SoCalHoops High School News

Valencia Winter Slam Tournament:
First Round Results & Tuesday Schedule--(Dec. 15, 1998)

We didn't get out to see the first day of this tournament, but it's a 16 team deal, which runs throughout the week at Valencia High and will feature some of the top teams in SoCal.  Yesterday featured Alemany v. Littlerock,   Birmingham v. Santa Paula, Hollywood v. Valencia, and Compton Centennial v. San Fernando.  Today the schedule is:

3:00 p.m. Eisenhower v. Royal
4:30 p.m.  Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) v. Quartz Hill
6:00 p.m.  Ventura v. Chatsworth
7:30 p.m.  Antelope Valley v. Chaminade

Here's what happened yesterday:

Alemany 66, Littlerock 48-- This first round victory in the Valencia Winter Slam Tournament marked the actual return of the full-strength Alemany team which many are picking to be an upset favorite in the Mission League, a team which could perhaps displace Harvard-Westlake as the next team to challenge Chaminade this year.  And the way H-W is playing lately (more on this later) the predictions could just have a modicum of truth.   "Remember, we're 1-0, not 1-4," first-year Coach Darryl McDonald told the LA Times after the game yesterday.  He was referring to the fact that the team has been without key players Devin Montgomery, Reggie Kinlaw, Casey Clausen, Bryson Atkins, Marco Pantoja, and Derrick Goodman, who were all playing football until this past week, and who led Alemany's football team to the Southern Section Division III semifinals. These players all combined for 35 points yesterday; in contrast the first four games were lost by a mostly jv squad of players, who managed to lose all four games in the Saugus tourney by 87 points combined.

Littlerock which is now 4-2,  came into the game with a four-game winning streak which was broken by the return of Alemany's starters. Junior guard Reny Maynard led all scorers with 19 points, including 13 in the first half, when Alemany overcame a 14-8 deficit to claim a 41-27 halftime lead.  Montgomery finished with 13 points and nine assists.  Gene Myvett scored 12 points and Tony Mayes added 11 for Littlerock. The Lobos outrebounded the Alemany, 44-18, but committed 25 turnovers and made five of 23 free throws.

Hollywood 84, Valencia 79-- It appears that our first impression of Hollywood from the Manual Arts "Say No Classic" over the Thanksgiving weekend are proving correct, and Hollywood is for real.  Yesterday, Hollywood handled host Valencia in a great overtime game.  Valencia's Royce Minor had 18 points, and hit a runnign shot with less than 30 seconds remaining in regulation, which was fillowed by Eskias McDaniels hitting a free throw to give the Vikings what seemed like the lead for good, 70-68.  But with less than one second remaining on the clock, Hollywood's Gerald Collins (5'-9" So. PG) who had 19 points overall on the night, hit a fall-away jump shot from about 15 feet out to tie the score at 70-70.    Hollywood's Leon Robbins (6'-5" Jr. PG/SG/SF) had a game high 30 points and outscored the entire Valencia team in the overtime.  Will Broadus of Valencia also had 17 points and 15 rebounds. Other scorers for Hollywood were Jamaal Simpson (6'-0" Sr. G)  with 2, Craign Banks (6'-2" Sr. G) with 8, Eric Hall (6'-5" Sr. PF) with 8, Vahe Melikian (6'-0" Sr. PF) with 2, Eric Smith (6'-4" Jr. PG/SG) 3, Kenny Johnson (6-2" Sr. G) with 10 and Orville Allen (6'-2" Jr. PG/SG) with 2 points.

Compton Centennial 66, San Fernando 52-- Compton Centennial was led by Marquis Poole (6'-4" Sr. SG) who has signed to play with Washington State next year, and racked up 24 points in the win.  Steve Sims (6'-6" Sr. SG) had 14, Lawrence Smith (5'-10" Sr. SG/PG) had 3, Keith Robinson (5'-9" Sr. G) scored 6, Tyrone Lewis (6'-0" Jr. SF/PF) scored 2,Michael Williams (6'-3" Sr. SG/SF) had 9, and two other guys we don't know, Kensey and Butler had 1 and 3 respectively.  San Fernando scorers were Mike Hernandez with 17, Roger Martinez with 11, Jason Tubbs with 11, and Montes 8, Castillo 1, and Herrera 4.  Both teams played pretty evenly with Centennial scoring 14 first quarter points and trailing by 2 at the end of the quarter, 16-14.  In the the second quarter when Centennial outscored San Fernando 16-5, to take a 30-19 lead, and that 11 point different  was enough to seal the win.  In the third quarter Centennial outscored San Fernando 15-14, and then added two more outscoring SF 19-17.


Birmingham 54, Santa Paula 47--Darrel Taylor scored eight of his 22 points in overtime for Birmingham, and Jarel Hall had 11 points and 12 rebounds, and Ghazarian also had 11 points for Birmingham which similarly won in overtime, coming from a 36-27 deficit at the end of three to outscore Santa Paula 16-6 in the fourth quarter, and then continued on a roll by outscoring Santa Paula 11-4 in the overtime.   Scorers for Santa Paula were Kolbek with 16, Guzman with 4, Rico 11, Saldino with 5, Mendz 6, Nichols with 3.  Others scoring for Birmingham were Payn with 3 and Halic with 7.  It was Birminham's first win of the year and they are now 1-4.

If you're out in the northern reaches of LA, then be sure to check this tournament out.  Pool play will continue tomorrow, and we'll have the schedule shortly.

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