SoCalHoops High School News

Boys Division I-AA: Quarterfinal Details
& Updated Bracket--(Feb 27, 2000)

Here's what happened Friday night, February 25 in the boys' I-AA quarterfinal round.  We've already posted the scores separately on Friday night, but due to an outage with our DSL provider, and the fact that we wanted to just take a day off, we're finally getting around to these on Sunday afternoon.  So shoot us. . . In any event, here are the details from Friday as gathered from some of the local media.   Remember the semifinal rounds will take place on Tuesday, February 29, at "alternate sites".  Only one thus far has been selected (Eisenhower for the Poly v. Rialto game), and since Upland is the other host school and Ayala is pretty close, expect to be driving to the Inland Empire area if you want to catch one of these two semifinal games.   Game time will be 7:30 p.m.   The finals in this Divison will be next Saturday at the Pond. We'll post up the final schedule for all divisions shortly (as well as details about where to get tickets, and prices). In the meantime here are the Friday night details:

Division I-AA
Quarterfinals

Long Beach Poly 64, Rancho Cucamonga 47--For the third consecutive season, the Jackrabbits disposed of a Mt. Baldy League squad, this time with a 64-47 triumph over Rancho Cucamonga in a CIF-Southern Section Division 1AA quarterfinal at Ontario High School. Last year, Poly eliminated Ontario, and two years ago it was Etiwanda. And both were road trips.  Poly guard Wes Stokes got the Jackrabbits going in the third quarter, scoring 11 of his game-high 23 points and waking Poly - which plays Rialto in a semifinal Tuesday at a neutral site - out of a game-long slumber. The Cougars stayed close enough to trail 26-25 at halftime, but it could have easily been a 10-point lead. Rancho Cucamonga missed 16 second-quarter field goals, which seemed to carry over into the second half when Poly took a 37-27 lead that never closed to closer than 10 points in the fourth quarter. Stokes's performance combined with 15 points from center Joe Travis, who took advantage of the Cougars missing their best inside player in Jon Wollam (broken hand). But the Jackrabbits held Rancho's best player in check. Guard Derick Andrew was held to seven points and five boards before fouling out in the fourth quarter after shooting 3-for-17 from the field. Poly came out rather flat, trailing 12-10 after the first quarter to give the Cougars brief hope. But hope just seemed to fade from there. Poly--10  16  21 17--64; Rancho Cucamonga 12  13  13   9--47.  Poly scoring:  Shotwell 3,  Stokes 23,  Diggs 8,   White 12,  Travis 15, Martin 3;  Rancho Cucamonga scoring:  McDougal 10, Andrew 7, Starks 13, Williams 13, Berry 4.

