58, CHRISTIAN 47 (final); CHRISTIAN 60, BRETHREN 40 (semis) — It was not a banner shooting effort for the Christian High Patriots in Saturday’s (Dec. 11) final day of the Tri-City Christian Tournament.

Even though the Patriots blew out Brethren with a 33-15 second half in the semifinals, they shot only 26 percent (6 for 23) from 3-point range and 42 percent overall.

Christian’s shooting eye was even more off the mark in the championship game against Calvin Christian. The Patriots shot a paltry 31 percent (17-for-54) from the floor.

“We were sluggish throughout the game,” said Patriots assistant coach DEREK LARSEN. “We thought we could come in here and roll over Calvin.”

Christian (3-1) led Calvin Christian 47-44 with five minutes left to play, but went scoreless the rest of the game.

“We forced up too many 3-point shots,” said Larsen, noting that the Patriots were 8-for-29 from above the arc. “We got completely out of our offense.”

ICARO PARISOTTO scored 51 points in the two games but connected on only 20 of 51 shots. Shooting the 3-ball is his strength but he was a mere 9-for-36 from long distance.

Against Brethren the Patriots led only 27-25 halftime before a shift in defenses in the third quarter allowed them to take command.

“We turned up the pressure and went at them with a three-quarter court press,” said Larsen. “We were able to break the ball loose and that completely changed the momentum of the game.”

Christian (vs. Calvin Christian): Icaro Parisotto 26 (4 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk), Shane Dillon 14 (5 reb, 1 ast, 3 blk, 3 stl), Aaron Hueslein 3 (1 reb, 1 blk), Tyrone Sauls 2 (4 reb, 1 blk), Trenton Sauls 2, Jake Larsen (2 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Josh Feldscher (1 reb, 1 ast).

Christian (vs. Brethren): Parisotto 25 (7 reb, 1 ast), Tr. Sault 14 (6 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl), Dillon 11 (9 reb, 5 blk, 1 ast, 1 stl), Ty. Sauls 4 (6 reb, 1 ast), Clarence Carter 2 (1 reb), Hueslein (2 reb, 1 ast), Tyler Ballard (1 reb, 1 ast), Feldscher (1 reb, 1 ast).

Santana's Jason Corbisez (Photo by Frank Price, youatplay.com) ADDITIONAL PHOTOS HERE

Known more for its offensive firepower, the Sultans (5-0) relied on their defense to carry them past Kearny in Saturday’s (Dec. 11) semifinal at El Capitan.

RYAN BICKFORD paced Santana with 14 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks, while JASON CORBISEZ pitched in 12 points and accounted for the Sultans’ only two 3-pointers.

“We shot very poorly but rebounded well and played exceptional defense,” said Santana coach TIM BARRY. “We took control of the game in the second quarter. We were able to shut down their attack. This was our toughest game thus far this season.”

Santana: Ryan Bickford 14 (9 reb, 2 blk), Jason Corbisez 12 (5 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl), Landon Lozoya 7 (10 reb, 5 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk), Trey Bass 5 (7 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl, 1 blk), Christian Barry 2 (1 reb, 1 stl, 2 blk), James Doherty 2, AJ Bratlein 2, Jordan Khalaf (2 reb).

VALHALLA 48, ST. MARGARET’S 42 – The Norsemen survived a 19-9 fourth-quarter scoring rush by St. Margaret’s of San Juan Capistrano on Saturday (Dec. 11), smashing a three-game losing streak in the Duds by Dudes basketball tournament at La Jolla Country Day.

Valhalla outscored St. Margaret’s 28-13 in the second and third quarters.

“This was good for us,” noted Norsemen coach KEITH JACKSON. “We learned a lot that will get us ready for our (Grossmont Hills) league season.”

Valhalla built a 39-23 advantage after three quarters.

“They had one good scorer so we rotated three players – SPENCER HAVIRD, ANDREW LEWELLEN AND WILLIAM SPEEGLE – on him and prevented him from catching the ball,” said Jackson.

“We also bothered the other players on the floor, making their passes difficult to make,” the coach added. “We did a great job clogging up the lane to their offense. They had to take a lot of outside shots. We controlled the pace of the action in the second and third quarters.”

Valhalla: David Wilschetz 10 (7 reb, 3 blk, 2 stl), Manny Hernandez 8 (8 reb, 1 ast, 4 blk), Matt Butcher 7 (2 reb, 4 ast), William Speegle 7, Amil Hermiz 4 (1 reb, 3 ast, 2 blk), Thomas McDonald 4 (4 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl), Andrew Lewellen 4, Keland Hunter 2, Spencer Havird 2 (1 reb, 4 ast).

MOUNT MIGUEL 50, BRAWLEY 34 – The Matadors (3-3) limited Brawley to 12 points over three quarters as they won Saturday’s (Dec. 11) San Diego DIII Challenge consolation game in a breeze at El Capitan.

“To hold a team to that few points (in 24 minutes) is pretty impressive,” said Mount Miguel coach JAY ROWLETT.

THOMAS BUTLER led Mount Miguel with 18 points and IZZY WAGNER chipped in with 10 points as did MARCUS BOOKER. Wagner also topped the club with 5 assists.

“Right now we are an average team so the 3-3 record fits us,” noted Rowlett. “We’ll be better when it’s time to be better.”

Mount Miguel: Thomas Butler 18 (3 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Marcus Booker 10 (3 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl), Izzy Wagner 10 (2 reb, 5 ast, 2 stl), Mohamud Abdi 4 (6 reb, 2 stl 2 ast), Shakeel Hill 4 (2 reb, 1 ast), Cory Littleton 4 (6 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl), Hasani Jarvis (1 reb, 2 stl), Marcellus Jones (1 reb).

LA JOLLA 55, EL CAPITAN 46 – The Vaqueros appeared to be on their way to a berth in the championship game of the San Diego DIII Challenge where they would have played Grossmont Valley League rival Santana on Monday.

El Capitan (2-3) led visiting La Jolla 31-25 at halftime in Saturday’s (Dec. 11) semifinals, but took a header in the third quarter as the Vikings embarked a 14-2 scoring run.

The Vaqueros scrambled back and trailed by only 4 points with 48 seconds remaining. TYSON KYGAR, who scored a game-high 25 points, then missed his only two free throws in seven chances and the Vaqueros went silent after that.

“We had four players play all 32 minutes,” said El Capitan coach JASON CAVAZOS. “We just ran out of gas late in the fourth quarter.”

El Capitan: Tyson Kygar 25 (6 reb, 3 ast, 5 stl), Austin Betts 9 (3 reb, 6 ast, 1 stl), Nester Ramirez 7 (3 reb, 3 ast, 4 stl), Cody Kygar 3 (8 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl), Ryan Quinten 2 (3 reb, 2 ast), Scott Ross (2 reb), Anthony Agunat (1 ast, 1 stl).

EASTLAKE 53, STEELE CANYON 36 – You couldn’t blame Steele Canyon coach DEREK STEPHENS if he hung a “Help Wanted” sign on his office door. It would read something like “Need offense – those who can score, please apply.”

This is not to say Stephens has given up on his team.

“We play great defense most of the time,” he said. “Our second quarter (when they held the host Titans to seven points) was phenomenal against Eastlake.”

Nevertheless Eastlake led 27-13 at halftime of Saturday’s (Dec. 11) consolation game of the Titan Tip-Off.

“We fell behind 10-0 but it should have really been a 2-point game then had we not missed four layups,” Stephens noted.

