hart final

SoCal High School & Prep Report

Hart Tournament: Simi Wins Over
San Fernando in Final--(December 30, 1997)

At least up in the LA County Sections of SoCal, the visiting teams occasionally get a chance to win the title. That's exactly what happened at the Hart Tournament. In fact, the host Hart High wasn't anywhere close to even being in the Championship game (they won the Fifth Place game). The Championship instead featured the Simi Valley Pioneers and the suprise LA City Section San Fernando Tigers.

Last night Simi won it, but just barely, on Kurt Mjoen's (6'-4" Jr. F) final shot with 5 seconds left on the clock, to give Simi a 71-69 win. In fact Mjoen took only two shots in the entire game, but the last one was certainly his best this year, or at least the most important. Mjoen is a big, strong 200 lb forward, who has not played nearly as well early this season as he is capable of doing. He struggled a bit in Vegas, scoring well in the first game against an easier opponent, getting 11 points against Manual from Colorado. But he had trouble in the rest of the games against tougher competition: He only had 5 points in 21 minutes against Fresno's Washington Union, for example, only 2 points against Archbishop Spalding, and only 3 against Mercersburg, PA.

But last night he redeemed himself completely. This was the third time in the last four years that Simi has won this tournament, and they're probably getting used to it. But San Fernando gave them a tougher time than they anticipated, and perhaps it also gave them a bit of a wake-up call to end the preseason and go into Marmonte League play (well, actually that already started and Simi has already played their first game in league play.

Simi came to the Hart Tournament directly from Las Vegas, and some very stiff competition, and San Fernando was the only opponent at the Hart Tourney of the same caliber that the Pioneers saw in Vegas, playing a running, fast-break, up-tempo game. Dean Bradshaw realized that Simi didn't want to get caught in an overtime with a team like San Fernando, because he knew they might not be able to hold them off. Which was why he was especially grateful for Mjoen's timely shooting.

He may not shoot often, but when he does, he makes sure it counts.

Simi had advanced to the final by beating Sylmar on Monday in the semifinals, 66- 52. The weaker Sylmar team, playing without Jeremiah Turner, who is out with a broken hand, still managed to play evenly with Simi Valley for three quarters before a 15-0 run by the Pioneers in the fourth quarter determined the outcome. Rafael Berumen collected 14 of his 26 points in the third quarter after being held to only six points in the first half after committing two quick fouls. Joey Youman was the high scorer, with 12 points (all in the first quarter), for Sylmar, who was 5-5 after the loss to Simi in the semi.

San Fernando advanced to the final by beating Cleveland and Kent Dennis in a preview of things to come in the Northwest Valley Conference, which begins next week. In that one, San Fernando won 76-70, but the tone and demeanor of the two teams, and the two coaches, certainly indicates that this will not be any kind of friendly rivalry. Emotions ran high both during and after the game. Cleveland was called for two technical fouls. For it's part, San Fernando committed an intentional foul during the game. And following the San Fernando victory, Cleveland Coach Andre Chevalier got into a shouting match with San Fernando assistant Darryl McDonald, which required the Cleveland assistants running interference and escorting Chevalier off the court. The two teams will meet again on January 14 at San Fernando at 4:00 pm. Aside from the antics after the game, San Fernando's Luis DeLaRosa scored 21 points and center Tyrone Purnell added another 17 for San Fernando. Purnell was really the dominant force in the win, and he put the Tigers ahead once and for all when he turned a three-point play with two minutes to play to give San Fernando a 70-67 lead. Sean Atkins then hit a three-pointer with about 1:30 remaining to put the game on ice. Simmagin Smith of Cleveland was the big threat for Cleveland, and he kept them close in the fourth quarter with 19 points and 14 rebounds off the bench. Kent Dennis who transferred from Bell-Jeff and left Ruben Douglas all alone with Mike West to take on the world, scored 15 and Kenny Mason had 13 for Cleveland.

After taking the Hart Championship last night, Simi is now 13-2 on the season, and probably still deserves the No. 1 regional ranking that the LA Times and the Daily News have bestowed on them, but No. 3 ranked San Fernando is certainly knocking on the door; they almost broke it in yesterday, having tied the game up at 69-69 with only 11 seconds to play on a desperation three-point basket by Mike Page. Simi then called timeout, and the ball got to Mjoen, who made his only field goal of the game.

After a Simi Valley timeout, Mjoen made his only fieldgoal, his only other point coming on foul shot (Mjoen had three points on the night). Devin Montgomery of San Fernando then took the inbounds pass on the next play with only 5 seconds on the clock took a six-foot underhanded layup which hit the rim and bounced off the back of the rim as the clock ran out.

But if anyone kept San Fernando in the game it was Mike Page, who hit 9 of 11 three point shots. And if it was anyone who might have cost San Fernando the game it was Mike Page, who couldn't control himself and was benched at the start of the second quarter and visibly pasted up on side and down the other by San Fernando coach Mike Cady. When Cady finally decided to let him back into the game, the San Fernando fans were screaming and pounding, stomping and yelling, and in the next four minutes, Page went 7 for 7 on three point shooting, and scoring a total of 27 points himself, and San Fernando took a 45-38 lead at the half.

