SGV/Whittier Prep Sports Zone: Morning Briefing, Jan. 21st
Walnut defeats Diamond Bar is boys basketball; Claremont narrowly defeats Glerndora in girls basketball.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Malik Khouzam scored 22 points to lead Walnut past Diamond Bar on Friday night. (Escarcega)
HACIENDA LEAGUE
Walnut 67, Diamond Bar 59: In the area game of the year, Walnut senior guard Malik Khouzam decided to deliver a career-defining performance.
The senior scored 22 points, 16 of which came in the first half, to help lead the Mustangs past the visiting Brahams and force a tie at the top of the Hacienda League standings. Joby Barnes also delivered a top performance as he scored 18 points with three steals.
“I’m happy to have both of those players on our team,” Walnut coach Joe Khouzam said. “I told our guys that they weren’t a one-player team and they played well. We gotta play fast, that is how we play, and it was better for us. We wanted to rebound and push the tempo a little bit.”
It was a rough night for Diamond Bar star forward Malcolm Bell. Playing in his first game since getting injured several weeks ago, Bell scored 10 points with six rebounds. Unlike in their first matchup, where he scored 11 points in the second half, Bell was held scoreless in the fourth quarter.
Alex Kim had a big effort as he scored 18 points with 7 rebounds. Dior Brown played with unrelenting effort as he tossed in 13 points and Max Gao added 10 points and scored the only field goal for Diamond Bar in the fourth quarter.
Wilson 74, Los Altos 61: The Wildcats pulled off a rare sweep on the Conquerors and stayed in the hunt for a possible playoff bid. Senior Ernie Johnson had a double-double, 17 points, and 14 rebounds, and Aaron Hou tallied 15 points.
Other Scores
Rowland 44, South Hills 35
ALMONT LEAGUE
Schurr 77, Montebello 35: The Spartans swept the season series from the Oilers on the strength of a nice performance from Andrew Mata with 18 points and Noah Loera who pitched in another 10 points.
Other Scores
Alhambra 53, Bell Gardens 25
Keppel 57, San Gabriel 30
BASELINE LEAGUE
Etiwanda 57, Damien 53: The Spartans held a 39-32 halftime lead, but the Eagles rallied in the second half to narrowly pull out a huge Baseline League win at Damien. Xavier Clinton led the Spartan attack with 14 points and Elijah Brown tossed in 12 points.
CAMINO REAL LEAGUE
Scores
Bishop Amat 71, Cathedral 59
DEL REY LEAGUE
Scores
St. Anthony 63, St. Paul 53
DEL RIO LEAGUE
Scores
La Serna 71, California 44
Whittier 87, Santa Fe 61
FREEWAY LEAGUE
Sonora 58, Buena Park 45: It was the Yoda Oke show again for the Raiders as he scored 18 points to help keep Sonora in first place in the league standings. Troy Jenkins added 12 points and Ernest Love tallied 10 points.
La Habra 59, Troy 43: Acen Jimenez had the hot hand for the Highlanders as led all scorers with 20 points in a home Freeway League win. Brayden Orr tossed in 10 points with 5 rebounds.
GATEWAY LEAGUE
Scores
La Mirada 73, Paramount 46:
MISSION LEAGUE
St. Francis 52, Alemany 37: The Golden Knights rebounded from a loss to Sierra Canyon on Wednesday with a double-digit win over the Warriors. Luke McGrath paced the St. Francis offensive attack with 12 points.
MISSION VALLEY LEAGUE
Mountain View 65, El Monte 20: The Vikings had three players score in double figures in their win over the Lions. Angel Sanchez led the way with 22 points with Daniel Leon adding 18 points and Jeryck Shavoya contributing 14 points.
Other Scores
South El Monte 67, Rosemead 52
MT. BALDY LEAGUE
Scores
Chaffey 63, Baldwin Park 35
OLYMPIC LEAGUE
Scores
Valley Christian 58, Maranatha 52
RIO HONDO LEAGUE
South Pasadena 70, Monrovia 56: The Tigers sweep the season series from the Wildcats on the strength of Russ Williams, who once again stepped up with a huge performance with 20 points. He had 25 points in their first matchup. Nick Chabot chipped on 16 points and Derek Peterson tossed in 12 points.
La Canada 72, Blair 63: The Spartans opened up a 56-53 lead in the third quarter and pulled away late to earn a big home win over the Vikings. Josh Proctor once again topped the stat sheet as he scored 22 points and Jack Reynolds added 17 points.
San Marino 86, Temple City 71: The Titans spread out the scoring nicely in their road win over the Rams. Adrian Huang led the way with 24 points with Jayden Tse adding 20 points, Jack Fuerst contributing 11 points and Bobby Reyes tossing in 10 points.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
Arcadia 71, Burbank 64: Lavon Domino exploded for a huge night for the Apaches as he led all scorers with 26 points in a big Pacific League win. Tim Kwon had 17 points with nine rebounds and Jordan Dollar tossed in 11 points.
Other Scores
Pasadena 63, Glendale 51
Muir 70, Burroughs 65
PALOMARES LEAGUE
Glendora 62, Claremont 34: Colton Grey once again delivered a double-double effort as he scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a home win over the Wolfpack. Max Hilgenfeldt added 11 points. Colby Brogan paced the Claremont attack with 12 points.