Rialto 87, El Toro 70--Jocques Sconiers had 26 points and seven steals as Rialto won a I-AA quarterfinal at Capistrano Valley.   El Toro got off to a bad start, dishing out 13 first-quarter turnovers--10 coming on Rialto steals--and lost its Southern Section Division I-AA boys' basketball quarterfinal, 87-70, Friday night at Capistrano Valley High.  The Chargers (24-5) had no answer for the Knights' speed and tenacity and turned the ball over 11 times in the first six minutes of the game.  After the first quarter, the Rialto defense was so aggressive that it almost wound up hurting the Knights, foul-wise. The Chargers trailed, 39-20, late in the second quarter, but 11 of 11 free-throw shooting kept them in the game, as did a 10-0 run just before halftime.  Consecutive baskets by El Toro's Matt Green cut the Rialto lead to 41-36 early in the third quarter, but the Knights (24-5) ran away over the next three minutes to build the lead back to 58-41.  The visiting Knights, using relentless full-court pressure defense to completely rattle the fourth-seeded Chargers into 19 first-half turnovers, stormed to leads as big as 21 points in the first half.  Instead of needing a second-half comeback or a last-second miracle shot, the Knights let El Toro lead for a mere minute before annihilating the Chargers with a 19-6 run to end the first quarter.  Coach Perong and the Knights may have been confident going into the game considering two of El Toro's four losses were handed to them by Pacific (by 30 points) and Fontana (by 10). El Toro ends its season with a 24-5 record. It was the guards that sparked the Knights with Sconiers and Marques Davis combining for 41 points. Mix in Montreal Willingham and Ricky Anderson and it's 50 points.  Senior forward David Joiner scored 14 points and Daniel Burnett added 15.  Even with a 56 percent shooting night, Sconiers said the offense still needs some fine tuning before the Knights face the Jackrabbits. El Toro was able to settle down midway through the second quarter and was able to capitalize on Rialto's tendency to reach - especially after the steal bonanza in the first half. Rialto (24-5) started to pull away after taking a 32-14 lead with just under five minutes remaining in the second quarter, but the Chargers came back. El Toro went into the bonus midway through the quarter and made 11-of-13 free throws to cut the deficit to 41-32 at halftime. El Toro scored the first four points of the third quarter to make it 41-36. Rialto answered with a 5-0 run that gave the Knights a 46-36 lead. El Toro never came closer than 12 points the rest of the way. The Chargers outscored the Knights 14-4 - 10 points coming from the free-throw line - over the last three minutes of the second quarter to cut the lead to 41-32 at the half. However, Rialto stepped things up again to start the third quarter and went on a 17-9 run to put the game out of reach at 58-41 with 4:12 left. El Toro would not get closer than 12 points the rest of the game.    The Knights had 10 steals in the first quarter to jump out to a 23-10 advantage. The loss ended one of the most-successful seasons in El Toro's history. The Chargers (24-5, 10-0 in the South Coast League) set school records this season for victories and consecutive victories (19). RIALTO (87) Burnett 15, Joiner 14, Davis 15, Sconiers 26, Anderson 2, McShan 4, Willingham 7, Williams 2, Edwards 2. EL TORO (70) Tanaka 4, Nazeri 18, Parish 18, Kennard 7, Peterson 10, Green 8, Martin 1, Thacker 2, DeCoite 2. Rialto 23 18 24 21 -- 87 El Toro 10 22 17 21 -- 70 Total fouls: n/a. Fouled out: Tanaka (ET). Technical fouls: none.

Ayala 75, Etiwanda 63--Marc McCoy scored 20 points at Fullerton College as the Bulldogs (27-4) advanced to the I-AA semifinals for the first time. Ayala, in the CIF semifinals for the first time ever, will play Upland on Tuesday in the semifinals at an alternate site to be determined by a coin flip. The Mt. Baldy League champion Eagles had a difficult time rallying from an early deficit due in large part to their 29 percent shooting from the field, and Ayala's ability to turn Etiwanda missed shots into fast-break baskets. A three-point Ayala lead after a quarter (17-14) was quickly extended to 12 (30-18) midway through the second. The lead grew to 17 in the third quarter and was at 12 entering the fourth.  The Bulldogs (27-4) had an answer for every Eagles' run. Etiwanda closed to 57-51 on a Jonathan Boyd layup with 6:40 to play, but a 10-0 Ayala run sealed the victory. Ayala made 8-of-10 free throws in the fourth quarter. When it wasn't one player for Ayala, it was another. Burke had 14 of his 16 points in the first and fourth quarters, Marc McCoy scored 18 of his team-high 20 points in the second and third quarters, and D.J. Lucas scored 10 of his 14 in the second half. Lucas also helped control the boards, grabbing 11 rebounds.Romel Beck scored a game-high 25 points for the Eagles (19-10), but was limited to 9-of-29 shooting from the field. ETIWANDA (63) Ross 8, Boyd 6, Beck 25, Gipson 8, Burrell 7, Solano 3, Dowd 2, Johnson 2, Benn 2. AYALA (75) Burke 16, Pacana 10, McCoy 20, Sterling 2, Jones 11, Lucas 14, Quinn 2. Etiwanda 14 12 17 20 -- 63 Ayala 17 19 19 20 -- 75 Total fouls: E 17, A 20. Fouled out: Boyd (E), Jones (A). Technical fouls: bench (A).

