bellvue classic

SoCal High School & Prep Report

25th Annual Bellevue Holiday Classic:
Glendora Wins Title--(January 1, 1998)

On December 3, 1997 we ran our Glendora High boys' varsity preview, and shortly thereafter, we ran our piece about the Glendora v. Ayala at the John R. Wooden Classic Inaugural High School Invitational. Glendora won by 19 points, 62-43.

We figured that Glendora was pretty good. But we just didn't know how good they were. And our sources in the great Northwest of Washington State didn't let on about this little tournament that was going on over on the east side of the Sound, in Bellevue, over at Bellevue Community College until today, after it was all over. By the way, Bellevue is a terrific venue for basketball, with a great gym, but it's got one of those funky tarmac floors, not wood. . . Even so, it's a great venue for a tournament with lots of room and great facilities, and the people in Seattle are just great; some of us from SoCalHoops had the pleasure and privilege of coaching the Team LA Boys' Basketball squad in the Seattle Maccabi Games this summer at Bellevue Community College, and team LA won a Gold Medal in boys' basketball. . . and just about every other sport too, but that's a whole different story.

Seems that the 25th Annual Bellevue Holiday Classic Tournament was on, and we didn't even know it. We also didn't know that Glendora was playing in the Championship yesterday and that they won it all.

The Glendora Tartans had one of their best performances this year, and cruiesed to an easy 67-42 win against Battle Ground. Casey Jacobsen (6'-6" Jr SG) was named the Tournament MVP, and he scored a team high 23 points, including two three-pointers. In fact, for this tournament, Jacobsen scored 115 points in four games, and hit on 13 threes.

Glendora is now 13-1 on the season, and looks like it's ready to rock and roll in league play. As Jacobsen said after the game, "We wanted to come up here to have some fun. But this was not just a pleasure trip. It was also for business. Now that we've taken care of business, we can have some fun." And despite what Jacobsen said following the win, it seems as though Glendora had some fun in the final.

Glendora didn't exactly jump out to a quick lead. In fact, in the first quarter, they let it almost get away, and at its worst, the Tartans trailed 13-4. Then they went on a 12-0 run, and took a 16-13 lead just before the end of the first quarter as Earl Sanchez (6'-2" Sr PG) nailed a three, one of 5 three-pointers he had on the night, to go along with his 19 points.

At the end of the first quarter the score was 20-15 Glendora, and they never looked back. They then extended that to a 14 point lead at the half, outscoring Battle Ground (from Washington) 20-11 in the second quarter. Jacobsen scored 15 of his 23 points during the first two quarters, while he was double-teamed most of the time by Battle Ground defenders Shame Kernen and Sean Marable, who paid particular attention to him after his 42 point performance in the semifinals against Inglemoor from Washington on Tuesday night. Of course, the double-teaming of Jacobsen meant that someone else was typically open, and this paved the way for Sanchez' 19 points (including his 5 threes), and for Chad Clark--no, it wasn't Chris, we sure-- but Chad Clark (6'-6" Jr SG/SF) to hit for 12 points from the perimeter, including a three. Brother Chris had 6 points.

The second half was just more of the same, and Battle Ground never got closer than 12 points in the remainder of the game, which allowed Coach Mike Le Duc to empty the bench so that everyone got plenty of playing time. As Le Duc said after the game, "We played really well, and Battle Ground simply didn't have enough offense to counter it." Glendora held Battle ground to only 5 points in the third quarter, and then the subs outscored them 15-11 to close out the fouth. The game was actually closed out on an 8-4 run, as Chris Clark scored on a tip-in, and Jacobsen got a steal and a dunk, and then Chad Clark scored again, this time on a layup off a Jacobsen assist off another steal.

Others scoring for Glendora included Jeremy Brown (6'-2" Sr PF) with 2, Tim Cremins (6'-2" Sr SF) with 2, and Ronnie Lee (6'-2" Sr SG) with 3 points.

Great game, great result for the SoCal homies, and a great venue for basketball. And we're sure that after the game, the boys went over to Seattle to check out all the doings, including Gameworks and Niketown, and maybe even grabbed a bite at Planet Hollywood (all of which are located on the same block in downtown). At least we hope that's what they did instead of just grabbing a plane back home.

Or better yet, hope they partied over on Mercer Island. Especially since it was New Year's Eve.

Congratulations to the Glendora Tartans, the 1997-98 Champions of the 25th Annual Bellevue Holiday Classic Tournament, and to Tournament MVP Casey Jacobsen.

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We also managed to get some other scores and details of games played at the 25th Annual Bellvue Holiday Classic, and we're sure these are of interest to someone, even if they don't involve any SoCal teams. So we'll put them up anyway, just because you never can have too much information. Right?

Bothell 72, Arlington 61: Dan Sandrin scored 33 points to lead the Cougars past the Eagles. Jason Shapiro added 14 points for Bothell, which forced 17 Arlington turnovers. Sandrin was named to the All-Tournament Team.

Prairie 60, Inglemoor 59: Zach Gourde made 11 of his 16 shots on his way to 22 points as the Falcons defeated the Vikings. Kevin Bynum scored 21 points, Matt Uffens added 11 points and seven rebounds, and Dillibe Acholonu had seven rebounds for Inglemoor, which outrebounded Prairie 35-22. Bynum and Gourde were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Woodside (Calif.) 61, Fort Vancouver 50: Randall Powell scored 17 points to lead Woodside (Calif.) past the Trappers.