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SoCal High School & Prep Report

Century Holiday Tournament: First &
Second Round Results--(December 29, 1997)

While we're catching up on what's going on in SoCal hoopdom, here's some news of the Century Holiday Tournament. This one is played in Orange County, at Century High, and started (as best as we can figure) on Friday, went on to Saturday, took Sunday off, and will resume today, Monday, and continue until tomorrow with the finals at Century High tomorrow night.

In the first round of this tournament, played Friday, December 26, 1996, Calvary Chapel beat Riverside County La Quinta 94-68. Joe Ortiz scored 33 points and teammate Brett Young scored 27 points for Calvary Chapel, which improved to 8-4 in the first-round game. In another first round matchup to set up Saturday's game between Calvary and San Clemente, San Clemente beat Anchorage (Alaska) Skyview 72-57, as Semaj Johnson scored 26 points and Chris Smith added 14 for San Clemente. In second round play on Saturday, Calvary Chapel then beat San Clemente 63- 62. Brett Young, who scored 15 points, made three free throws in the final seven seconds to win it for Calvary Chapel, which improved to 9-4 on the season. Calvary trailed by nine points with two minutes remaining. Jeremy Ampe scored his only points on a three-pointer to cut San Clemente's lead to six points. Joe Ortiz had 27 points, 11 rebounds and had eight assists for the Eagles.

In another first rounder on Friday host Century just destroyed Westminster 86-38, as Terrail Zoller set a single-game scoring record for Century with 34 points. Zoller made 14 of 19 shots and also had eight steals. That set the matchup for Century and Laguna Beach, as Laguna Beach beat Mission Viejo on Friday in another first rounder, pretty convincingly, 59-35. Nick Reynolds and B.J. Jameson each scored 14 points and Chris Sirianni and Kurt Beimfohr each had 12 points for Laguna Beach (10-3). Sirianni also had nine assists and nine rebounds for the Artists. Aaron Dunyan led Mission Viejo with 11 points.

That set up the Saturday game between LB and Century. The Centurions' attempt to break into Orange County's top-10 boys' basketball rankings (at least according to the OC Register and the Times) didn't lose any momentum as Century defeated Laguna Beach in double overtime, 54-47, in the second round. With 1 minute 11 seconds remaining in the second overtime and the score tied, 46-46, Centurions forward Terrail Zoller drove the baseline and was fouled by Nick Reynolds while scoring on a layup. Zoller, who scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds, hit the subsequent free throw to give the Centurions (9-3) a 49-46 lead. Guard Chris Sirianni, who had 17 points and eight rebounds for the Artists (10-4), took the inbound pass on the next possession and drove the length of the court. His eight-foot shot fell short and Centurion center Mike Zepeda collected the ball. Zepeda finished with 13 points, 16 rebounds and seven blocked shots. Paul Ferretti fouled Sirianni with 30 seconds remaining in the game. Sirianni made one free throw but the Artists got no closer. Zoller made one free throw with three seconds remaining to lock up the win.

Also on Friday, LA Times Orange County No. 8 Los Alamitos beat Lake Arrowhead Rim of the World 85-56 as Ryan Ellis scored 25 points and Matt Komer added 13 for Los Alamitos, which improved to 5-4 with the win, and moved on to face Los Amigos in a battle of the "Los Als" following Los Amigos' 68-65 win on Friday over Sunny Hills. Los Amigos, which was only 2-7 going into the game, outscored Sunny Hills, 17-8 in the third quarter. Bim Okunrinboye (I can spell it but you try pronouncing it) scored 30 points for Sunny Hills, which dropped to 5-7. In their Saturday face-off, the two "Los Als" went at it, and No. 8 Los Alamitos beat Los Amigos 89 to 46. Matt Komer, who played very well at the John Wooden Classic, scored 16 points for the Griffins, who are now 6-4 with the win. Los Alamitos led at halftime 49-20. John Valenzuela scored 10 of his 15 points in the first half for Los Amigos, which dropped to 3-8 on the season.

Finally, in other first round action Lancaster beat Brethren Christian 60-57 as Andrew Austin led all scorers with 20 points to lead the Eagles, who improved to 3-7 in this first-round win.

If you're down in the O.C. area and want to stay close to home, this is a good one to see. Check it out. We'll try to keep posting results and scores as we get them.