BHoops: Temple City wins first RHL title in 10 years
Above: Yes, the Rams are indeed the RHL's No. 1 team.
TEMPLE CITY -- James Chen was not going to let his Temple City High School teammates down.
The guard single-handedly led the Rams to the promised land -- a Rio Hondo League championship -- by scoring 31 points, 23 in the first half, in a 70-52 championship victory showdown against Monrovia in a standing-room only Temple City gym. It ended La Cañada's seven-year lock on the title.
"It's like a Hollywood story," Chen said. "We haven't done it in 10 years, It's great."
The teams went into the final regular season game tied for the league lead at 7-2. Chen had three 3-pointers in the first half, Zack Aquino had three 3-pointers in the second quarter and the Rams made 8 of 19 3-point attempts in the half en route to a 43-32 halftime lead.
"I let the first one go and it went in, so I just kept letting it fly and it kept on going on in," Chen said.
Only twice in the second half could the Wildcats close to within nine points, both in the third quarter.
"There was no fluidity like we needed to," Monrovia coach Jarod Mix said. "We weren't running our offense like we needed to."
Temple City coach Rich Hollinger has been involved in four of the Rams' five league titles, one as a player in 1978.
Despite the first-half fireworks, the Rams cooled down considerably in the second half. Chen shot 2 of 10 in the half. The 5-foot-10 senior did finish with a team-high 13 rebounds. The Rams missed on all nine of their 3-point attempts in the second half.
"I was really worried because we were a little gassed at halftime," Hollinger said. "I told the kids, 'You have to keep driving,' and then we got our momentum back."
The Rams built a 58-42 midway through the fourth quarter when the Wildcats were hit with a pair of technical fouls. Chen made two of four foul shots and Aquino, who had 19 points, hit two more for a 61-42 lead.
But by that time, even last-second heroics by Chris Bullock would not have helped. The Monrovia left-hander made two shots at the end of the first two quarters from the halfcourt line at the buzzer.
Above: Temple City's James Chen being interviewed by the Star-News' Keith Lair.
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Melendez worked as a correspondent for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune for three years and later landed a job as a freelance writer at the Los Angeles Times before accepting an offer at The Orange County Register covering high schools. Melendez covered Major League Soccer at The Register for three years before being promoted to report on the Lakers, Angels and Dodgers for the Web. Melendez also worked for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Fresno Bee, Oakland Tribune and The Boston Globe. E-mail opinions, suggestions and tips to miguel.melendez@sgvn.com. |
Amazing freakin blog here. I almost cried while reading it!
Keep focusing on your blog. I love how we can all express our feelings. This is an extremely nice blog here :)
Hi, cheers for this wonderful post, a truly great start to the 2010, keep up the fantastic work, Rachel.
wSGVfootball,
Not sure if you read my story right, but I clearly wrote the Moors clinched the Almont League championship. The headline in the online story is an obvious error, but not mine. I don't write the headlines. Your sarcasm is somewhat appreciated.
Campanario,
18 points does point to a little more than straight hometown ref favoritism. From what I hear your view is on the money, the refs were also concerned with keeping the game controlled and not escalating into a cheap shot fest.
I didn't make the game and feel bummed about it. Us old working people need to sleep now and then.
Your posts are always rooted in fact. Where were you during the CIF run? You definitely need to post more frequently.
Hey Miguel,
I read your article about Alhambra being league champs in boys basketball and it's great and all, but you mentioned they won the MVL. Last I checked they were in the Almont League. Did Alhambra switch leagues over night? Whenever I read your articles I tend to see far fetched statements and not a lot of a research. As a reader it's harder for me to trust the facts in your work. Sorry for being blunt, but I think this will help you down the road.
Eardrum-bending game last night. Packed gym, rival crowds, good stuff. The "Refs you suck" (Monrovia), "M-town sucks" (TC) exchange, and some of the individual knuckleheads, we all could have done without, but really it was high spirits and a high-stakes game. I hope most people there were jazzed by it all.
Basketball-wise TC was better. They hit more shots, some key rebounding (Chen can rebound, if you didn't know it), and they did have cooler heads.
