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SoCal High School & Prep Report

News From Most Northerly Portions
Of SoCal: Ridgecrest--(January 28, 1998)

Where is Ridgecrest, anyway? Well, it's here. Look for the red star on the map (courtesy of Mapquest from Infoseek) below:

Ridgecrest is an area that lately has been pretty famous for earthquakes, and not much else. It's usually experiencing swarms of quakes, and there have been some pretty big ones out there the past few years. But there's more to Ridgecrest than just seismic activity. There's hoops.

Again, we've scoured the papers and other internet sources to continue to bring you the scores and highlights of games from around SoCal. These games were all played in the last few days in Ridgecrest, which is really way out in the middle of nowhere. And the folks from Ridgerest like it just fine that way, thank you.

Friday, January 23, 1998

HI-LO LEAGUE

Immanuel Christian 76, Owens Valley 47

The Immanuel Christian School boys basketball team ran its Hi-Lo League record to a perfect 4-0, 13-3 on the year, with a 76-47 win over the Owens Valley Cubs in Independence Friday. The Cubs came out strong on their home court, playing the Crusaders close for most of the first half before Immanuel used a 10-2 run late in the second period to turn a three-point edge into an 11-point lead at halftime, 38-27.

The Crusaders blitzed the Cubs in the third quarter with an 18-7 run that widened the lead to 22. Immanuel cruised to the win in the fourth with a 20-14 surge. Anthony Pfau hurt Owens Valley from outside all night, scoring 15 of his game-high 24 points on 3-point baskets for the Crusaders. Justin Nelson had 21, also doing substantial damage from long range with four 3-pointers. Jared Metcalf led all rebounders in the game with 12 for Immanuel to go along with eight points. Shawn Vassar also grabbed 10 boards and had six points.

The winning trend for the Crusaders is a familiar one this time of the year, having posted 22 consecutive league victories dating back to the 1994-95 season. Immanuel has won the Hi-Lo League crown five straight years, the last three with unblemished marks of 6-0.

While the 22 wins are impressive, they still leave the Crusaders a long way off from the CIF-SS record of 98 set by Banning High School from 1983 to 1991. For Immanuel to crack the Top-10 list it would need to double its current streak to tie Glendora at 44. The high scorers for Immanuel were Pfau with 24, Nelson 21, Metcalf 8, Bisaro 4, Skatvold 7, Fowler 3, Vassar 6, Severson 2, and Werner 2

Thursday, January 22, 1998

Immanuel 82, Bishop Calvary 32

Metcalf made the most of his chances in getting some extra playing time against Bishop Calvary, scoring 16 points and collecting seven rebounds Thursday at the Kerr McGee Center. Everyone on the Immanuel roster scored except for Josh Severson, who made a solid contribution to the team effort with seven rebounds.

Head Coach Kirk Armstrong cleared the bench after his starters ran off a 16-4 early in the first quarter. "The bench is really playing well together," said Armstrong. "This extra time will really help next year's team." Matt Bisaro had 11 points while Pfau and Chris Fowler each added 10. Matt Cross led all rebounders with 10.

IMMANUEL-Pfau 10, Nelson 7, Cross 4, Metcalf 16, Bisaro 11, Skatvold 6, Fowler 10, Vassar 4, Spargo 4, Werner 4, Lesniak 3, Armstrong 2 BISHOP CALVARY-WGabriel 4, Smith 19, Babb 2, DGabriel 2, Zielstra 3, Jacobson 1, Tanksley 1

Friday

DESERT MOUNTAIN LEAGUE

Lone Pine 92, Vasquez 88

The Lone Pine High boys' basketball team was in need of CPR after its 92-88 victory over Vasquez in Desert Mountain League action Friday. At the beginning of the fourth quarter the Eagles had established a comfortable 14-point led, but saw it become a four-point deficit with 1:30 left to play. In the fourth quarter, Vasquez's J.R. Faquir erupted for 19 of his game-high 29 points. "He was on fire," Lone Pine Coach Scott Kemp said. "They couldn't miss from 3-point range in the fourth quarter." The Eagles (7-9, 3-2 DML) got a 3-pointer from Mito Cervantes to bring them within one and then Mickey McDonough got one of his six steals, was fouled and converted on both of his free throw attempts to give the Eagles a one-point lead with 30 seconds left in the contest. McDonough led the Eagles with 19 points while Cervantes dished out 11 assists. As a team the Eagles finished with 18 steals.

Pahrump 93, Trona 49

The Trona High boys' basketball team couldn't get much going in a 93-49 home loss to Pahrump, Nev. Saturday night. "We were outplayed," Trona Coach Jerry Storts said. "We couldn't get in to our offense or get into the rhythm of the game." Ian Ramey led Trona with 14 points. The Tornadoes hosted Desert Christian Tuesday, and SoCalHoops will have the results up as soon as we can get them.