Tournament of Champions : DeHart Leads Santa Monica Past St. Bernard, 66-63

In a game matching Vikings against Vikings, quickness against quickness and two schools about six miles apart, Santa Monica High got 22 points from Carrick DeHart and several strong performances off the bench in defeating St. Bernard of Playa del Rey, 66-63, Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the Tournament of Champions basketball tournament at Cal Poly Pomona.

The Santa Monica Vikings played, for the most part, without their other top player, forward Keith Harris, who hurt his right shoulder diving for a ball in the first-round victory over Encino Crespi. According to Coach George Quintero, Harris was playing at less than 25% of his normal ability in finishing with two points and three rebounds. While on the bench, Harris had an ice pack on the shoulder.

Santa Monica, the Southern Section’s top-ranked 4-A Divison team with a 5-0 record, got 14 and 10 points, respectively, from starters Keith Neal and Kelvin Harris, and another 10 from reserve Danny Price.

Quintero, 23, was a substitute for Santa Monica’s head coach, Cliff Hunter, who was ill and missed the game.

The St. Bernard Vikings (2-2) were led by David Whitmore with 23 points and Langston Daniels with 10.

Santa Monica advanced to the semifinals against Capistrano Valley, a 53-51 upset winner over Huntington Beach Ocean View, The Times’ No. 1-ranked Southern Section team.

Fifth-ranked Capistrano Valley (7-0) got 18 points from Nathan Call, 15 from Shawn Reed and 12 points and 9 rebounds from John Waikle. Tony Panzica scored 16 points, 14 in the first half, for Ocean View (7-1), which shot only 30% from the floor in the second half.

In the consolation-round games:

Crespi 50, Cleveland 49--Cleveland opened the game without three starters, including two-time All-City forward Trevor Wilson, because of illness. Forward Antoine Shofner was in the hospital with a 105-degree fever, and guard Damon Greer was out with a strep throat.

Wilson, who missed practice Tuesday with the flu, came in at the start of the second quarter. He finished with a game-high 22 points but was 4 of 11 from the free-throw line, including two misses in the last 31 seconds with Cleveland holding a 49-48 lead.

Pat Knight, who had 12 points, hit an off-balance, 10-foot shot with seven seconds to play to give Crespi (4-2) the win. Forward Steve Yoest had 15 points, with 7 of 12 shooting from the field, to lead the Celts.

Cleveland, which was eliminated from the tournament, drops to 2-4, but the losses have been by a combined total of five points.

Verbum Dei 52, Compton 49--The Eagles (4-1) advanced despite shooting 16% from the floor (3 of 19) in the second half as All-Southern Section pick David Jones scored a game-high 24 points.

Timothy Garner led Compton (3-3) with 16 points, while DaReck added 15. The loss knocked the Tarbabes out of the tournament.