ayala220

SoCal High School & Prep Report

A First Round Game On Thursday?
You Bet. Ayala Wins It Too--(February 20, 1998)

And you thought all of the first round games in the Southern Section were being played tonight?

No way.

There were at least two that we heard about.

First Ayala v. Newport Harbor:

Yesterday in Division I-AA Newport Harbor fell behind early and lost to Chino Hills Ayala, 58-42, in a Southern Section Division I-AA boys' basketball playoff game Thursday at Ayala. With his best player injured, Ayala High School boys
basketball coach Tom Gregory didn't like his team's chances Thursday night. But the Bulldogs surprised their coach, and Newport Beach Newport Harbor, dominating the Sailors. The Sailors (18-9) trailed by 10 after the first quarter, made the first basket of the second, then never got within 10 points the rest of the way. Newport Harbor shot less than 30% and made only 16 of 31 free throws. Dustin Illingsworth had nine points and five rebounds and Matt Jameson had eight points and seven rebounds for Newport Harbor.

Sophomore point guard Chasen Jones scored a game-high 17 points and passed off for five assists to lead the Bulldogs (21-6) into the second round. They'll face the winner of tonight's game between Upland and Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley on Tuesday. Jack May (6'-7" Jr. F) who leads Ayala in scoring (15.0 points per game) and rebounding (10.0), thinks his sprained right ankle will be healed in time to play Tuesday.

In May's absence, four Bulldogs grabbed six or more rebounds. Shane Unrein and Daniel Sherman had eight apiece, Ian Muldrew had seven and A.T. Simmons added six. Unrein was also a big factor in a strong start by the Bulldogs, scoring 12 of his 13 points in the first half to help stake Ayala to a 35-20 lead. Jones made sure the Bulldogs kept the lead, scoring eight second-half points, including making 6-of-7 free throws to complete a 9-of-10 effort at the line. Free throws were significant. Both teams made 16 but Newport Harbor had 31 attempts to Ayala's 24.

Ayala never trailed, scoring the first six points and taking a 19-9 lead after one quarter. The Sailors (18-9) never got closer than 10 points in the second half. They came within 46-36 on a steal and layup by Alan Limon with 5:56 to play. But after Ayala's Marcel Burke made 1-of-2 free throws, Jones snuck backdoor, took a pass from Unrein, scored and was fouled. His free throw gave the Bulldogs a 50-36 lead with 5:03 to play.

Now the Second Game:

Division V-AA

Valley Torah High 64, Santa Maria Valley Christian 56

Edward Gerov scored 17 points and Matt Rosenblatt had 15 for Valley Torah High, which pulled off the biggest basketball victory in the school's 23-year history, upsetting Santa Maria Valley Christian, 64-56, in a Division V-AA first-round playoff game Thursday night at Valley Christian. It was the first basketball playoff victory for the Wolfpack
(18-4).

Oh yeah, and before we forget, here's one more score that we didn't have any details from on Thursday when we wrote our article on Southern Section First Round Games from Wednesday. So on the assumption that it's never too late, here it is, a contest between the No. 2 Regional bracket Seed Mojave and the No. 3 Regional bracket Seed Sherman Indian

Division IV-A

Riverside-Sherman Indian 71, Mojave 60

Walter Benham scored 27 points, including five 3-pointers, to lead Riverside-Sherman Indian to the SouthernSection Division IV first-round playoff victory on Wednesday. David Johnson led Mojave (16-7) with 16 points. Kenny Johnson scored 13 points and Steve Fulton added 11.