El Rancho plays Charter Oak in their non-league boys basketball game at El Rancho high School on Wednesday January 6, 2016. Charter Oak beat El Rancho 59-46. (Photo by Keith Durflinger/Whittier Daily News)

BOYS BASKETBALL
CHARTER OAK 59, EL RANCHO 46

PICO RIVERA — PICO RIVERA >> Charter Oak High School’s boys basketball team knew it could play better after losing to El Rancho in December.The Chargers showed it Wednesday.William Vest scored 18 points and Michael Anyanwu had 16 as Charter Oak got ready for Hacienda League play with a 59-46 victory over the host Dons in a nonleague game.
DJ Munoz and Andres Flores had six points each for the Chargers, who improved to 7-5. Jacob Baltierra scored 11 points and Noah Losoya had 10 for El Rancho, which slipped to 9-6.
The key moments for Charter Oak came in the first half went it put together a 12-2 blitz en route to leading 27-11 at halftime. Vest scored 13 in the first half, including back-to-back 3-pointers as Charter Oak outscored El Rancho 20-9 in the second quarter.
The Chargers also held the Dons to three field goals during the first half, including zero in the first quarter.
Charter Oak’s Michael Anyanwu: “I feel confident after getting this win to a team who beat us the last time. We can play with most teams and we’ll be ready. It’s a great win. I’m proud of my teammates. We all played hard. We had a big lead by halftime. We came out rolling.”
Charter Oak coach Randy Thatcher: “Defensively, we switched things up from when we played them the first time. But the real problem for us has been offensively, putting the ball in the hoop. Tonight, we scored pretty consistently.”
— Stephen Ramirez