St. Paul’s Louis Bangai soars above the Salesian defense for a slam dunk in 2nd half of the battle for first place of the Santa Fe League Wednesday January 25, 2017 at St. Paul high school. The Swordsmen lead at halftime 32-26. (Photo by Chris Burt for SCNG)

SANTA FE SPRINGS — The road to the Santa Fe League boys basketball title will again run through St. Paul High School.Louis Bangai scored 29 points and had 13 rebounds and the Swordsmen took a big step toward repeating Wednesday with a 57-42 victory over Salesian at St. Paul High.
Kylan Mann also had 16 points on three 3-pointers for the Swordsmen (16-4, 5-0), in a battle for first place. Efren Lemus had 15 points and Kenji Pallares had 10 points and six rebounds for the Mustangs (10-11, 4-1).
The key point came after the first quarter. St. Paul, after giving up 17 points and five 3-pointers in the opening quarter, yielded just six 3-pointers for the rest of the game while holding Salesian to nine, eight and eight points in each quarter to outscore the Mustangs 38-25 over the final three quarters.
St. Paul, after Lemus hit a 3-pointer to tie the score at 25, closed the half with a 7-1 surge to lead 32-26 at the break.

Bangai had a dunk and Nate Kasongo a 3-pointer to open the third quarter with a 5-0 run for a 37-26 lead before ending the third and beginning the fourth with a 7-0 surge to all but seal it at 50-34 with six minutes remaining.
St. Paul coach Damaine Powell: “Our kids played well. Obviously, when you have a guy like Bangai, who is (6-foot-10), you make it tough on most high school teams. He was dominant and led us. (Salesian) is a good team. They are well-coached. We knew it was going to be a big game.”
St. Paul’s Louis Bangai: “For me, it was a pretty good night. I could do more, but we got the win, which is important. We just had to challenge every shot they took. We had to take the (3-pointer) out of the game. That’s what we did.”
OTHER SCORES
BOYS
Del Rey League
Cantwell 71, Cathedral 57
Del Rio League
La Serna 46, Santa Fe 37
Pioneer 70, Whittier 63
El Rancho 61, California 54
Suburban League
La Habra 94, Glenn 46
GIRLS
Del Rio League
El Rancho 53, California 32
Whittier 45, Pioneer 40