Officiating? Yeah, ok, perhaps some more fouls on drives, and perhaps too many 'T's'...but you don't get beat by 18 points because of the refs.
Stay focused, Cats.
I'm glad to see comments posted on this site. (sorry for the earlier double post). I think we all saw the same game, poor refs. Let's hope that all the teams representing the RHL do well in CIF. You never know we might see a third game between the to schools. GO RHL.
BTW, Hats off to Monrovia Ladycats on winning RHL this year, Good luck in CIF. I enjoy basketball
Great game.. .But TC should definitely should thank those one dimensional Refs. It was close to calling the game a true Ref embarrassment. Being a La Canada Fan for all of these years I can now understand why people thought we were always the Pre Maddonas of the league. It looked like every time Monrovia would make a move the refs would be TC's 6th man. Oh well there's room for improvement on both sides for next year and the years to come. Coaching seemed to be good on both sides. Monrovia definitely seemed to be by far the more athletic team and looking at the program for next year Revenge will probably be on their minds for the rest of the year. Good Luck RHL teams in the post season.
Congrats to TC and Mr. Chen for a great season. Nice to see a new team atop the RHL bball title.
congratulations Rams!!
rest up and rock the postseason.
It was more than obvious to all that the
Refs were wearing Green&Gold under their stripes.
I would have liked to see a game called fairly. Maybe next year.
we did it. we did it.
yeah big diesel it doesn't help when the mtown fans are yelling obscenities and vulgar things to the refs.. as rams09 has previously stated.
anyways im so proud of my boys. dinner after with the boys was lighthearted and what makes me so happy is that they were grateful for the fans.
that's a wrap. let's pop the patron!!!!! (just kidding).... or am i?
YES. I told you Miguel, Cinderella story. These guys have been wanting a title for the longest time. It didn't matter their size or strength, just the will of their hearts. I'm so proud of my bball broskies. Ref's were pretty good on our side tonight I admit, but at certain points the refs became unbalanced too (at one point i forgot when i checked it was 6fouls on us and 1 on mtown). I think they balanced it out. I could see a lot of fouls that were loud (i heard big rob #23 getting slapped in the arm from where i was sitting) but i'm guessing maybe it was the same on your side of the court.
I had dinner with the players, they were fouled pretty badly sometimes from what they told me. Around the 4th quarter and second half they got pretty dirty. The one "technical" that caused #5 and JC45 to sit was because #5 was shouldering James repeatedly and taunting him and when James told the ref, the ref sent them both on the bench to sit down.
Later in the fourth quarter i heard Mtown's fans yelling "F*ck the refs, F*ck the refs..." way to keep it classy....
It was a good game, with standing room only in our gym. The crowd was excited, and it felt like we were only leading by 1 point even when we had a considerable lead. What a game, what a game.
Go Rams!
Yeah, those refs were pretty horrible; You would think that in a title game that the refs would be decent. It's unfortunate but things are looking up for us Cat's with 4 returning starters (3 of which are sophmores) a star in Bullock, a rising star in freshman Isaiah Braime, and that 6'8'' sophmore from JV who's still growing.
Game between Temple City and Monrovia was a great game. The only down side to the game was the poor officiating. The Referee's could not keep up with the game. They let the game get out of control. Monrovia could not get a call in the first half. The second half wasn't much better for Monrovia, as well. Chen played a great first half, but was just ok in the second half. A lot of Monrovia's drives to the basket were fouls that were not called. Causing Monrovia to have a low shooting percentage for the game. Temple City shot a very high percentage for the game. With all of these elements going on, it was impossible for Monrovia to win. Games with so much on the line should have better referee's. All of this is just how I see it. I enjoy basketball
Game between Temple City and Monrovia was a great game. The only down side to the game was the poor officiating. The Referee's could not keep up with the game. They let the game get out of control. Monrovia could not get a call in the first half. The second half wasn't much better for Monrovia, as well. Chen played a great first half, but was just ok in the second half. A lot of Monrovia's drives to the basket were fouls that were not called. Causing Monrovia to have a low shooting percentage for the game. Temple City shot a very high percentage for the game. With all of these elements going on, it was impossible for Monrovia to win. Games with so much on the line should have better referee's. All of this is just how I see it. I enjoy basketball