Glendale High boys’ basketball fends off Mark Keppel
LA CAÑADA — While some area boys’ basketball teams have played a bunch of summer contests, Glendale High has only just begun.
For the next six weeks, second-year Glendale Coach Ib Belou is likely to rotate lineups in the hopes of finding the right combinations heading into the regular season.
One player looking to make an impact for Glendale is junior Eli De’Grate.
Perhaps De’Grate provided a glimpse of what might be to come, as he finished with 12 points to help Glendale secure a 56-48 win against Mark Keppel on Friday in the St. Francis High Shootout.
“I’m going to try to find ways to get better individually and help the team,” De’Grate said. “I’m working on my shooting and ball-handling drills and things are coming together.”
Glendale, which got a game-high 15 points from Daniel Madden, improved to 2-0 in the summer after surviving a late comeback bid from Mark Keppel. A three-pointer by De’Grate gave the Nitros a 39-24 lead with 11:50 remaining.
Mark Keppel closed to within 45-43 with 2:32 left before Madden converted a three-point play with 2:06 remaining to make it 48-43. D’eGrate made a three-pointer from the left side to extend the Nitros’ advantage to 51-44 with 1:30 to go.
“We respect Keppel because they provided a difficult challenge,” Belou said. “They were physical and it’s good to go up against a team like that to see where you stand physically.
“We haven’t experienced a team that’s aggressive like them. You treat the summer games by trying to pick up something each time. We need to get better in limiting our turnovers and boxing out. We also got an idea of several end-of-the-game situations and we needed to find a way to execute. Each game in summer you can find something out about yourself.”
Glendale held a 32-18 halftime lead. A three-pointer by Johny Mansuryan from the left side gave Glendale a 13-4 advantage with 9:36 left in the first half. De’Grate made two straight three-pointers to give the Nitros a 29-14 lead with 2:21 to go.
“I just stayed in a zone and made some shots,” De’Grate said. “I think the one thing we learned from this game is that you have to stay focused the entire time. I think we began to celebrate a little bit too early and it nearly cost us. These are the kind of things you learn right now.”
Dante Terteryan converted on a three-point shot from the right side to give the Nitros a 32-14 lead with 1:48 left in the first half.
“I like the way we shot the ball in the first half,” said Belou, who previously served as an assistant at Glendale. “We didn’t shoot as well in the second half.”
Glendale will participate in a pair of games Saturday at St. Francis.
Glendale will meet Monrovia at noon before taking on Inglewood at 4 p.m.
On Sunday, the Nitros will face St. Francis at 4 p.m.
