High School Boys Basketball: Jerry Leon leads the way for Whittier

Whittier’s Dominic Saldana (23) drives to the basket past Schurr’s Michael Ortega during Wednesday’s game. (Keith Birmingham / Staff Photographer)

By Eric Terrazas, SGVN
twitter.com/WhittierPreps

MONTEBELLO – Jerry Leon scored a game-high 23 points to lead Whittier High School to a 72-59 nonleague victory over Schurr in a nonleague boys basketball game Wednesday.

The Cardinals (4-2) seized momentum by finishing the third quarter with an 18-9 run. After the Spartans (3-2) grabbed a 36-35 lead on Jason Ybara’s basket, the visiting Cardinals regained the upper hand with back-to-back buckets from Leon and Guillermo Blas.

When Ybara’s successful 3-point attempt tied the game at 39-39, the Cardinals retook the lead for good when Leon converted both of his free throws.

Whittier then put together a 12-6 run that closed the third quarter.

The Cardinals went on to secure the win by outscoring the Spartans 19-14 in the fourth quarter.

Blas also played a key role for the Cardinals by scoring

19 points.

“We’ve been working on some defensive stuff,” Whittier coach Joey Mata said. “We’re not the biggest team in the (Del Rio) league. We have pretty good shooters.

“At the half, we stressed the need to take better percentage shots. We came back inside, making 10-footers.”

Ybara had 18 points to pace Schurr.

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