Upland 58, Long Beach Jordan 53-- Travon Bryant, playing in the last game of his high school career scored 19 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked 8 shots, but it wasn't enough as Upland's 58-53 victory over Jordan in the quarterfinals of the CIF Division I-AA playoffs at Long Beach City College Friday night not only ended Travon's high school career, it also avenged the Highlanders 59-56 loss to the Panthers earlier this season. Though Jordan's Travon Bryant has received most of the national attention from recruiters, it was the Highlanders' inside duo of Lionel Davis and DeMarcus Williams (who has signed with the University of Washington) who controlled the paint and allowed their team to have second- and third-shot opportunities. Though it was the big men that controlled the boards, the difference in the game was junior Sheldon Pace. The quick point guard scored 13 of his 17 points in the first half to get the Highlanders off to a quick start. Upland (22-7) led by as many as 12 points in the first half and by as many as 11 in the third quarter, but needed to break open a tie game in the final three minutes for the win. Upland led 32-25 at the half and increased that lead to 40-29 before the Panthers (20-9) made a run. Trailing by 11 with just under five minutes remaining in the third quarter, junior Ron Banks scored 10 consecutive points to pull Jordan within one at the start of the fourth quarter. The Panthers got a layup from Donte Cotrell to open the fourth quarter and took a 41-40 lead. That would be their last lead of the season. A goaltending call against Jordan gave Upland a 42-41 lead. Cotrell then converted one of two free throws to tie the contest. The teams traded baskets until midway through the fourth quarter when a 3-pointer by guard Jesse Pruitt gave the Highlanders (22-7) a 49-46 lead. A 3-pointer by Jesse Pruitt broke a 46-46 tie and started the Highlanders on a game-deciding 9-2 run. Banks was called for a charge and Upland took advantage of the turnover when Snyder rebounded a missed shot for a layin to increase the lead to 51-46 with 1:51 left. Bryant (19 points, 13 rebounds, eight blocked shots) made a reverse layup off an inbounds pass to pull the Panthers to within three, but Upland's Kyle Bechler made four free throws in the final 47 seconds to secure the victory.  Once it got the lead, Upland didn't falter thanks to those four straight free throws by Kyle Bechler.  Upland had lost to Long Beach Jordan, 59-56, in the Best in the West Invitational in December. This time, the Highlanders led for almost the entire way, only trailing by one point for a brief stretch early in the fourth quarter. Pace was also solely responsible for the most exciting play of the game. After a third-quarter turnover, Pace was on the short end of a 3-on-1 Jordan fastbreak. Pace deflected a pass to Jordan's Nick Tumarao and then blocked Tumarao's layup attempt, corralling the ball at the same time. He then dribbled the length of the court and scored on a short jumper at the other end. The sensational play gave the Highlanders a 38-27 lead, but, thanks to 10 straight points by Banks, their lead shrunk to 40-39 by the end of the third quarter. The Highlanders overcame a big effort from Long Beach Jordan center Travon Bryant, who finished with 19 points, 14 rebounds and nine blocked shots. Upland's Lionel Davis and DeMarcus Williams did an admirable job of keeping Bryant in check, limiting him to just six points in the second half.  Besides, the Highlanders had their own star Friday in Pace, whose 10-foot bank shot put Upland ahead, 53-48, with 1:15 left and put the game out of reach.  Long Beach Jordan scoring:  Bryant 19, Banks 14, Tomarao 5, Childs 4, Rogers 5, Cottrell 3, Rodgers 3;  Upland scoring;   Preuit 17, Pace 17, Bechler 13, J. Harris 3, Hatter 1.

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