san fernando beats Birmingham

SoCal High School & Prep Report

City Section: North Valley--
San Fernando Beats Birmingham--(January 31, 1998)

Tyrone Purnell came out smoking for San Fernando in the Friday night game against Birmingham, and won, 67-63 in a North Valley League game. One thing about Purnell. . . you can certainly hear him coming down the floor. The former Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks All-Star (hello Victor) is really lighting it up for San Fernando this year, and he's got huge feet (size 17) and at 6'-8", and a reasonably good frame, he's turning into quite a player. And Friday night, he was just dominating. He scored 15 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked five shots in San Fernando's 67-63 North Valley League victory.

Purnell scored a basket with one second left before halftime on a lob pass to give San Fernando, which is now 19-2 overall, and 5-0 in league, a 37-30 halftime lead. He opened the third quarter with a dunk and added another to help the Tigers take a 15-point lead.

While Birmingham, which is now 13-7 overall and 3-3 in league battled behind Stanley Fletcher, who finished with 24 points, the Braves couldn't overcome Purnell's impressive third quarter when he contributed eight points and intimidated players with his size. Likewise, Devin Montgomery scored 21 points and Mike Page added 12 points and 16 rebounds for a San Fernando team that played without starting forward Luis De La Rosa, who was absent because of a family illness.

San Fernando is quickly becoming the odds on favorite to become the No. 1 seeded 3-A team in City Section playoffs. And while Mick Cady complains that the team isn't showing much intensity, no one is complaining about the fact that they're actually winning games.

Birmingham coach Bennett was happy about his team's performance, even though it was not a W, but he was especially please about the play from point guard Fahim Hassankhail, who beat San Fernando's full-court press, both by dribbling out of it and passing out of it.

The LA Times wrote of Purnell that the senior, "is one day going to make a college coach very happy." We don't know if that's true, but a 6'-9" player with good mobility, size, hands,and who can shoot, is certainly likely to attract someone's attention at the D-I ranks He runs the court well and has excellent coordination. Purnell also was once a swimmer for Taft.