La Cañada High boys’ basketball shoots way to co-league championship
TEMPLE CITY — As the three-point shots rained down for the La Cañada High boys’ basketball team, the Spartans took on a different appearance.
A squad that was struggling only a week earlier suddenly looked unstoppable on offense, stout on defense and hungry in spirit to perhaps make a deep run in the CIF Southern Section divisional playoffs, which begin next week.
The Spartans will enter the postseason dance as a Rio Hondo League co-champion and the league’s No. 2 seed after beating host Temple City, 66-51, on Thursday in the league finale thanks, in part, to a stellar effort from junior guard Koko Kurdoghlian, who finished with 26 points, 17 rebounds, five assists and two steals.
PHOTOS: Rio Hondo League co-champion Spartans finish regular season with 66-51 road win
La Cañada (20-6 overall, 8-2 in league) ended the regular season tied with South Pasadena (16-7, 8-2), which topped San Marino, 55-46, on Thursday to claim its share.
Both programs will now await the Division III-A pairings, which are slated to be released by the CIF office on Sunday.
“That’s the key for us – hitting shots,” Spartans Coach Tom Hofman said. “We’ve struggled to get offense in the past and that’s really forced us to get better on defense. So, when you throw that defensive effort out there and then we’re scoring like we did today, we’re a good team, a real good team.”
Nearly half of the Spartans’ offense came from behind the arc as four players combined to drain 10 three-pointers, with Kurdoghlian burying four of seven attempts.
La Cañada took control of the contest in the second quarter and never allowed Temple City (15-11, 6-4) to climb back into contention.
The Rams trailed by four after one quarter and then pulled within 13-11 at 7:33 in the second quarter after an impressive baby sky hook from junior Richard Hollinger.
La Cañada countered the mini-surge with a 15-1 run over the next three minutes and 17 seconds, which was capped by a triple from Kurdoghlian off an assist from Grant Arthur that give the visitors a 28-12 lead.
During the Spartans’ spurt, Kurdoghlian scored five points and added two assists on three-point baskets from Ben Choi (eight points) and Arthur.
“If I’m into my shot, there’s no real way of stopping us,” Kurdoghlian said. “If you come and close me out, then I’m just going to drive or at least try and drive past you. If I don’t get a lay-up, I’ve got someone else open. I feel like my shot opens up a wide array of opportunities for everyone else.”
Temple City tried to stop the bleeding with a jumper from Jeremy Wong (11 points) with 3:19 left, but the Rams eventually trailed, 38-19, at halftime.
As for the second half, Arthur opened with a three-pointer for the Spartans with six minutes left in the third and La Cañada maintained a 48-29 advantage after three quarters.
Blake Cornell added eight points for the Spartans, while Tyler Api led the Rams with 19 points.
“I’m really proud of this effort,” said Arthur, who hit three three-pointers and finished with nine points. “I think we’ve played with a different intensity the last two games than we did against Monrovia. They played a strong zone, we didn’t hit our shots and we lost a game that we shouldn’t have lost.”
Arthur referred to the Spartans’ 38-37 loss to Monrovia on Feb. 6 in which La Cañada shot 11 for 42 from the field and scored a season-low point total. The defeat ultimately cost La Cañada the league’s No. 1 seed to South Pasadena based on tie-breakers and had left Hofman concerned.
“The guys did a nice job rebounding from the Monrovia loss,” Hofman said. “We had two games since then and we played Temple City for the fourth time this year and we won all four games, which is tough to do.
“To be honest, we’re a young a team and I had no idea how we’d respond to the loss. We could have gone to the shelf, but we didn’t.”