Eastlake broke the game open in the third period with an 18-6 run.

“After we took away the lanes they hit three 3s in a row – that’s frustrating,” Stephens said.

DYLAN KIRCHHOFER led Steele Canyon with 13 points, including 5 of 7 free throws.

“Kirchhofer is coming along, could be a nice player for us,” Stephens said.

Steele Canyon: Dylan Kirchhofer 13, Isaac Curia-Tobin 12, Danny Bwinika 5, Andrew King 2, Ryan Gilbert 2, PJ Russell 2.

CORONADO 65, WEST HILLS 55 – Trailing by 17 points entering the fourth quarter of Saturday’s (Dec. 11) Wolf Pack Horsman Tournament consolation contest against visiting Coronado, West Hills scrambled back to cut the deficit to six points with three minutes remaining.

“And we had the ball,” said Pack assistant coach LUCAS ARMSTRONG. “We didn’t capitalize on that opportunity and never got closer.”

“The good thing about this game is we played with a lot more energy in the second half,” he added.

West Hills’ ALEX PARSONS was named to the all-tournament team.

In the tournament championship game, St. Augustine defeated Cathedral Catholic in front of a packed house.

West Hills: Nick Findley 16, Jonny Preston 12, Kevin Straub 9, Alex Parsons 8, D.J. Lewis 4, Gus Lopez 4, John Magoon 2.

SAN PASQUAL 70, EL CAJON VALLEY 50 – No report received for this non-league contest on Saturday (Dec. 11).

© East County Sports.com
CHULA VISTA (12-11-10) — There are not many athletes at Grossmont High School better than senior DeSEAN WATERS.

The driving force behind the Foothillers 9-2-1 football team, Waters has gone from taking snaps as a quarterback to directing Grossmont’s basketball team at the point.

Used to making big plays on the gridiron, Waters scored the game-winning basket as Grossmont (5-0) upset No. 6 ranked La Costa Canyon 62-61 in Friday’s (Dec. 10) semifinal of the Eastlake Titan Tip-Off.

Grossmont will face No. 2 ranked Hoover in the tournament championship game Saturday (Dec. 11) at 7 p.m. on the Eastlake court.

Waters scored only 9 points against La Costa Canyon but 7 of them came in the fourth quarter. With the Mavericks clinging to a 61-60 advantage, Waters dribbled the length of the court and scored the decisive layup with 14 seconds remaining.

“He went right through two defensive guys to the basket,” said Foothillers coach FRANK FOGGIANO. “I think they were really more cognizant of (ROBBY) NESOVIC.”

That, no doubt, is because the 6-foot-4 junior Nesovic scored 18 of his game-high 23 points in the second half.

The Mavericks (4-1) still had a chance to pull out a victory but missed three shots inside the paint.

“I’m not gonna lie, we were fortunate that they missed those shots,” said Foggiano.

Obviously Foggiano is pleased by the unranked Foothillers’ fast start.

“I think we’re better than I first thought we’d be at this point in the season,” he said. “But we don’t have a lot of depth and there’s a long way to go.”

Grossmont: Robby Nesovic 23 (8 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Derek Rustich 11 (11 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Michael Wnek 10 (4 reb, 1 ast), DeSean Waters 9 (4 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl), Nick Persinger 6 (5 reb), Austin Swisher 3.

CHRISTIAN 72, Temecula-LINFIELD CHRISTIAN 64 – Senior guard ICARO PARISOTTO may not lead the San Diego CIF in scoring, but he’s sure going to rank up near the top.

The 6-foot-2 Parisotto scored 30 points in Friday’s (Dec. 10) quarterfinal win over Linfield Chrisitian of Temecula in the Tri-City Christian Tournament.

Parisotto, who hit 7 threes, has scored 59 points in the Patriots (2-0) first two games. He has totaled 11 triples to date.

Six-foot-6 junior SHANE DILLON pitched in with 18 points, 15 rebounds and 5 blocks for the Patriots. He was 7 of 11 from the field and also handed out 4 assists. Parisotto had 6 assists.

Christian took a 19-8 lead in the first quarter and built a 39-24 advantage by halftime.

“We got a lot of transition baskets,” said Christian assistant coach DEREK LARSEN.

The Patriots also held a 10-9 edge in 3-point shooting as Dillon accounted for 3 bulls-eyes above the arc.

Christian advances to the tournament semifinals against Brethren Saturday (Dec. 11) at 11 a.m. If the Patriots win that one, they’ll play in the championship game that night at 6:30. Both games will be played at Tri-City Christian.

Christian: Icaro Parisotto 30 (5 reb, 6 ast, 2 stl), Shane Dillon 18 (15 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 5 blk), Jake Larsen 7 (2 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl), Trenton Sauls 6 (2 reb, 1 stl), Tyrone Sauls 6 (4 reb, 2 ast), Josh Feldscher 5 (1 reb), Aaron Hueslein (2 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl), Clarence Carter (4 reb, 3 stl).

HELIX 41, PATRICK HENRY 29 – KENNY KEYS, whose future will probably be as a defensive back in football, scored 14 points and grabbed 16 rebounds as the Highlanders chugged past Patrick Henry in Friday’s (Dec. 10) Hilltop Tournament consolation game.

Keys could have easily been distracted as he had hours before learned that he’d been invited on a football recruiting trip to UNLV. Nonetheless he made 6 of 11 shots from the field and 2 of 3 free throws. Half of his rebounds came on the offensive glass.

“Kenny’s going to make a great football safety for somebody,” said Helix basketball coach JOHN SINGER.

Helix finished the Hilltop Tournament 3-2, which was satisfactory to Singer. He was not pleased, however, by the performance against Henry when the Highlanders shot 32 percent (17-52) from the floor, including 1-for-17 from 3-point distance.

“We don’t play solid on the defensive end, we lose the game,” Singer said.

Helix will make its annual sojourn to the Red Bluff Invitational next week.

Helix: Kenny Keys 14 (16 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk), Tommy Young 11 (6 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl), Titus Young 9 (2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Brian Valadez 6 (7 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk), Mike Todd 1 (4 reb), John Singer (2 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk), Earl Schexnayder (1 ast, 4 stl), Kene Anigbogu (1 reb).

ARMY-NAVY 66, VALHALLA 60 – Although the Norsemen trailed by only two points with 35 seconds remaining in Friday’s (Dec. 10) Duds by Dudes Tournament at La Jolla Country Day, they couldn’t handle Army-Navy’s 7-foot Cheikh Ndiaye.

Ndiaye, who was celebrating a birthday, rolled a triple-double of 24 points, 14 rebounds and 11 blocked shots for the No. 8-ranked Warriors (4-0).

“We were intimidated by their size early,” said Valhalla coach KEITH JACKSON. And the Norsemen (3-4) found themselves trailing 20-8 after one quarter.

“We showed great resolve,” Jackson noted, as Valhalla used a 26-12 third quarter run to take a brief lead that didn’t hold up.

But once again the Norsemen looked as if they were going to get a chance to tie it with under a minute to play.

“We needed a stop and we were playing great defense,” Jackson said. “The shot clock got down to one second but we lost a deflection out of bounds. They inbound the ball to the big guy and went up by 4.”

DAVID WILSCHETZ, a 6-foot-3 senior who led the Norsemen with 25 points, scored on a layup to cut the deficit in half with just over half a minute to play.

Army-Navy countered with a barrage of free throws to decide the issue.

