By John Honell, Correspondent
Storm damage, power outages and early season injuries couldn’t keep the Glendora High School boys basketball team from defending its tournament title.
The Tartans (5-0) took an early 5-3 lead and never were headed as they beat Santa Margarita 53-35 in the championship game of the Sierra Vista-Baldwin Park Winter Tip Off Tournament at Covina High on Saturday night. (To continue click thread)
La Verne Lutheran beats PHS in Rose City Classic: Missed shots, the inability to make free throws, a lack of big runs and the absence of a key player added up to Pasadena falling short to La Verne Lutheran, 65-53, in the Rose City Roundball Classic on Friday night.
Pasadena’s Rose City Classic
Tonight’s championship at Pasadena High
La Verne Lutheran vs. Etiwanda, 8 p.m.
Baldwin Park High lost power in last week’s windstorms. Sierra Vista did not but the school district shut down all schools and forced tournament directors Herman Flores and Marc Hart to reschedule games to five gyms to get all the games played.
The Tartans, missing starters Nick Colletta and Kevin Blainey, struggled with their offense early but a stifling defense shut down the Eagles as they took a 17-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.
“Our defense was really good tonight,” Tartans coach Mike LeDuc said. “They had a hard time getting into their rhythm. Our competitive spirit was what I liked tonight and maybe we’ll get up to full strength soon.”
Tournament MVP Kyle Gordon had eight of his game-high 19 points in the first quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers. He finished the game with five three’s and made a total of 18 3-pointers in the tournament.
The Eagles closed the gap to 29-24 with five minutes left in the third quarter, but the Tartans went on an 8-0 run and put the game out of reach.
All-tournament selection Wesley Burke scored 11 of his 14 points in the third quarter to give the Tartans a boost when they needed it.
“We got the ball into the middle and made good decisions,” LeDuc said. “We’ll do better because of what we learned tonight and that’ll be good.”
The Tartans hit only 8 of 24 from beyond the arc but dominated the offensive boards and with all-tournament pick, senior Alex Pink, taking care of the defensive boards the Eagles usually were limited to one shot per possession and couldn’t recover.
Pink finished with 11 points.
“Alex was more of a presence on defense tonight than he has been all year,” LeDuc said. “That was great because playing without some guys tonight is hard.”
The Tartans didn’t get many fast-break opportunities but did get into their motion offense and got good shots almost every time down the floor.
“I thought we played really well tonight,” LeDuc said. “We hustled and were really competitive which is what we talked about before the game.”
THIRD PLACE: Rowland 69, South Hills 48
Rowland, led by all-tournament selection D.J. Jackson easily beat South Hills.
Jackson led all scorers with 18 points while teammate Joe Dionisio added 15.
