Boys Hoops: Chris Reyes leads Damien to 66-45 win over Northview in Saturday’s championship

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By Tyler Drohan
After upsetting Pride of the Foothills tournament host Glendora High School in the semifinals on Friday night, the Northview boys basketball team was looking for a similar result against Damien. But the Vikings simply had no answer for Spartans senior Chris Reyes in the tournament final on Saturday night.


The 6-foot-7 St. Mary’s commit dominated in the post and the Spartans never trailed in a 66-45 win. Reyes scored the opening seven points of the game and was named tournament MVP.

“It’s tough to come back when you get down 15 or 20 points against a team of that quality,” Northview coach Ron Rice said. “We have no answer right now for Reyes inside.

“It’s been fun watching him develop over four years. He’s a prime player and he’s gotten better and better.”

Damien senior Clayton White’s layup put the Spartans up, 12-2, with 3:32 to play in the first quarter. Following a timeout, Northview outscored the Spartans 8-2 to close out the quarter trailing 14-10.

Northview senior Nick Fuentes hit one of two free throws to cut the Spartans’ lead to 21-15 midway through the second quarter, but Damien answered with a 12-2 run to close out the half with a 33-17 lead.

Senior Jon Prater scored seven points during the run and finished with 11 points and six rebounds.

“I thought we did a nice job of throwing the ball inside to Chris early,” Damien coach Matt Dunn said. “When we do a nice job of that we get pretty good shots from the perimeter.”

The Spartans opened the third quarter with eight consecutive points, including four from Prater, to take a 41-17 lead. Damien (9-1) finished the quarter with a 50-26 lead.

“Jon is one of our guys very capable of making shots and I thought he shot really good shots tonight and he was the recipient of Chris getting a lot of attention,” Dunn said.

Northview (10-2) rallied with an 11-2 run to open the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 52-37 with 5:00 left. The Spartans countered with 10 consecutive points to take a 62-37 lead.

During the run, all-tournament point guard White stole a pass and dribbled the length of the court before finding Jared Dizon under the basket for a three-point play that put the Spartans up, 60-37, with 3:35 left in the fourth. White finished with 12 points and six assists. Dizon finished with seven points.

“They’ve got a little bit of depth and we’re playing a little bit short,” Rice said. “I think they got some easy transition baskets, hit some 3-pointers off the transition game and that’s what opened it up in the second quarter for them.”

Fuentes led Northview with 12 points and senior Treavon Francis finished with 10 points.

“I thought we defended much better,” Dunn said. “We did a great job guarding Francis. He’s a really good player and I thought we made him take tough shots and that was probably the key.”

Reyes finished with 18 points and seven rebounds, including 13 first-half points for Damien. Freshman Jeremy Hemsley finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.

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  • EyeOnTheBall

    CHARTER OAK 63 BALDWIN PARK 36
    pretty solid defensive effort by the chargers. i think BP is a example of having an offense that doesnt quite suite their personnel. DDM is great IF you have the correct players for it. CO did a nice job on hitting ahead early to create some good transition looks and moved the ball well against BPs trapping zone and 1.3.1. #10 for CO was solid and did a nice job of getting his teammates involved in transition and driving to create.

    DON LUGO 49 GLENDORA 48.
    talk about a contrast in styles when it comes to creating looks and getting points. GLENDORA was overmatched at 4 of the 5 spots(pg was a draw). this game was a true testament to the quality of the GLENDORA offensive system. GLENDORA(until the last 2 shot attempts) got any look from any spot they wanted thanks to a combonation of their detailed half court offense and DL defense. or lack thereof. it was just a matter of will they or wont they convert. DON LUGO on the other hand, got any look they want due to the descent skill sets of the individual players. GLENDORAs traditional 1.2.2 match up allowed good looks from behind the arc for most of the night. and good look or not, you can count on the DL shoot-first wings to get their shots off. 3,23,10 and 32(3 of them lefties)are all pretty good at getting shots for themselves. but intern, they arent very good at getting shots for each other. but im sure the system dictates that. GLENDORA had the final poss. and had 2 looks for the win. DL actually did a nice job of disrupting the flow of the set just enough, to force 2 hurried shots(anytime you get glendora to get shots off without their feet being set youve defended well) which were both blocked…and yes, i was fully aware of GLENDORA missing a few players, including the alpha dog.

    DAMIEN 66 NORTHVIEW 45(championship)
    i think its interesting that 2 of the best big men on the west coast, if not thee best, play at schools that are a 7-10 minute drive(pending lights) away from each other. NORTHVIEW, despite a effort that almost any coach would be proud of, was overmatched by what i feel, is a different DAMIEN team than the past few. i dont recall seeing a DAMIEN team run this much. they have always wanted to slug it out, walk it up, and keep it in the 40s and 50s. but this extra kick in the transition pants could make them the favorites for the SIERRA LEAGUE title… as much ink as reyes gets, and rightfully so, #3, for the most part, does a great job commanding that ship. he makes solid decisions in transition, does a great job in changing his speeds. nothing felt forced out there(outside of a couple passes he tried to squeeze into congested lanes)and clearly understands to think about his responsibilities before he thinks about his shot. DAMIEN defended well as usual. especially on #15, who has carried NORTHVIEW so far this season on the offensive end. DAMIEN did not allow him to get going early, thanks to some solid defense which forced him into 3 out of rhythm shots. and at least tonight, 15 looked like a player who allows his offense to dictate the rest of his game, because he seemed to lose interest in getting back in transition/defense.. DAMIEN also did a nice job in getting looks on the block, and on the perimeter for reyes. as simple as that may sound, some would be surprised how teams who have a descent big, dont do enough for him. reyes also does a nice job in reading his doubles and passing out of them and keeping the offense flowing..this team is well coached and balanced enough to get no worse than a share of the SIERRA LEAGUE title……GOOD DAY OF BASKETBALL. GOOD LUCK TO ALL TEAMS THE REST OF THE WAY.