SoCal High School & Prep Tournament Report

Beaumont Tournament: News Travels
Slowly From the Desert--(December 8, 1997)

Wow, news sure travels slowly from the desert and Inland Empire areas. We went searching for news about the Beaumont Tournament, (you know, that's the place way out in the San Bernardino wilderness --actually just north of the SB Wilderness) out in the desert; the place where there must be a NOAA weather station or something because it's on every weather map, and it's either freezing or hotter than hell. Anyway, we discovered they play basketball there, and since it's in SoCal, we thought we'd let folks know about lovely Beaumont, and their annual boys high school basketball tourney. We saw a bunch of box scores, but couldn't find any reports on the games except for a few isolated sources. So better late than never, here's a report on the games which were played last Friday night at the Beaumont Tournament. The finals were played Saturday, and when we get the results (yup, we still don't have them), including the identity of this year's Beaumont Tournament Champion, we'll let you in on it.

In Friday's big semifinal games, we are pleased to inform you that Hemet High defeated Moreno Valley Rancho Verde by a score of 87-82, to advance to the finals. Hemet hit 24-of-30 free throw attempts, including 15-of-17 in the second half, and Moises Alvarez scored a game-high 41 points. The win meant that Hemet would be playing in their second straight Championship game in the Beaumont Tournament in two years. According to published reports, the game was very close until late in the game, when a double technical was assessed against one of the Rancho Verde players and he was ejected. Alvarez hit the four free throws assessed for the T's and on the next possession inbounding the ball, Hemet senior guard Dustin Martin hit a layup and was fouled. Martin hit the free throw to complete a seven-point run giving Hemet a 74-68 lead with 5:27 left in the game.

All of the members of the Hemet team's starters are seniors, and the feeling among those in the know, is that between these two teams, Hemet was better prepared emotionally and mentally to deal with the stress of a close game, as evidenced by the double T's assessed against Rancho. Hemet senior Lawrence Luehuede, had a big game, scoring 21 points, and hitting 13-of-15 free throw attempts, while effectively penetrating well against Rancho Verde's defense. Alvarez added 22 points in the second half, including two three pointers from 25 feet. Alvarez finished with six threes and he scored 91 points in Friday's game and the game preceding it.

We can't wait to see how he did in the finals. Maybe the carrier pigeon got lost. We'll know soon and will post it up here.

Hemet had initially jumped out to a 24-19 first quarter lead but Rancho Verde's up-tempo style cut into that, forcing Hemet into a zone d. By the half, Hemet was ahead by only two points, 39-37. In the third quarter, Rancho Verde outscored the Bulldogs 10-4 during the first few minutes of the quarter, but ended the period tied at 60-60. In the fourth quarter, Hemet's zone was causing Rancho Verde trouble, requiring Rancho to extend it's extend its offense, resulting in, you guessed it, major frustrations which led to the double T's and Hemet pulled away for good.

Things were evidently so heated in this game that apparently the players refused to shake hands at the end of the game. Both teams will face off again twice more in regular season Sunbelt League competition and it should be interesting to see them battle again.

By winning their bracket in the semifinals, Hemet was scheduled to face the winner of the Elsinore-Beaumont game, which was played on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Like we said, news travels real slowly out of the desert, and we still don't have a report on that game. Once the 20-mule team arrives, we'll let you know.

We also now know who won the game which decided who would play for Fifth Place in the Beaumont Tourney: The team from San Jacinto, which defeated Palm Desert 70-64, and was scheduled to play Bloomington on Saturday in the Fifth Place game. As soon as we get a report on this one, we'll post the results. We're still waiting for the pony-express to get here, because the telegraph lines must have gone down in the recent storm.

©Copyright SoCalHoops 1997
All rights reserved
Questions? Comments? Need Information?
Contact: jegesq@SoCalHoops.com