Valhalla: David Wilschetz 25 (6 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk), Matt Butcher 13 (2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk), Manny Hernandez 8 (8 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk), Chris Shields 5 (3 reb, 1 stl, 1 blk), Thomas McDonald 4 (4 reb), William Speegle 3 (1 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Amil Hermiz 2 (2 ast, 2 stl), Kevin Mills (2 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Spencer Havird (2 ast, 1 stl, 2 blk), Josh McLenachen (2 blk), Kalend Hunter (1 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl).

MISSION BAY 65, MOUNT MIGUEL 46 – The defending San Diego CIF Division III champion Matadors didn’t perform like champions in Friday’s (Dec. 10) non-league game at Mission Bay.

“We didn’t have too much going tonight,” said Mount Miguel coach JAY ROWLETT. “We got killed on the boards. They had more energy than us. By the time January and February gets here we’ll be ready.”

Probably the highpoint for Mount Miguel (2-3) was its free throw shooting. The Matadors netted 24 of 29 shots from the charity stripe. However, they made only 10 baskets, half of them by THOMAS BUTLER. One of Butler ’s buckets was a 3-pointer. He was also 8-for-8 from the foul line.

IZZY WAGNER connected on all six of his free throws.

Mount Miguel: Thomas Butler 19 (5 reb), Marcus Booker 12 (1 ast), Izzy Wagner 8 (1 reb), Mohamud Abdi 2 (7 reb, 1 ast), Cory Littleton 2 (6 reb, 1 ast), Hasani Jarvis 2 (2 reb), Safen Mohammed (1 reb, 1 stl), Marcellus Jones (1 ast, 1 stl), Shakeel Hill (1 reb).

© East County Sports.com
VISTA (12-10-10) — Christian High’s junior SHANE DILLON can do more than pass the football.

In his first basketball game of the season, the 6-foot-6 Dillon scored 29 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, made 10 steals, blocked 2 shots and delivered 6 dunks, propelling the Patriots to an 88-21 victory over San Pasqual Academy in Thursday’s (Dec. 9) opening round of the Tri-City Christian Tournament.

While Dillon was handling the inside game, senior ICARO PARISOTTO was handling the outside game with 29 points, 7 assists and 6 steals. Parisotto was 4-for-9 from 3-point range while Dillon was 3-for-6.

This game was a blowout from start to finish as the Patriots led 22-8 after one quarter and 39-12 at halftime. It got worse in the second half.

Christian: Shane Dillon 29 (10 reb, 5 ast, 10 stl, 2 blk), Icaro Parisotto 29 (3 reb, 7 ast, 6 stl), Clarence Carter 8 (4 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl), Tyrone Sauls 4 (4 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Trenton Sauls 4 (4 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl), Jake Larsen 4 (1 ast, 1 stl), Aaron Hueslein 4 (3 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl), Josh Feldscher 4 (1 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl), Tyler Ballard 2 (2 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl).

FOOTHILLS CHRISTIAN 56, MT. CARMEL 40 – DALTON MOSSER was the “X” factor for the Foothills Christian Knights as they wrapped up the Eagle Invitational championship with their third win in five decisions on Thursday (Dec. 9) at Mt. Carmel.

Foothills Christian maintained control throughout but Mt. Carmel fought back to cut the deficit to 6 points with three minutes remaining.

Mosser, the Knights’ point guard, then buried one of his two 3-pointers to extend the Knights’ margin. But the 6-foot junior wasn’t done. He brought the ball down court, drove the lane and kicked the ball off to JAMAL AYTES, who went in for a layup.

That gave the Knights an 11-point lead and the game was all but over.

“We’re a team looking for a leader,” said Knights assistant coach GEORGE CUNNINGHAM. “Right now Dalton is trying to fill that role which is no small task considering the guys we’ve had out front in the past.

“Leadership is what decides games in the end, and Dalton is learning as we go.”

Mosser led the Knights attack with 20 points including 6 of 8 free throws.

Aytes rolled his usual double-double with 18 points and 15 rebounds to go along with 3 blocks.

“The upside on Jamal is tremendous but I’m not sure that he knows that,” said Cunningham. “He’s only a sophomore and he’s gotten a lot better than he was last year. The only one who can stop Jamal Aytes is Jamal Aytes.”

Foothills Christian: Dalton Mosser 20 (1 reb, 1 blk, 2 ast), Jamal Aytes 18 (15 reb, 3 blk), Caleb Hoffman 10 (3 reb), Andre Johnson 5 (3 reb, 2 blk, 2 stl), Jeremy Labahn 3 (1 reb), Joe Buenrostro (1 reb, 2 stl, 2 ast), Ian Mathisen (2 reb, 1 stl, 1 ast).

TORREY PINES 69, HELIX 58 (OT) – The Highlanders had a chance to reach the finals of the Hilltop Tournament on Thursday (Dec. 9) by upsetting No. 3 ranked Torrey Pines.

TOMMY YOUNG tied the game with a layup at 53-53 and was fouled on the play with 7 seconds remaining. The Highlanders (2-2) were poised for the victory but the Falcons called back-to-back timeouts.

Young, who was 1-for-3 from the free throw line, missed the shot and the game went into overtime.

The Falcons (4-0) dominated the extra session 16-5 and advanced to the championship round of the Hilltop Tournament. Max Heller led Torrey Pines with 9 points in the overtime where the Falcons converted 7-for-8 free throws.

“The game was not decided by that one free throw,” Helix coach JOHN SINGER said. “We had plenty of chances. Torrey Pines had no presence in the middle, but we had a difficult time getting the ball in to KENNY KEYS.”

Nonetheless, Keys finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

“He could have had twice that many points if we would have given him the ball,” Singer said. “But that’s just part of the learning curve. I’ve started a different combination of guards in all four games. I’m still juggling the lineup. I think we’ll be okay once we can put the pieces together.”

The game was tied at 41-all after three quarters.

Tommy Young finished with 13 points and 8 assists, while his brother TITUS YOUNG contributed 11 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.

Helix: Kenny Keys 16 (10 reb), Tommy Young 13 (4 reb, 8 ast, 1 stl), Titus Young 11 (3 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl), Brian Valadez 8 (7 reb, 4 ast), Earl Schexnayder 6 (1 reb, 2 ast), Mike Todd 4 (1 reb, 1 ast), John Singer (2 ast).

RAMONA 57, STEELE CANYON 48 – Visiting Steele Canyon put together a strong finish, outscoring Ramona 22-8 over the final quarter, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Cougars from suffering their fourth straight loss in Thursday’s (Dec. 9) Eastlake Titan Tip-Off.

Ramona outscored the Cougars 24-6 in the second quarter, and that was the difference. The Bulldogs netted 11 of 16 free throws in that period to take a 34-15 lead by halftime.

“It seemed like they were at the free throw line the whole quarter,” said Cougars coach DEREK STEPHENS.

Ramona held a distinct size advantage and sealed off the paint from the smaller Cougars.

“They zoned us the whole game and we’re not a great perimeter shooting team,” Stephens noted.

Stephens was pleased, however, that Steele Canyon outscored Ramona 33-23 in the second half.

“We’ve got some guys that are pretty fast,” said Stephens. “We cut the deficit to 7 points after halftime. If we would have played with the intensity we did in the last two quarters for the whole game, the outcome might have been different.”

Stephens has special praise for DREW MYLES, who came off the bench to score 6 points.

ISAAC CURIA-TOBIN was the only Steele Canyon player to reach double scoring digits as he finished with 11 points.