In the third quarter, Simi brought it to within 4 points, outscoring the Tigers 18-14, to bring the score to 63-59 at the end of the third. Both teams were banging and crashing the boards, and even though Rafael Berumen had about 30 pounds on San Fernando center Tyrone Purnell, it was not until Purnell fouled out with only 2:55 remaining in the game that Berumen was able to completely take over the over the boards down low. As it was, even with Purnell in, Rafael was doing very well, managing to get 25 points on the night, and clearly dominated Purnell in the scoring; Purnell only had 6 points. Berumen was named the MVP of the tournament, not surprisingly.

For San Fernando, the standout (and the sitout too) of this game was Mike Page, who scored 34 points on 11-of-14 shooting. He probably has never played as well as he did last night during that four minute run, but maybe Cady will consider benching him again. Page was benched most of the first quarter because Coach Mick Cady said he wasn't playing hard.

During the first quarter, Cady was visibly upset, screaming and yelling at Page, telling him that unless he played harder, he was going to sit the entire game. Cady even took his jacket off and threw it on the floor. Whether it was for real or just for show, it worked, and rarely has a player come off a benching so fired up as to score 7 consecutive three pointers. Even though Simi and San Fernando might not meet again this year, Cleveland and the rest of the teams in the Northwest Conference had better figure out a way to put a lid on this offense, and Page in particular, because by the end of the year, he's going to be one of the top players and top prospects in City Section ball.

Rafael Berumen of Simi Valley, who was named most valuable player of the tournament for the second consecutive year, scored 25 points. Branduinn Fullove had 21 points and Brett Michel added 13 for the Pioneers.

Simi was also paced by very good play from Brett Michel and Branduinn Fullove, with 13 and 21 points respectively. Both of these players quietly and efficiently chip away at the opposition, and both are excellent shooters both from inside and three point range. For Simi, the other scorers were Shaun Michel 3, Bryan Zumo 2, and doing his invisible man impression, Ian Boys with only 4 points. We still can't figure Boys out yet. Last season he was just a dominant player at Buena, and was expected to become one at Simi. He's a big, imposing presence, and plays very well on defense, but he has yet to find either his timing, his stroke, or his true place in the offensive scheme of this very good team, and we hope that he has at least one or more games this year where he really stands out because he is a very fine player.

Congratulations to the Simi Valley Pioneers, the Hart Holiday Classic Tournament Champions for 1997. And congratulations to San Fernando, the runner-up, and to all the other teams and participants at this one. Happy New Year from SoCalHoops.

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While it may seem like it was the only game being played yesterday, the Championship was preceded by a whole bunch of other contests. Here are the results, briefly.

In the third place game:

Sylmar 73, Cleveland 63

Brandon Jacobs scored six of his 16 points in the first quarter and Sylmar, which is now 6-5 on the season, built a 16-6 lead on their way to third place. Kent Dennis had seven of his 16 points in the fourth quarter for No. 4-ranked Cleveland, which fell to 10-5 with the loss. Cleveland had rallied from a 58-43 deficit after three quarters but fell short. Joey Youman had 18 points for Sylmar and George Wrightster (a transfer from Buckley) added 16.

In the fifth place game:

Hart 67, W.F. West (Wash.) 54

J.T. Stotts had 21 points, and David Neill and Jerry Owens each had 10 for the Indians in the fifth-place game. Hart, which improved to 8-7 with the win, led, 30-23, at halftime and extended the lead to 48-33 after three quarters.

In the Seventh Place Game:

Canyon 64, Royal 60

Justin Orefice had 15 points and Jerreme Suarez and Everett Bryson each had 10 for the Cowboys in the seventh-place game. Bryson scored six of his points in the fourth quarter as the Cowboys, who led, 36-30, at halftime, withstood a Royal comeback. Dusty Cruz had 16 points, including four three-point baskets, and Christian Ronquillo added 15 points for the Highlanders, who outscored Canyon, 21-17, in the fourth quarter.

In the Ninth Place Game:

Valencia 67, Sanger 57

Jerrohn Jordan scored 17 points and Fabian Leon had 16 for the Vikings (12-3) in the ninth-place game.

In the Eleventh Place Game:

Glendale 63, Hollywood 53

Tomik Iranosian had 16 points for the Dynamiters in the 11th-place game.

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And just so that we don't leave anything out, here's a bunch of results from Monday that we didn't have time to post yesterday.

Hart Tournament: Monday's Semifinal Results

Hart 79, Royal 72:

J.T. Stotts scored 19 points and David Neill added 17 for the Indians in this consolation game. Matt Janousek scored 16 points for Royal. Jerry Owens scored 15 points for Hart. The win for Hart set them up for the Fifth Place Game against W.F. West.

W.F. West (Wash.) 70, Canyon 63:

John McCroskey made 11 of 12 free throws in the fourth quarter to help hold off the Cowboys in a consolation game. Mike Reardon had four three-pointers and finished with 12 points for Canyon.

Sanger 53, Glendale 50:

Krikor Karamanovkian scored 16 points for the Dynamiters in a consolation game.

Valencia 63, Hollywood 48:

Sophomore Manuel White scored 16 points and Jerrohn Jordan added 14 for the Vikings in a consolation game.

Bell-Jeff 82, Beverly Hills 73:

Ruben Douglas, doing his impersonation of a one-man-show (not by choice but out of necessity) scored an amazing 44 points, 21 in the fourth quarter, for the Guards in a consolation game.