San Fernando Looks Gifted in 56-52 Victory Over Notre Dame

The holiday had passed, but San Fernando basketball Coach Dick Crowell was still in the mood for some gifts.

“This is a great Christmas present,” Crowell said Thursday. “Really great.”

What had Crowell smiling was his team’s 56-52 win over Notre Dame in the opening round of the Hart tournament in Newhall.

Going into the tournament, Crowell had found little to smile about.

The Tigers had an 0-4 record and were in danger of making it 0-5 when they trailed by 12 with a minute left in the third quarter.

With John Perak scoring at will on the inside, the Knights managed to build a 40-28 lead.

But with Oliver Mathew scoring six points down the stretch, San Fernando had its first win.

“For the first time this year, I felt the kids wanted it,” Crowell said. “For morale purposes, we needed this one.”

For most of the game, it appeared Perak wouldn’t let the Tigers have it.

The 6-6 center muscled his way to 30 points, including 17 in the second half.

With the game tied at 22 at the half, Perak scored three layups to lead the Knights on an 8-2 run.

Later in the quarter, Perak scored off an offensive rebound and was fouled. His free throw put Notre Dame (4-5) up by 12.

But in the fourth quarter, Perak made only five points.

Crowell said the Tigers didn’t make any adjustments in guarding Perak. “We just executed better,” he said. “Down the stretch, we were able to run and they weren’t used to that.”

San Fernando trailed by seven entering the fourth quarter and gradually closed the gap on the outside shooting of Tori Stephens, who had a team-high 14 points, and the inside play of Shelton Boykin (10 points).

Moments after Boykin slam-dunked with 1:43 left, he hit a 12-footer to tie the game at 50.

Notre Dame then turned the ball over, and the Tigers missed two shots before Mathews made a spectacular tip-in while falling away from the basket with 36 seconds left.

Notre Dame again turned the ball over, leading to a Mathews’ bucket on a goal-tending call on Perak.

With six seconds left, Perak scored to bring the Knights within two, but Mathews hit two free throws with four seconds left to secure the San Fernando triumph.

In other tournament action:

Simi Valley, the Times’ top-ranked team in the Valley, cruised to a 95-52 lead over Quartz Hill. Sophomore Shawn De Laittre had 21 points, while fellow 10th-grader Dan MacLean had 20 to lead the Pioneers (10-1).

Simi Valley, which plays San Fernando tonight at 6:30, jumped out to a 17-2 lead against the overmatched Rebels.

By halftime it was 49-25 and after three quarters, the Pioneers led, 80-37.

The first winners’ bracket game will be played today at 3:30 p.m. between Westlake and Beverly Hills.

Westlake jumped out to a 16-7 lead after one quarter and went on to beat Antelope Valley, 65-44.

Dave Heckman, with 14 points, led a balanced Warrior attack, while David Mahaffy had 11 for the Antelopes.

Beverly Hills knocked off Burroughs of Burbank, 50-45, to advance.

Lionel McPherson had 19 for the winners, while Rob Harris led Burroughs with 13.

Marshall moved on to play Crescenta Valley with a 45-43 win over Alemany.

Marshall’s Jerry Simon, an All-City performer last season, was the star for the Barristers, scoring 17 points and coming up with the key defensive play.

With five seconds left and his team leading by two, Simon blocked a shot by Alemany, grabbed the ball and ran out the clock.

Marshall will now have to try to stop Crescenta Valley’s Harvey Mason.

Mason, a 6-3 1/2 senior guard, poured in 38 points in leading the Falcons to a 66-37 romp over Palmdale.

Mason, who has already signed a national letter of intent to attend Arizona, scored 23 points in the first half. Crescenta Valley, which scored the game’s first 11 points, led, 20-4, after the first quarter.

At halftime, the Falcons led, 36-12.

Mason went into the game averaging 26 points an outing.

Canyon improved its record to 7-4 with a 57-49 win over St. Francis. The Cowboys will play Hart tonight at 8 p.m.

Butch Mettinger led Canyon with 21 points, before being ejected with just over three minutes remaining for fighting with St. Francis’ Ed Lund. Lund was also kicked out of the game.

Bryan Duffy had 24 for St. Francis, which fell to 5-4.

In the evening’s final game, Hart defeated Hueneme, 62-47, behind Jim Baroni’s 25 points.

NOTRE DAME--Schmeiderer 3; Heicke 6; Perak 30; Oppenheimer 8; Brewster 5.

SAN FERNANDO--Sals 0; Prince 8; Boykin 10; Calloway 4; Smith 8; Stephens 14, Mathews 10; Sileo 2.

SIMI VALLEY--Gates 12; DeLaittre 21; MacLean 20; Hankins 14; Johnson 7; Bice 6; Jenner 7; Irwin 4; Smoot 4.

QUARTZ HILL--Harris 14; Gural 2; Leonard 10; Moles 0; Melton 2; Weiss 8; Baldeo 6; Masters 4; Forte 2, Wiseman 4.

MARSHALL--Simon 17; Wong 11; Jaranilla 6; Tolentino 7; Tozour 4.

ALEMANY--Swanson 14; Thomas 11; Bargeman 9; Rooney 5; Lucid 4.

CANYON--Moloznik 12; G. Paskwietz 6; Mettinger 21; Sayre 6; Tice 2; Nash 2; J. Paskwietz 6; Wilkin 2.

ST. FRANCIS--Bigde 2; Forrest 11; Duffy 24; Miller 4; Lund 2; Moss 6.

HUENEME--Tate 9; Fukaye 6; Smith 14; Nunnery 15; Castaniero 4; Spencer 7; Brekke 2.

HART--Baroni 25; Arnold 8; Gilmore 7; Best 2; Lee 6; Michelson 8; Bonds 6.

ANTELOPE VALLEY--Bronstein 4; Jones 10; Wilson 8; Behone 2; Mahaffy 11; Whipple 4; Tolliver 4; Johnson 1.

WESTLAKE--Keenan 2; Zeiss 8; Heckman 14; Welch 6; Smith 8; Robertson 4; Cangolois 8; Henderson 2; Lennehan 3; Forster 4; Salmanax 6.

BEVERLY HILLS--Barnes 5; McPherson 19; Anderson 2; Thompson 9; Sneed 10; Shadgore 3; Trattner 2.

BURROUGHS--Kelly 12; Mudgett 9; Casel 5; Tebbe 4; Harris 13; Johnson 2.