SF v. Taft

SoCal High School & Prep Report

City Section Friday Game: San Fernando
Beats Taft 73-61--(January 18, 1998)

San Fernando High may be ranked No. 3 in the region (the SFV, and Ventura) by both the Times and the Daily News Polls (aka Sondheimer and the new writers for the DN), but they've not gotten off easy in their first two league games. On Wednesday, they defeated Cleveland 79-70, but only after a very tense overtime game. And Friday night, the game again came down to the wire, and the Tigers, who are now 15-2 overall, and 2-0 in Conference/League play, managed to pull off a 73-61 victory, scoring two baskets in the last minute of the game, while holding Taft scoreless in that same time frame.

This time, instead of Devin Montgomery or Tyrone Purnell being the heroes of the game, it was Mike Page (6'-5" Sr. F), San Fernando's outside scoring threat who came through, hitting a key three-pointer from the left side of the court just as the 35 second clock expired to put San Fernando ahead by 8 points, 69-61 with only a minute to play. "We found a way to win tonight, but this game was in doubt until the last two minutes. It could have gone either way," said San Fernando's coach Mick Cady after the game.

Page finished with 21 points on the night, but managed to score more than half, actually 12, in the fourth quarter, consisting of three three-point baskets, and the rest from the field and the line. Devin Montgomery had 18 points and seven steals for the Tigers, including 11 consecutive points at the end of the first quarter to put San Fernando ahead, 21-15. Page has been dedicated over the summer and in the early season to perfecting his outside stroke. He told the Times after the game Friday, "I worked on my outside shot all summer. My team has confidence in me and I have confidence I can hit the clutch shots." Taft Coach Mark Drucker was equally impressed by Page: "We knew about him, we knew he was dangerous. And he hit the big shots when it counted most," said Drucker.

San Fernando jumped out to an early lead 21-15 at the end of the first quarter, but then Taft managed to close the gap to three points at the half, outscoring SF 20-17 in the second quarter. The Tigers took a 38-35 lead into the locker room at the half. Brandon Fisher of Taft, managed to convert an inbounds pass into a layup that tied the score, 32-32, with 1:37 left in the first half, but consecutive three-point baskets by brothers Sean and Bryson Atkins gave the Tigers the 38-35 halftime lead. "Those two Atkins kids were tremendous," Drucker said of the Atkins brothers. "It's hard to defend against San Fernando because they have so scoring threats, both inside and outside."

For Taft, Amir Bar-Netzer, one of the City Section's leading scorers, hit for 17 points, including a 10-foot jumper from 15' in the that put Taft to within 5 ponts with only 1:30 to play, bringing the score to 66-61. But that was really as close as it got in the second half, as the Tigers outscored Taft 19-9 in the fourth quarter.

In addition to Bar-Netzer's 17, Harold Shevlin of Taft added 13 points and 12 rebounds. Others scoring for Taft included Fisher with 10, Boykins with 12, Alvarez 1, Bowen 6, and Feliner 2.

For San Fernando, Sean Atkins had 9, Luis De La Rosa scored 9, Tyrone Purnell was limited to only 2 points, Page had 21, Devin Montgomery had 18 and 7 steals, Bryson Atkins had 13, and Trinidad had 2.

With the loss, Taft dropped to 8-4 overall and 1-1 in Conference/League play.