Colony 53, Ayala 41: Denzel Hines had a double-double (24 points, 12 rebounds) in the Titans' home win over the Bulldogs.
Other Scores
Alta Loma 62, Bonita 48
PREP LEAGUE
Scores
Flintridge Prep 59, Pasadena Poly 35
SANTA FE LEAGUE
Bosco Tech 91, Cantwell Sacred Heart of Mary 42: The performance of the night came from this game as guard Jaden Erami had a quadruple-double (23 points, 10 assists, 13 rebounds, and 10 steals) in their win over the Cardinals. Bosco Tech is firmly in first place in the league standings. Darius Benitez added 20 points and Ryan Osborne contributed 13 points.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
HACIENDA LEAGUE
Diamond Bar 49, Walnut 47: Diamond Bar lost all of their league games last year and was considered an easy out for Hacienda League teams.
That is not the case these days.
The visiting Brahams (16-3, 6-0) took another important step to winning the Hacienda League title with a thrilling win over the Mustangs. Early on it appeared as if Diamond Bar would cruise to an easy win as they held a 32-24 lead in the third quarter. But the Mustangs chipped away at the lead and had several chances to take the lead in the final stages of the fourth quarter.
Jolleen Olia, who led all scorers with 18 points with 8 rebounds, missed a wide-open 3-point shot and also failed to convert a 15-foot jump shot just as the buzzer rang. Maileeh Suasti had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
The player of the game was Diamond Bar’s Erika Liang with 17 points and Avril Ho added 11 points. “Erika is just a sophomore and is going to be a major player for us for the next couple of years,” Diamond Bar coach Jennifer Samson said. “This team has come a long way.”
Los Altos 64, Wilson 34: The Conquerors had four players score in double figures in their rout of the host Wildcats. Ashley Castillo scored 20 points with Kamora Fletcher adding 12 points, Jimena Solorio tossed in 12 points, and Hailey Lakey pumping in 11 points.
605 LEAGUE
Pioneer 57, Oxford Academy 12: Aryanna Reyes had one of the better area performances of the night as she scored 24 points for the Titans in a 605 League win. Sarah Ramos had a double-double (12 points, 12 rebounds) and Marina Interiano chipped in 10 points.
ALMONT LEAGUE
Keppel 89, San Gabriel 18: Annie Ye was the leading scorer for Keppel with 22 points and Jada Ly added 17 as the Aztecs pulled off another Almont League win. The Aztecs held San Gabriel scoreless in the second and third quarters.
Schurr 52, Montebello 33: Ligia Gonzalez spearheaded the Spartans attack as she scored 13 points in a home Almont League win over the Oilers.
Other scores
Bell Gardens 40, Alhambra 25
DEL RIO LEAGUE
Scores
La Serna 36, California 34
FREEWAY LEAGUE
Sonora 58, Buena Park 50: The Raiders survived a scare from the Coyotes to remain in first place in the league standings with three players scoring in double figures. Kiana Graham scored 17 points, Mia Chavarin added 16 points and Larissa Robles tossed in 15 points with 7 steals.
Other Scores
Troy 40, La Habra 31
GATEWAY LEAGUE
Scores
La Mirada 61, Bellflower 20
MISSION VALLEY LEAGUE
Rosemead 27, South El Monte 12: Kait Payad led Rosemead with 10 points, 10 steals, 3 rebounds, and one assist, and teammates Vanessa Quach added 6 points, 7 steals,3 rebounds, and one blocked shot, and Stephania Cuevas had 6 steals, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists.
Marshall 47, Arroyo 22: Junior Destiny Ihiaso had a nice performance as she scored 13 points with freshman Kaitlyn Goodwin, a freshman, adding 11 points in an Eagles home win.
MT. BALDY LEAGUE
Scores
Chaffey 41, Baldwin Park 19
OLYMPIC LEAGUE
Scores
Maranatha 42, Valley Christian 19
PACIFIC LEAGUE
Arcadia 56, Burbank 49: In one of the bigger wins for the program, Mel Manell scored 21 points, Shirley Freeman added 15 points and Jessie Jiang tossed in 13 points as the Apaches earned a road Pacific League win.
Other Scores
Burroughs 56, Muir 13
PALOMARES LEAGUE
Claremont 41, Glendora 40: The Wolfpacks (21-2, 5-1) opened up a 12-point lead and just held on to move into a first-place tie with the Tartans in the Palomares League championship race. Reagan Herrmann had a chance to tie the game in the final stages of the fourth quarter but missed a 3-point shot. Herrmann led the way for Glendora with 16 points.
Bonita 64, Alta Loma 33: Amore Mason turned in one of her better performances as she scored a game-high 19 points with Nicole Uballe adding 18 points as the Bearcats had no trouble dismissing Alta Loma.
Other Scores
Ayala 45, Colony 39
PREP LEAGUE
Flintridge Prep 65, Pasadena Poly 47: Ashley Chea, a Princeton commit, paced the Wolves' offensive attack with 23 points and freshman Maddie Smith added 16 points in a road Prep League win. Pasadena Poly was led by Paige Lim with 20 points. Both teams will play again on Monday at Flintridge Prep.
Other Scores
Rio Hondo Prep 55, Mayfield 26
RIO HONDO LEAGUE
Scores
South Pasadena 72, Monrovia 23