Steele Canyon: Isaac Curia-Tobin 11, Casey Balikian 7, Dylan Kirchhofer 7, Drew Myles 6, Aundre Belcher 6, Danny Bwinika 5, Michael Jordan 4, Andrew King 2.

LA JOLLA COUNTRY DAY 45, VALHALLA 38 – Norsemen coach KEITH JACKSON recognized the pattern Thursday (Dec. 9) night after Valhalla succumbed to host La Jolla Country Day in the Duds by Dudes Tournament.

“This is a funny team,” Jackson said. “For some reason I knew our season would be up and down, and we’ve been down the last couple of games. Hopefully we can rebound and come back strong in the last two games of this tournament.”

“What we need is a chance to practice,” he continued. “But when you play all these preseason games it’s hard to work in practices to correct stuff.”

Valhalla, which was led by DAVID WILSCHETZ’ 12 points and 6 rebounds, trailed by a single point with three minutes remaining.

“But then (the Torreys) get an and-one and go up by four,” Jackson noted. “They can shoot the rock but I think our guys did a pretty good job on defense.”

The Norsemen’s problem was they did not carry that intensity over to the offensive side.

Valhalla: David Wilschetz 24 (2 ast, 6 reb, 1 blk), Matt Butcher 10 (3 reb), Thomas McDonald 6 (5 reb, 1 stl), Manny Hernandez 4 (4 reb, 4 blk, 2 stl), Spencer Havird 3 (6 ast, 1 reb, 2 stl), William Speegle 3 (1 stl), Kevin Mills (1 reb, 2 stl), Amil Hermiz (3 ast, 2 reb, 1 stl), Kalend Hunter (3 reb, 2 stl), Chris Shields (2 reb).

Granite Hills' Garrett Larch-Miller with the pull-up jumper, leading the Eagles past Oceanside. (Photo by Nathan Price, youatplay.com) ADDITIONAL PHOTOS HERE

Granite Hills will host the winner of the El Camino-Rancho Bernardo semifinal in Saturday’s (Dec. 11) finals of the tourney.

Senior GARRETT LARCH-MILLER once again paved the way with a triple double of 25 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists as Granite Hills improved to 4-0. He nailed 10 of 22 shots from the field and also blocked 3 shots.

SCOTT ATKINSON was a force inside for the Eagles, sinking 6 of 7 shots from the field and both free throw attempts while grabbing 14 rebounds and blocking 6 shots.

“We played 13 guys and 10 of them scored,” said Eagles coach RANDY ANDERSON. “I guess that shows we’re a pretty good team, not just one or two players.”

Granite Hills outscored Oceanside in all four quarters.

“They were pressing us with a 1-2-2 zone, but we were very successful in finding the open man downcourt. That’s why we had so many (22) assists,” said Anderson.

Granite Hills: Garrett Larch-Miller 25 (11 reb, 10 ast, 3 blk, 1 stl), Scott Atkinson 14 (14 reb, 6 blk), Kyle Pierson 6 (5 reb), Joey Grubb 5 (2 reb, 2 ast), Nate Bennett 5 (6 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl), Dalton Otineru 4 (3 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl), James Sadik 2 (2 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl), Stephen Keppel 1 (2 reb), Danny Densel 3, John Petty 2.

GROSSMONT 66, MISSION HILLS 56 – Even though coach FRANK FOGGIANO doesn’t like to talk about such, his Foothillers are arguably the best boys basketball team in East County.

After falling behind visiting Mission Hills 14-6 in the first quarter, the Foothillers used a 43-27 second half surge to produce their fourth straight win in the Eastlake Titan Tip-Off.

MICHAEL WNEK set the scoring pace for Grossmont (4-0) with 22 points – the majority coming on four 3-pointers.

Steady ROBBY NESOVIC added 17 points and 8 boards, while football quarterback and point guard DeSEAN WATERS showed signs of gaining his basketball legs with 15 points and 6 assists.

Waters was 8-for-10 from the free throw line, helping Grossmont gain a respectable 17 of 26 accuracy from the charity stripe.

With all that said, probably the backbone of the Grossmont surge is 6-foot-4 DEREK RUSTICH who crashed the boards for 16 rebounds. The sophomore is averaging 17.3 boards per game.

“He’s an animal,” said Foggiano. “He has a nose for the ball. When the ball comes off the rim he attacks it.”

Grossmont advances to Friday’s (Dec. 10) semifinals of the Eastlake Titan Tip-Off vs. La Costa Canyon at Eastlake at 8 p.m. If successful the Foothillers will face Hoover in the finals on Saturday (Dec. 11) at Eastlake.

Grossmont: Michael Wnek 22 (4 reb, 1 ast), Robby Nesovic 17 (8 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), DeSean Waters 15 (6 ast, 3 reb, 2 stl), Derek Rustich 8 (16 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Nick Persinger 2 (5 reb), Austin Swisher 2 (1 reb, 1 ast).

SANTANA 76, MONTGOMERY 48 – Junior guard LANDON LOZOYA missed only three shots on his way to a 33 point scoring spree as the visiting Sultans buried Montgomery on Wednesday (Dec. 8) to qualify for Saturday’s (Dec 11) semifinals of the San Diego DIII Challenge.

Lozoya nailed 11 of 14 shots from the field, including 7 of 8 three-point efforts. As a finishing touch he was 4-for-4 from the free throw line.

“It’s taken awhile for him to get into the flow, coming out of football,” said Santana coach TIM BARRY of the 6-foot-3 Lozoya.

Santana skidded to a 21-6 first quarter lead and never looked back. It was 34-19 by halftime and 20 of the Sultans’ points belonged to Lozoya.

TREY BASS directed the Santana onslaught with 9 points and 7 assists.

RYAN BICKFORD pitched in with 8 points and 8 blocks.

“Just having Bickford to back up our defense is a major plus,” said Barry. “Something I’ve never had as a coach. The fact that he’s so good at blocking shots is contagious for the rest of our team.”

Santana finished with 14 blocks against Montgomery.

The Sultans will face Kearny in the semifinals on Saturday (Dec. 11) at El Capitan at 2:45. In the other semifinal, El Capitan will host La Jolla at 4:30. The winners will meet in the finals on Monday (Dec. 13) at Santana at 7:15.

Santana: Landon Lozoya 33 (8 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl, 2 blk), Trey Bass 9 (7 ast, 5 reb, 3 stl, 1 blk), Ryan Bickford 8 (8 blk, 4 reb, 1 ast), Christian Barry 7 (3 reb, 1 blk), Daniel Levens-Lowery 6 (1 ast, 1 stl), James Doherty 4 (3 reb, 1 blk), AJ Bratlein 3 (1 stl, 1 blk), Mike Rosolino 3 (1 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Jason Dale 2 (1 reb, 1 stl, 2 ast), Jason Corbisez 1 (2 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl).

MOUNT MIGUEL 57, CRAWFORD 44 – The visiting Matadors used a three-prong attack to build a 38-24 lead after three quarters in Wednesday’s (Dec. 8)

San Diego DIII Challenge at Crawford.

IZZY WAGNER set the pace for the Matadors (2-2) with 16 points – most of which came on four 3-pointers.

THOMAS BUTLER and MARCUS BOOKER added 15 points apiece. Butler also had 6 rebounds – one less than team leader MOHAMUD ABDI with 7.

The Matadors produced 13 assists – 5 of them coming from Booker.

“It was a decent effort,” said Mount Miguel coach JAY ROWLETT. “Any time you beat a DIII rival it’s always good.”

