Boys Hoops: Damien wins big over J.W. North, 53-36; Chris Reyes named tournament MVP

By Fred J. Robledo
After blowing past locals Wilson, Northview and Rowland, Damien took care of business in the championship of the 58th annual Covina High School Christmas Tournament against one of the beasts of the Inland Empire, knocking off Riverside’s J.W. North 53-36 on Thursday.

Damien’s St. Mary’s-bound forward/center Chris Reyes had another
big night, finishing with 19 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks, which included a thunderous two-handed dunk early in the fourth that punctuated his dominating performance around the rim.

“They’re a big, physical team, it was nice playing the way we did against them,” said Reyes, named the tournament MVP. “We played a game like this last year in a tournament against Harvard-Westlake. It’s good playing these type teams.”

Spartans sharpshooter Jared Dizon was deadly too. He buried three
3-pointers and finished with a game-high 20 points.

Damien improved to 13-1 and J.W. North, which received a game-high 15 points from Aaron Peck, dropped to 10-3. (To continue click thread)


The Spartans didn’t waste time getting started.

] Clayton White’s 3-pointer gave the Spartans an early 12-4 lead, but the Huskies finished the quarter on a 10-2 run, tying the score 14-14
on Marcus Fuller’s jumper.

] Marcus Baugh opened the second quarter with a turnaround jumper to put the Huskies up 16-14, but the Spartans finished the half on a 17-14 run, which included back-to-back 3-pointers in the final minute, one by Jon Prather from the corner, and a bank-in at the buzzer by Reyes to put the Spartans up 31-20 at the break.

The Spartans picked up where they left off in the third, Dizon following a steal and a bucket with a 3-pointer to extend the Spartans’ lead to 36-20. Reyes kept the rally going with a lay-up and put-back to extend the lead to 40-20, ending a game-turning 26-4 run that started late in the second quarter.

The Huskies didn’t go away, Peck followed a 3-pointer with a banker to finish a 9-0 run to cut the Spartans’ lead to 40-29, but Reyes answered with a rebound and basket to go up, 42-29.

Third Place
Rowland 50, Covina 48, OT

The Colts’Edgar Campos missed a game-tying 12-footer as time expired, allowing the Raiders to hang on in overtime to improve to 10-5 while the Colts dropped to 9-5.

The Raiders rallied down the stretch to send it to OT.

After the Colts missed the front end of a one-and-one on consecutive possessions, Rowland’s Chris Arzadon made them pay with a 3-pointer with 40 seconds left to trim the Colts’ lead to 39-38.

The Colts stretched their lead back to four, but with time winding down the Raiders’ Derrick Mar hit a 3-pointer with nine seconds left to cut the Colts’ lead to 42-41.

After Deantwann Fitts hit one of two free throws to put Covina up 43-41, Arzadon sent the game to overtime with a 12-footer at the buzzer to
tie the score, 43-43.

Arzadon led the Raiders with 15 points and Mar and Josh Chang finished in double figures with 11 and 10 points respectively.

Covina’s Nino Harrell finished with a game-high 16 points and Mike Peters had 12 for the Colts. Campos also finished in double figures with 11 points.
fred.robledo@sgvn.com
twitter.com/SGVTribPreps
626-962-8811, ext. 2161

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