Los Altos freshman Jarod Lucas, better known as LuCASH, scored 28 points with seven assists and five rebounds to lead the Conquerors to a 70-68 victory in the Hacienda League opener Wednesday. Walnut hammered Los Altos 71-46 in the Covina tournament final a couple weeks back, and trailed by 16 midway through the third before storming back to win. Mustangs senior Dwight Ramos did his thing as well, finishing with 32 points. Those two are quite a pair. UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton had scouts at the game watching.

By Jared Pine
HOW IT HAPPENED: Despite trailing by as many as 16 points in the second half of the Hacienda League opener, the Los Altos boys basketball team avenged its only loss with a 70-68 victory at Walnut High School thanks to 15 fourth-quarter points from freshman sensation Jarod Lucas Wednesday night.
In the first half, Lucas had just seven points, making 2 of 9 shots from the field, but after a Ryan Dai 3-pointer gave the Mustangs (14-3, 0-1) a 16-point lead, Lucas responded by making five triples without missing in the final 12 minutes.Los Altos (14-1, 1-0) led 69-66 when Dwight Ramos drained his 11th field goal with 1:15 left to give him 30 points with 14 rebounds and four assists.
The Conquerors had chances to end the game at the free throw line, but couldn’t, giving Walnut one last chance. However, a Jordan Montenegro three-pointer was just off the mark as was the second attempt by Ramos with 0.7 seconds left as Los Altos gave Walnut its first Hacienda League loss since 2013, when Bonita was in the league.

“I knew my team needed my help and I needed to step up to help us get the win,” Lucas said about his second-half turnaround. “I couldn’t do it without my teammates. They set me up really well. It’s a big win because they haven’t lost a game in the last two years in the Hacienda League, and they’re a really good team.”
It was a big turnaround for Los Altos, which lost its last meeting with the Mustangs by 25 points in the final of the Covina Christmas Classic. The Conquerors were also without two of their starting guards.
However, the guards that stepped in made the difference in the game. Lucas, Julian Lopez, and Jordan Ramirez went a combined 11 for 14 from beyond the arc.
“It’s a huge win for us,” Los Altos head coach Jeff Lucas said,” especially after them beating us so bad in Covina. That was our worst game from the 3-point line and the free throw line and we got outrebounded last time. Then we were down 16 in the third quarter this time and turned it around. It was a great win.”
Jarod Lucas finished the game with 28 points, seven assists, five rebounds, and a pair of steals, while Ramirez and Lopez each added 13 points.
“I know at half he only had seven points and had missed some shots,” Jeff Lucas said, “but he definitely stepped up. It’s a really good matchup between him and Dwight.”
The Conqueror defense focused on Ramos, who had 32 points, making four of five 3-pointers.
“We were able to slow Dwight down,” Jeff Lucas said. “He is an incredible player. We tried playing zone on him to see if that would slow him up, because he scored a lot in transition last game, but he just hit too many shots in the first quarter. We tried to do a little dime and one on him, and then in the second half we gave him one more man to deny him from getting the ball and then he cooled off a little bit.”
Dai took advantage of the defensive switch scoring eight points in the second quarter, while Montenegro also made a pair of jumpers in the second frame. Montenegro also made a pair of treys in the third quarter to push the Walnut lead to 16 points.
The two programs will meet for a third time this season again this month going to Hacienda Heights, where Los Altos will host on January 29.