Mount Miguel will play a pivotal Division III non-league game on Friday (Dec. 10) at Mission Bay. That game could have major playoff seedings connotations.

Mount Miguel: Izzy Wagner 16 (1 reb, 2 ast), Thomas Butler 15 (6 reb, 1 ast), Marcus Booker 15 (5 ast, 1 reb, 3 stl), Cory Littleton 5 (5 reb, 1 ast), Mohamud Abdi 2 (7 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Shakeel Hill 2 (2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Hasani Jarvis 2 (1 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Safen Mohammed (1 reb, 1 ast).

MADISON 51, VALHALLA 50 – One thing about the Valhalla Norsemen is you shouldn’t leave their games early. More often than not the outcome will be decided in the last seconds if not the final shot.

DAVID WILSCHETZ and MATT BUTCHER scored 15 points apiece to lead Valhalla. Wilschetz made 9 of 11 free throws and captured 8 rebounds.

But the Norsemen still fell short.

Valhalla (3-2) took a 5-3 lead but found itself trailing 21-7 midway through the second quarter of Wednesday’s (Dec. 8) Duds by Dudes La Jolla Country Day Tournament.

“We did a good job of fighting back,” said Valhalla coach KEITH JACKSON.

With the game tied 48-48 Valhalla ’s KEVIN MILLS hit two free throws, giving the Norsemen the edge with 16 seconds left.

Madison missed a 3-pointer but collected the long rebound with 6 seconds left.

“After getting that long board they kicked it out to an open guy at the top of the key, and he hit a 3-pointer to beat us,” said Jackson. “You live by the sword and die by the sword.”

Two of Valhalla’s three wins came on last second baskets.

Valhalla: Matt Butcher 15 (2 reb, 4 stl), David Wilschetz 15 (8 reb, 1 stl), Spencer Havird 4 (3 ast, 3 reb, 1 stl), Manny Hernandez 4 (7 reb, 3 blk), Kevin Mills 4 (1 ast, 3 reb, 2 stl), Josh McLenachen 3 (1 stl), Amil Hermiz (5 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl), Kalend Hunter (1 reb), William Speegle (1 reb, 1 stl).

BONITA VISTA 73, STEELE CANYON 57 – Despite seeing his team lose for the third time in as many starts, Cougars coach DEREK STEPHENS was happy to welcome MICHAEL JORDAN to the court for the first time in Wednesday’s (Dec. 8) Eastlake Titan Tip-Off against visiting Bonita Vista.

In his first outing Jordan delivered game-highs of 18 points and 12 rebounds.

And why wouldn’t you expect a kid with a name like that to be a basketball force.

“He will be quite a player once he gets in basketball condition,” said Stephens.

Bonita Vista took a 60-41 lead after three quarters.

“I’m disappointed with our defense because no way should we allow 73 points in any game,” Stephens added. “I think we’re going to improve once our football players get assimilated into basketball.”

DYLAN KIRCHHOFER pitched in 12 points for the Cougars.

Steele Canyon: Michael Jordan 18 (12 reb.), Dylan Kirchhofer 12, Danny Biwinika 8, Casey Balikian 6, Ryan Gilbert 4, Andrew King 3, Isaac Curia-Tobin 3, Andre Belcher 2, Justin Norwood 1.

ORANGE GLEN 52, EL CAJON VALLEY 42 – DOMINIQUE MILLER turned in a powerful opening game with 18 points and 16 rebounds as the Braves opened the season by dropping a non-league decision to visiting Orange Glen on Wednesday (Dec. 8).

BRENDEN BROCIOUS nailed a pair of 3-pointers and his way to a 12-point finish for the Braves

The Braves led 16-15 after one quarter, but trailed 23-22 at intermission. Orange Glen used a 16-9 run in the third quarter to take the lead.

El Cajon Valley: Dominique Miller 18 (16 reb, 3 stl, 2 blk), Brenden Brocious 12 (4 reb, 3 stl), Alex Jacinto 7 (5 reb, 2 stl, 1 blk), Logman Sulyman 3 (1 st), Diante Ashby 2 (2 reb), Frank Williams (7 reb, 2 stl), Tyler Verela (5 ast, 3 reb).

© East County Sports.com
LA JOLLA (12-8-10) — Although Foothills Christian lost three big-time players to graduation a year ago, the Knights are developing new leaders.

Probably the kingpin of the group is JAMAL AYTES, who is averaging 29.5 points and 11.5 rebounds after four games this season. The 6-foot-6, 215 pound sophomore turned in arguably the finest game of his career with 38 points and 10 rebounds as the visiting Knights bopped The Bishop’s School, 74-60, in Tuesday’s (Dec. 7) Eagle Invitational action.

Aytes netted 12 of 22 shots from the floor, including a pair of treys in the victory over The Bishop’s. He also converted 12 of 17 free throws.

“To me the strongest part of his game is he can knock down the 15-foot jump shot,” said Foothills Christian assistant coach GEORGE CUNNINGHAM. “He’s a very well polished player who has strong post moves. He’s not one dimensional, that’s for sure. He has a lot of different tools that he’s only going to perfect in the future.”

The Foothills Christian coaches were most pleased by the third quarter when the Knights extended a 10-point halftime lead to 65-45.

“Coach (BRAD) LEAF was really harping to be a stronger third quarter team,” Cunningham said. “It was the best third quarter (20-10) we’ve played so far.”

Not to be overlooked was the defensive work of junior DALTON MOSSER, who not only scored 16 points but held The Bishop’s Ryan Chong to one free throw. Chong came into the game averaging 15.3 points per game.

Foothills Christian: Jamal Aytes 38 (10 reb, 2 ast), Dalton Mosser 16 (4 ast, 3 reb), Ian Mathisen 8, Daniel Labahn 6, Andre Johnson 4, Ricky Adams 2 (2 reb), Caleb Hoffman (2 stl, 2 ast), Joe Buenrostro (1 reb, 2 stl).

HELIX 59, WESTVIEW 48 – Helix coach JOHN SINGER is still trying to put together the pieces of his latest team.

“It seems like every day somebody new walks into the gym,” he said. “I’m not sure who really wants to play or who I really want to keep. I can’t even put together a roster.”

Nonetheless the Highlanders posted their second Hilltop Tournament victory in three starts on Tuesday (Dec. 7) as they knocked off the Wolverines of Westview (1-2) at Hilltop High.

Helix led by as much as 19 points in the second half.

“We shot the ball well (59 percent),” Singer said. “I think the key to that was we made the extra pass instead of just chucking the ball up.”

Westview, which led 16-10 after one quarter, attacked the Highlanders with three-quarter court and half-court pressure.

“I think we adapted pretty well to their pressure,” Singer said.

The Highlanders’ coach offered special praise for his wing players – BRIAN VALADEZ, MICHAEL TODD and his son JOHN HENRY SINGER.

“We got 34 points out of those three guys,” he said. Actually the Highlanders got 34 points and 12 rebounds out of the trio.

Valadez led the way with 18 points and 6 boards. Half of his points came on 3 triples.

Helix: Brian Valadez 18 (6 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl), Kenny Keys 10 (5 reb), Michael Todd 9 (2 reb, 1 stl), Earl Schexnayder 7 (3 ast), John Singer 7 (4 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl), Tommy Young 4 (6 ast, 3 reb, 2 stl), Kene Anigbogu 4 (2 reb, 1 stl), Titus Young (2 ast, 1 stl).

