Prep Basketball BOYS : Marshall Towers in Win Over Sylmar

When three of every four shots are taken from closer than five feet, a basketball team stands a good chance of winning a game. Of course, it helps when three starters stand taller than any player on the opposing team.

Marshall High, behind the inside scoring of Jasen MacKenzie, Jerry Simon and Jimmy Rudy, built a four-point first-quarter lead at home Wednesday over Sylmar and never wavered en route to a 63-52 victory.

The 6-4 center MacKenzie scored 20 points, 6-5 forward Simon added 18 and Rudy poured in 16.

Marshall pulled away from Sylmar in the third quarter after holding a narrow 32-29 halftime lead. The Barristers outscored the Spartans, 19-12, in the third period by forcing 11 turnovers.

Junior guard Efren Ogas led Sylmar with 13 points.

Sylmar center Steve Crawley and forward David Donoho each stand only 6-1. Crawley scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds, and Donoho scored 12 points and had five rebounds.

In the end, however, Sylmar just couldn’t stand up to Marshall.

Sylmar is 0-3 in the East Valley League and 0-8 overall.

Oak Park 62, Bishop Diego 55 Oak Park managed to beat Bishop Diego on the Eagle “carpet,” but the Cardinals provided some excitement by pulling within one point with 1:30 to play.

The Eagles led by 16 points, 47-31, with seven minutes remaining, but after play-making guard Scott Lemke fouled out, the Bishop Diego full-court press became more effective.

The Cardinals crawled back behind the shooting of Rob Murrin. The 6-2 center scored 20 points, eight in the fourth quarter, mostly from inside the key.

Oak Park junior forward Drew Friedman made five of six free throws in the last two minutes to secure the win, however. The Eagles made 20 of 27 free throws altogether.

“When teams put us on the line, we put it in,” said Oak Park Coach Todd Corman.

Friedman was high scorer for the Eagles with 21 points, including nine in the fourth quarter.

Oak Park is now 3-1 in Tri-Valley League play and 6-7 overall. Bishop Diego fell to 1-3 in league.

Miraleste 62, Harvard 46 Harvard High kept up with Miraleste early, trailing only 15-14 at the end of the first period, but the visiting Marauders pulled away by outscoring Harvard 34-22 over the next two quarters.

Harvard actually led 14-8 midway through the first quarter, but Miraleste put together an impressive 26-5 run to take a 34-25 halftime lead.

Pat Shea led Miraleste with 22 points. Joel Farkas poured in 20 points for Harvard and Todd Stevenson added 13.

Harvard fell to 0-2 in Pioneer League play and 1-11 overall. Miraleste evened its league mark at 1-1 and is 5-10 overall.

Cal Prep 46, Oakwood 17 Jake Devane scored 18 points, one more than the entire Oakwood High team, to lead Cal Prep to an easy win.

Dave Casey added 16 points for Cal Prep, which improved its Liberty League record to 3-1. The Knights are 6-6 overall.

Oakwood center Ron Hahamy grabbed 14 rebounds, and Hahamy, Adam Mehr and Larry Daniels each scored five points.

Oakwood could manage only one point in the second quarter as the Knights took a 27-5 halftime lead.

Hahamy, Adam Mehr and Larry Daniels each scored five points for the Gorillas. Mehr and Daniels each grabbed five rebounds as well.

Windward 45, Oak Hill 41 Dave Friedman scored 29 points for Oak Hill but it wasn’t enough as Oak Hill dropped its first game of the season. Oak Hill made a run in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to the four points at the end.

Windward is now unbeaten for the season with a 5-0 mark in the Liberty League. Oak Hill is 2-1 in the league and 4-1 for the season.

Windward led, 38-27, after three quarters but Friedman and Jeff Rubenstein paced a fourth-quarter rally to have Oak Hill outscore Windward, 14-6.