van nuys final`

SoCal High School & Prep Report

Van Nuys Tournament: Venice
Defeated by Uni in Final--(January 12, 1998)

Even though Glen McGowan (6'-6" Jr. G/F/C) had 22 points in this game which was billed as the Championship of the Van Nuys Tournament, almost no one else scored for Venice during the game. Well, almost no one. Kevin McQueen (6'-0" Sr. G), Venice's other standout guard did manage 8 points, Erik Matsubayshi (5'-7" Sr. PG) managed a single point, Justin Steele (6'-4" Sr. C) collected 10 points, and Kevin Ito (5'-10" Sr. PG) had 7, it just was not enough as University High won the tournament by a score of 69-48.

This was a game which was never in doubt. University jumped out to a 20-7 first quarter lead, and never looked back, outscoring Venice in the second quarter as well, 25-19 to take a 19 point lead, 45-26, into the locker room at the half. In the third quarter, Venice managed to cut the lead to only 14, outscoring Uni 16-11, and at the end of the third quarter the score was 56-42. But in the final quarter it was once again all Uni, as Venice gave up yet another 4 points, being outscored 23-19 by University, for the final score of 69-48. With the win, University improved to 7-4.

For University, Charlie Ferguson led with 21 points, while H. Trotter had 15, Kemah had 17, Clementin had 3, Quiveors had 4, and Kirk had 9. Ferguson was named the Tournament MVP.

Congratulations to University High, the 1997-98 Van Nuys Tournament Champions, and to the tournament runner-up, Venice High.

In the third place game, Kennedy High defeated Van Nuys 70-67, getting double figure scoring from three players, and taking advantage of fourth-quarter free throws to keep the Wolves from the door after they had established a 48-47 lead at the end of the third quarter. For Kennedy, Montel Duhan scored 16 points, center Nana Gbewonyo had 12, and Armand Shaverdian had 11. Van Nuys' lead scorers were Abe Morrabi with 16 points, Phillip Truong with 14, and Jesse Kean with 13. With the loss, Van Nuys dropped to 1-11.

In the fifth place game, El Camino Real got a game-high 28 points from Kamal Hoke, and defeated Reseda 86-40 in a lopsided win.

Finally, in the seventh place game Hollywood defeated Sherman Oaks CES 54-37 despite Laurence Lowe's 21 point effort for CES in the losing cause.

Congratulations to all the participants of this fine tournament, and congratulations again to University, the Tournament Champion, and to Charlie Ferguson, Tournament MVP.