CARLSBAD 53, WEST HILLS 27 – Things started out well for host West Hills in Tuesday’s (Dec. 7) Wolf Pack Horsman Invitational contest in Santee. But after the first 90 seconds the Pack’s offense went south.

“We really didn’t play well,” said West Hills coach JEFF ARMSTRONG. “We hit three 3-pointers in the first 1½ minutes then finished the half trailing 24-14.”

Carlsbad put the squeeze on the Pack in the second half as well.

“( Carlsbad ) is senior loaded – a weight-room type of team,” said Armstrong. “They’re very physical.”

The Lancers hit seven 3-pointers but the Pack was battered by their inside game as well.

“We gave up way too many putbacks,” Armstrong said. “They just pounded us on the boards.”

West Hills: No statistics reported at post time.

(Photo by Frank Price, youatplay.com)

© East County Sports.com
EL CAJON (12-7-10) — For those who believe that GARRETT LARCH-MILLER is all that the Granite Hills Eagles have to offer, better take another look.

Larch-Miller entered Monday’s (Dec. 6) Eagle Invitational against visiting Rancho Bernardo averaging 36.5 points per game. When Larch-Miller had to leave the floor due to foul trouble, the Eagles (3-0) did not fold.

Although the Eagles came back from a sizable deficit to claim a 60-59 victory over the Broncos, they had to count on their supporting cast to help them get the job done.

Rancho Bernardo led 18-10 after one period.

Larch-Miller left the floor after collecting his third foul in the second quarter and things did not look promising for Granite Hills.

“We just kept battling and battling,” said Eagles coach RANDY ANDERSON. “(The Broncos) were up 13 a couple of times. I was really proud of my guys.”

With 40 seconds remaining and the score tied at 57-all, Granite Hills had the ball. Larch-Miller was fouled and made the first shot of a double bonus.

Rancho Bernardo countered with a bucket with 20 seconds remaining.

Granite Hills missed a shot with 15 seconds left but the ball ricocheted off a Broncos defender, thus the Eagles were afforded another chance.

With 7 seconds remaining Rancho Bernardo surrounded Larch-Miller so JOEY GRUBB passed the ball to NATE BENNETT, who drove in for the game-winning lay-up.

The Broncos scrambled back with 5 seconds left, driving to the basket for a potential game-winning shot, but Granite Hills’ 6-foot-9 center SCOTT ATKINSON blocked the shot.

The Eagles displayed uncommon balance. Despite his foul woes Larch-Miller contributed 16 points and 9 rebounds.

Atkinson, who was 5-for-5 from the floor and 2-for-2 from the free throw line for 12 points, collected a game-high 13 rebounds and fly-swatted 7 shots.

Grubb produced probably his best varsity game with 10 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Bennett added 8 assists.

Granite Hills shot 55 percent from the field, landing 23 of 42 attempts.

“Rancho Bernardo was all over Garrett, trying to take him away, and the rest of the team really responded well,” said Anderson. “Eleven of our guys played tonight and eight scored.”

Granite Hills: Garrett Larch-Miller 16 (9 reb, 4 ast, 2 blk, 1 stl), Scott Atkinson 12 (13 reb, 7 blk), Joey Grubb 10 (5 reb, 5 ast), Dalton Otineru 6 (2 reb, 5 ast, 2 stl), James Sadik 6 (4 reb), Nate Bennett 5 (3 reb, 8 ast), John Petty 3, Kyle Pierson 2 (1 reb, 1 stl).

EL CAPITAN 66, MONTGOMERY 56 – There are not many secrets about the El Capitan Vaqueros this season. They are a team that depends on quickness and the consistent scoring punch of the KYGAR brothers, TYSON and CODY.

Once again it was Tyson Kygar that paved the way with 26 points in the Vaqueros second straight win in the San Diego D-III Challenge over visiting Montgomery on Monday (Dec. 6). Kygar was 12 of 15 from the free throw line and landed a pair of treys.

Cody Kygar pitched in with 12 points and AUSTIN BETTS added 10 points and a team best 7 rebounds.

This was probably one of El Capitan ’s most balanced efforts to date.

AUSTIN DIGENAN turned in a solid second half with 7 points and 6 rebounds.

“Digenan was huge for us – gave us a lot of energy off the bench,” said Vaqueros coach JASON CAVAZOS. “It was a scrappy game. We pretty much led throughout.”

El Capitan took a 15-7 lead but could not celebrate a victory until it rolled off a 23-16 scoring advantage in the fourth quarter.

“We did a good job a good job on defense,” Cavazos said. “Our quickness helped disrupt what Montgomery wanted to do.”

El Capitan: Tyson Kygar 26 (5 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl 1 blk), Cody Kygar 12 (3 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl), Austin Betts 10 (7 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Konnor Ternus 7 (2 reb), Nestor Ramirez 4 (2 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl), Austin Digenan 7 (6 reb, 1 ast), Ryan Quinten (2 reb), Anthony Agunat (2 reb).

GROSSMONT 53, EASTLAKE 43 – The visiting Foothillers stretched their record to 3-0 Monday as they knocked off host Eastlake in the Titans Tip-Off Classic.

Six-foot-4 junior ROBBY NESOVIC scored 17 of his game-high 24 points in the second half as they Foothillers gradually widened their advantage.

“We led all the way,” Grossmont coach FRANK FOGGIANO said. “Nesovic kinda took over the second half.”

DEREK RUSTICH, a 6-foot-5 sophomore, has established himself as one of the better rebounders collecting 17.7 caroms per game after Grossmont first three starts. To boot, Rustich is producing 11 points per game.

Grossmont: Robby Nesovic 24 (8 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Derrick Rustich 14 (20 reb, 2 stl), DeSean Waters 11 (4 reb, 6 ast, 2 stl), Michael Wnek 2 (2 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl), Nick Persinger 2 (2 reb).

SANTANA 51, BRAWLEY 33 – Santana coach TIM BARRY was pleased that his Sultans (3-0) proved that they can win on the road with Monday’s (Dec. 6) San Diego DIII Challenge victory over Brawley in the Imperial Valley.

Santana outscored the Wildcats in all four quarters, beginning with a 13-8 run in the opening period.

“It was good to get a win on the road,” Barry said. “We solidly outplayed them in every quarter. We generated a lot of turnovers with our defense. We had a 10-point lead at the half and started the second half with an 8-0 run. That pretty much decided the game.”

Santana: Landon Lozoya 12 (7 reb, 5 ast), James Doherty 8 (2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Ryan Bickford 6 (10 reb, 8 blk), Christian Barry 6 (4 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl), Trey Bass 6 (5 reb), Mike Rosolino 5 (1 stl), Jason Dale (1 reb, 3 ast, 4 stl), AJ Bratlein 2 (2 reb, 1 ast).

KEARNY 58, MOUNT MIGUEL 56 – For the second game in a row, the visiting Mount Miguel Matadors suffered a one possession loss in Monday’s (Dec. 6) San Diego DIII Challenge at Kearny.

This one had to hurt, considering the Matadors (1-2) stormed to a 13-1 advantage only to wilt in the final quarter. Mount Miguel took an 8-point lead into the final quarter before surrendering 22 points to the Komets.

“We just did some things that let me know I’ve got to do a better job of coaching,” said Mount Miguel coach JAY ROWLETT. “Luckily Kearny is not a Division III team.”

Junior MARCUS BOOKER punched out 19 points and handed out 10 assists for the Matadors, who also received 17 points from THOMAS BUTLER and a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds from MOHAMUD ABDI.

