covina tournament final

SoCal High School & Prep Report

Covina Tournament: LaCanada Loses
to Diamond Bar in Final--(January 2, 1998)

We got almost zero news on this tournament. It was even more elusive than the Eagle Rock Tournament, but not quite as mysterious as the Super-Secret Pooh Richardson Classic(s), both east coast and west coast versions, which almost no one here knew about.

Well the Covina Holiday Tournament is history this year, and it seems that Matt Moore and La Canada have finally met their match. Moore was named last week as the LA Times Athlete of the Week, and he's had some pretty spectacular performances this year. Check out our earlier article on him here at SoCalHoops.

On Tuedsay, December 30, 1997 La Canada ran into Diamond Bar, and Diamond Bar came away with the win and the tournament championship, 65-61. Moore still managed to pull down more than a few points, 23 in all, and he was selected to the All Tournament Team, but on Tuesday, Kevin Turner of Diamond Bar stole the show, and the game with 24 points, including 6 three pointers. He was backed up by Brian Pichon with 11 and Brad Wright, also with 11 points. Wright had 3 three pointers and Pichon had 1. Diamond Bar initially led by 6, 19-13 at the end of the first quarter, but La Canada came storming back and brought it to within 2, outscoring DB 18-14 in the second quarter, and at the end of the half, the score was 33-31, Diamond Bar.

Diamond Bar came out smoking in the second half, and jumped out to a 10 point lead, outscoring La Canada 21-13 in the third, to bring the score to 54-44 at the close of the quarter. and even though La Canada outpaced DB 17-11 in the final period, they still fell four short, 65-61.

Others scoring for Diamond Bar included Joe Schey with 6, Jason Arnold with 5, and Mike Eubanks and Joe Spicer each with four.

La Canda was led by Moore with 23, Ian Sullivan with 16, Rob Kane with 12, Tim Chung with 5 points, David Hudes with 3, and Derrick Yee with 2 points. Sullivan scored 12 of his 16 points on three pointers and Kane added one three.

With the win and the Tournament Championship, Diamond Bar improved to 12-1 on the season, while La Canada dropped to 12-4, still very impressive. Diamond Bar plays in the Sierra League with Ayala, Baldwin Park, Nogales, Rowland and West Covina, and while we don't know too much about many of these teams with the exception of Ayala, look for DB to make a serious challenge for the league title and to go deep into the Southern Section playoffs.

In other games we just managed to get the scores, but here they are:

Third Place: Bishop Amat 61, Lompoc 55
Fifth Place: not reported
Seventh Place: Northview 76, Arroyo 54
Consolation Championship: Charter Oak 70, Arcadia 61
Eleventh Place: South Pasadena 60, South Hills 56
Thirteenth Place: Covina 52, Baldwin Park 49
Fifteenth Place: Wilson 2, Walnut 0 (forfeit)

Tournament MVP

Kevin Turner (Diamond Bar)

All-Tournament Team Selections*

Alex Lowder (Bishop Amat)

Jason Smoot (Bishop Amat)

D'Andre Roberts (Charter Oak)

Brad Wright (Diamond Bar)

Joe Schey (Diamond Bar)

Ian Sullivan (La Canada)

Matt Moore (La Canada)

* we know this is incomplete; somebody give us the rest please.

Again, our congratulations to Diamond Bar and Kevin Turner, and to all of the other teams and participants from SoCalHoops.