Prep Basketball : Taitano Leads Valhalla Past Hoover, 61-48

Dominick Taitano scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half to lead the Valhalla High School boys’ basketball team to a 61-48 comeback victory over Hoover Monday in a first-round game of the Kiwanis Tournament at Hoover High. Taitano was 6 of 7 from the floor in the second half.

Hoover, 4-5 and losers of four straight, led, 12-10, after one quarter and, 29-24, at halftime, but collapsed in the second half. Michael Walker paced Hoover with 15 points in the first half before leaving the game with a leg injury.

Valhalla outscored Hoover, 21-7, in the third quarter to turn the game in its favor. Valhalla’s Troy Toolson, who finished with a game-high 21 points, scored 11 in the second half. Robert Tubman had 11 points, 9 rebounds and 6 blocked shots for Valhalla and Brian Dindinger added 12 points.

In other Kiwanis Tournament first-round games:

La Jolla 39, Crawford 28--At Serra High, Tim Snead scored 13 points and Lucky Brown added 12 to pace La Jolla, which led the entire game. Kevin Williams and Dondi Bell scored 10 points apiece for Crawford, which is 3-2 and has lost two straight. La Jolla led at halftime, 20-12.

Bonita Vista 56, Kearny 45--Kip Korzep scored 20 points and Doug Piper added 16 to lead Bonita Vista (5-1) to the win at Serra High. Bonita Vista led, 14-13, after a tough first quarter and steadily extended its lead the rest of the way. David Woodhouse added 10 points for Bonita Vista, which made 60% of its shots from the floor. Bonita Vista’s Piper, Jamie Cranfield and Burt Bulos had six rebounds apiece.

San Pasqual 53, Hilltop 51--Jeff Baglio scored 13 points and Frank Vannest added 10 to lead San Pasqual (4-2) to the win at Hoover High. San Pasqual led by four points with 45 seconds left and had the lead cut to two on two Hilltop free throws with five seconds to play.

Serra 63, Orange Glen 51--Devin Moran scored 21 points to help Serra improve its record to 7-1 in a game at Serra High. Steve Smith added 18 points and Mike Karp had 10 for Serra. Serra led at halftime, 33-32, but -outscored Orange Glen, 20-13, in the third quarter to extend the lead.