“This was a bad loss for us,” Rowlett said. “The way we are playing... what we’re lacking is leadership. We need people to show the way. It’s one thing to come from a coach but it’s another when your teammate tells you something.”

Mount Miguel: Marcus Booker 19 (6 reb, 10 ast, 2 stl), Thomas Butler 17 (5 reb, 2 stl), Mohamud Abdi 11 (10 reb, 4 stl), Izzy Wagner 7 (1 reb, 1 stl), Cory Littleton 2 (3 reb, 1 stl).

Foothills Christian: Jamal Aytes 26 (11 rebs), Dalton Mosser 24 (3 rebs), Caleb Hoffman 7 (3 ast), Andre Johnson 6 (4 rebs), Daniel Labahn 3, Ian Mathisen 1 (3 rebs).

OTAY RANCH 68, WEST HILLS 54 – ALEX PARSONS cranked out a double-double of 21 points and 13 rebounds for host West Hills in Friday’s (Dec. 3) Wolf Pack Horsman Tournament action.

Parson’s output was only seven fewer than what the Pack produced as a team the night previous against Cathedral Catholic.

The majority of Parson’s points came from above the arc as he nailed 5 triples.

Granted West Hills (0-2) was forced to play catch-up all night against the visiting Otay Ranch Mustangs (2-0), but trailed by only four points with 3 minutes to play.

“We played so much better against Otay Ranch than we did against Cathedral,” said Pack assistant coach LUCAS ARMSTRONG.

Senior RALPH BEDOE, who did not score, did some dynamic defensive work on Otay Ranch super-guard Alex Perez. A Division I prospect, the Mustang’s 6-foot-2 point guard finished with 31 points but netted only 6 markers when Bedoe was covering him in the second and fourth quarters.

West Hills: Alex Parsons 21 (13 reb), DJ Lewis 8, Nick Findlay 8, Kevin Straub 7, Joey Clark 3, Jonny Preston 3, Gus Lopez 2, John McGoon 2.

© East County Sports.com
EL CAJON (12-3-10) — Six-foot-6, 210 pound sophomore JAMAL AYTES powered in 30 points and collected 14 rebounds to lead Foothills Christian to a season-opening 74-71 victory over Oceanside in Thursday’s (Dec. 2) Eagle Invitational at Granite Hills.

A 17-2 second quarter run helped stake the Knights to a 42-27 halftime lead.

It was a fragile advantage for Foothills Christian, which at one time in the second half led by 20 points only to see Oceanside come back to take a 71-70 lead with 1:15 remaining.

Clutch free throw shooting by the Knights in the final 50 seconds saved the victory for Foothills Christian.

IAN MATHISEN sank a pair of charity shots to put Foothills Christian back in front 72-71.

DALTON MOSSER hit both ends of a bonus opportunity with 12 seconds left to give the Knights a 3-point edge.

Oceanside would have one last gasp as Kenneth Jackson attempted to tie the game with a long 3-pointer, only to have his shot blocked by Aytes.

Jay Brust paced Oceanside with 29 points, including 18 of 20 free throw shooting.

Foothills Christian: Jamal Aytes 30 (14 reb), Dalton Mosser 20, Ian Mathisen 10, Andre Johnson 8, Joe Buenrostro 6 (8 stl).

MONTE VISTA 49, LAS PLUMAS 45 – Playing more than 600 miles away from home, the visiting Monte Vista Monarchs opened the season in style in Thursday’s (Dec. 2) first round of the Herb Jergentz Tournament near Chico.

The Monarchs led 39-24 after three quarters, but then had to fend off a late rally by Las Plumas to begin the season on a high note.

“We nearly blew a 15-point lead but we gutted the game out,” said Monarchs assistant coach KEITH HOUSTON. “We showed good composure down the stretch.”

Monte Vista used a balanced attack, paced by junior point guard KJ HOUSTON’s 14 points.

JAMES JACKSON, a 6-foot-5 junior, pounded down a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds to go along with 6 steals.

BRIAN STERLING, who hit a pair of threes – as did Jackson – chipped in 12 points.

Six-foot-5 junior KYLIE LUSTER crashed the boards for 8 rebounds.

Formerly from the Chico area, Monarchs head coach JAMES CARROLL was familiar with the annual Herb Jergentz Classic, now in its 49th year. He arranged for the Monarchs’ coaches and players to stay with host families of the Durham High School basketball players for the duration of the tournament.

Monte Vista: KJ Houston 14 (6 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 5 stl), James Jackson 12 (10 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 6 stl), Brian Sterling 12 (1 ast), Devin Rendo 5 (5 reb, 2 stl), Kylie Luster 4 (8 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl), Rueben Nwando 2 (4 reb), Jahzdion Taylor (5 reb, 1 stl), Xavier Daniels (1 reb).

CATHEDRAL CATHOLIC 67, WEST HILLS 28 – Nobody can accuse West Hills of beginning the season in a cupcake tournament.

Fact is, coach JEFF ARMSTRONG’s squad annually hosts one of the most talent-laden events in the San Diego CIF – the Wolf Pack Horsman Tournament.

Clearly overmatched in Thursday’s (Dec. 2) opener, the youthful Wolf Pack succumbed to Cathedral Catholic in short order.

The visiting Dons built a 36-7 halftime lead and then cruised to the finish line.

“They just killed us on the boards,” said West Hills assistant coach LUCAS ARMSTRONG. “We gave up way too many second chances.”

ALEX PARSONS paced West Hills with 8 points – half of them coming on 4-for-5 free throw shooting.

“We turned things around a bit in the second half,” Armstrong continued. “We got some shots to drop, played better defense.”

West Hills: Alex Parsons 8, DJ Lewis 6, Ralph Bedoe 3, Kevin Straub 3, Gus Lopez 3, Nick Findley 2, John Magoon 2, Jonny Preston 1.

© East County Sports.com
EL CAJON (12-2-10) — As Valhalla High’s lone returning starter, senior DAVID WILSCHETZ proved in Wednesday’s (Dec. 1) Eagle Invitational victory over visiting Morse that he is the Norsemen’s leader.

The 6-foot-3 forward, who scored a career-best 27 points, bagged 11 rebounds and blocked four shots in Valhalla’s 50-49 win over the Tigers, saved his best for last. It was his put-back at the buzzer that gave Valhalla (1-1) the nod.

Wilschetz, who was 8-for-15 from the field and 10 of 13 from the free throw line, followed a missed shot by teammate MATT BUTCHER for the game-winner.

“We held Morse without a field goal for the last 4 ½ minutes,” Valhalla coach KEITH JACKSON said. “But Morse began the quarter with a 6-0 run to open up a 44-34 lead, but we played excellent defense and cut it (the deficit) to one with 50 seconds left.”

The Norsemen still needed one more stop. They were able to make it when Morse fired up a 25-footer to beat the shot clock. That try missed its mark and Wilschetz cleared the defensive board. He made a swift outlet pass to Butcher, who pushed the ball upcourt as Valhalla had exhausted its supply of time outs.

Butcher pulled up for an 8-foot jumper with four seconds remaining. When his effort rolled off, Wilschetz was there to save the day.

Jackson noted that Valhalla gained a 35-29 rebounding edge. Sixteen of the Norsemen’s carom collection came on the offensive end.

Valhalla: David Wilschetz 27 (11 reb, 4 blk, 2 stl), William Speegle 7 (1 re, 1 stl), Amil Hermiz 7 (1 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl), Manny Hernandez 4 (6 reb, 1 ast, 2 blk, 2 stl), Andrew Lewellen 3, Matt Butcher 2 (4 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Spencer Hovird (2 reb, 2 ast, 1 bl, 1 stl), Chris Shields (3 reb, 2 ast), Kevin Mills (5 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl).

SANTANA 57, SAN DIEGUITO ACADEMY 46 – RYAN BICKFORD and LANDON LOZOYA helped turn Wednesday’s (Dec. 1) San Diego DIII Challenge game inside out.

A 6-foot-8 junior transfer from Washington, Bickford banged in 19 points and gobbled up 9 rebounds, while Lozoya buried four 3-pointers to finish with 15 points as the Sultans improved to 2-0.

“The score may not show it but this was a close game all night,” said Santana coach TIM BARRY. “We didn’t pull away until the last three minutes. Bickford played a major role in this game by hitting 5 of 6 free throws in the fourth quarter.”

The Sultans coach also noted that 6 of Santana’s 7 three-pointers came in the second half.

“Our ability to hit outside helped us open things down low,” Barry observed.

Santana: Ryan Bickford 19 (9 reb, 4 stl), Landon Lozoya 15 (5 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl), Christian Barry 6 (2 reb, 3 stl), Daniel Levens-Lowery 6 (3 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl), Trey Bass 6 (7 reb, 5 ast, 1 stl), Jason Dale 3 (1 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Jordan Khalaf 2 (2 reb, 2 ast).

BRAWLEY 65, EL CAPITAN 61 – The visiting Vaqueros were clinging to a one-point lead with two minutes remaining in Wednesday’s (Dec. 1) San Diego D-III Challenge contest at Brawley.

That’s when leading scorer TYSON KYGAR fouled out. It was a painful blow considering Kygar had netted 21 points after tallying 33 in the season opener.

Yet, El Capitan (0-2) still had a chance to win or at least force overtime. However, the Vaqueros, trailing by two at the time, missed the front end of a one-and-one with six seconds left and Brawley grabbed the defensive rebound.

“We had to foul and they made two more free throws,” said El Capitan coach JASON CAVAZOS.

“Three-fourths of the game we had no one taller than 5-foot-9 on the court,” the coach continued. “We did a good job of trapping and pressing the ball, but got pounded on the boards.”

El Capitan: Tyson Kygar 21, Konnor Ternus 16, Cody Kygar 12, Austin Betts 7, Ryan Quinten 3, Nester Ramirez 1, Anthony Agunat 1.

SD-SOUTHWEST 70, STEELE CANYON 51 – The visiting San Diego Southwest Raiders raced out to a 38-18 halftime lead and never looked back in Wednesday’s (Dec. 1) Eastlake Titan Tip-Off tiff at Steele Canyon.

“We turned the ball over between 25-30 times,” said Cougars coach DEREK STEPHENS. “Tonight we had a lot of people playing in more minutes than they’re used to.”

ISAAC CURIA-TOBIN led the Cougars with 12 points and DANNY BWINIKA had 10.

“Bwinika played well in the second half,” said Stephens. “We were ahead the first three minutes, but we were playing without ANDREW KING, our starting point guard, who got hurt yesterday when he rolled his ankle in practice.

“We need to grow as a team and get rid of some of the selfishness.”

Steele Canyon: Isaac Curia-Tobin 12, Danny Bwinika 10, Justin Norwood 8, Casey Balikian 7, Tivon Plummer 6, Drew Myles 4, Aundre Belcher 3.

Troy Leaf, Foothills Christian 2009-10 East County Player of the Year 2009-10 CIFSDS Player of the Year

Golden season for Leaf,
San Diego's Mr. Basketball
Hall of Champions' 50th annual team

© East County Sports.com
BALBOA PARK (3-23-10) — With the rise of small-division schools, whether being charter, magnet or religious based, the media panel for the San Diego Hall of Champions has long recognized that the shift away from traditional, public school programs would eventually lead to major changes in athletics.

The future is now the present.

For the first time in CIF San Diego Section history, a basketball player from the smallest – and, sometimes perceived, less competitive division – has been named the player of the year after Foothills Christian High senior guard TROY LEAF was voted Mr. Basketball for the 2009-10 school year.

Leaf heads a list of 20 players named to the Hall's 50th anniversary team of all-stars from San Diego and Imperial counties.

Leaf, who will play for UC Santa Barbara next season, was honored following a standout career which saw him become the third-highest scorer in CIF state history while leading the Knights to four consecutive Division V section championships.

Leaf also becomes the 12th East County player to receive such honors since the section was formed for the 1960-61 season, yet the first since TONY CLARK captured consecutive citations while attending Valhalla (1988-89) and Christian (1989-90) high schools.

Leaf registered 3,318 points during a four-year career in which Foothills Christian compiled a 106-27 (.797) composite record, three times advancing to the Elite Eight in the state playoffs. His totals might be greater except several opponents simply forfeited and refused to play the Knights, while under-manned schools that did play the Knights saw Leaf play less than 16 minutes to avoid running up the score.

Leaf was joined by a pair of teammates selected by media members from throughout the region. Senior forward JVONTE BROOKS was a first-team selection, while senior guard KALOB HATCHER, the section and state leader in assists garnered a second-team berth,

Other East County players honored were HARRY BRAZELTON of SDCIF Division III champion Mount Miguel and ANDRE LEWIS of Granite Hills, who both gained second-team berths.

Coach of the Year went to Jim Choe of Rancho Bernardo.

CIFSDS career leader
Leaf gains record third
East County citation
Third-leading scorer in state CIF history

© East County Sports.com
EL CAJON (3-17-10) — Foothills Christian’s TROY LEAF, the most prolific scorer in San Diego CIF history, has been named the East County Sports.com All-East County™ Boys Basketball Player of the Year.

It was the third straight year that Leaf has earned the honor. The 6-foot-3 senior forward was also named East County Sports.com Rookie of the Year as a freshman.

Leaf registered 3,318 points during a four-year career in which Foothills Christian compiled a 106-27 record while capturing four SDCIF Division V section championships.

After earning second team honors as a sophomore and a junior, Foothills Christian’s KALOB HATCHER gained first team recognition this season. The 6-foot senior guard holds the state and SDCIF career records for assists with 1,209. His career 688 steals are section and state records and rank him second nationally. For good measure Hatcher dumped in 2,129 points and knocked down 284 three-pointers – second best in the section.

A third Foothills Christian player – 6-foot-7 JVONTÉ BROOKS – also garnered first team honors after averaging 19.7 points, shooting.694 from the field and generating an East County best 13.1 rebounds per game. He made second team as a junior.

Rounding out the first team are Granite Hills senior guard ANDRE LEWIS (27.2 ppg) and Mount Miguel senior guard AJ STANFORD (12.2 ppg).

Lewis set a handful of Granite Hills records, while Stanford quarterbacked Mount Miguel to the Grossmont Valley League championship.

East County Rookie of the Year honors went to Granite Hills sophomore post JASON GAINES (13.6 ppg, 12.1 rpg). He also led East County with 134 blocks.

Helix senior point guard DARIEN PETERSON was chosen the East County Sports.com Unsung Hero. His value cannot be measured in statistics. But he was asked to change position and became the Highlanders floor leader.

East County Sports.com Coach of the Year honors go to Mount Miguel’s JAY ROWLETT for leading the Division III Matadors to a 26-7 record and the school’s first SDCIF title in 42 years.