Poly Exploits Ehrlich’s best Trait to drop Grant, 69-52

Poly High guard Dean Ehrlich isn’t very graceful or fast or particularly quick. And he can’t jump very high.

What he can do is shoot.

Friday night against Grant, Ehrlich scored 27 as Poly rolled to a 69-52 win in the first round of the Birmingham Christmas tournament. The Parrotts will play Birmingham, a 66-37 winner Friday night over Canoga Park, today at 8:45 p.m.

Van Nuys, a 71-50 winner over Monroe, will play Granada Hills at 7:00 p.m. in the other semifinal. Consolation bracket games begin 3:00 p.m.

Poly (4-4) had much to overcome in gaining the victory. The Parrotts were without 6-4 junior center Carlos Ortiz, who is vacationing in Puerto Rico along with his 22-points-a-game average. Senior forward Alex Ruzich was playing in his first game after missing the previous seven with an injured ankle. And finally, Poly was trailing at halftime, 33-28.

Ehrlich, who had scored 10 points in the first quarter, led a Poly blitz that resulted in a 20-5 third-quarter run that enabled the Parrotts to take a 52-41 lead.

Ehrlich and guard Jorge Ramos, who scored 17 points, were able to pressure the Grant guards into numerous turnovers that resulted in quick baskets for the Parrotts.

“It’s been our problem all year,” said Grant Coach Bill McKee, whose team is now 1-4. “We play good for a couple quarters then disappear. Their pressure in the second half wasn’t any greater than in the first. We just didn’t handle it.”

Van Nuys 71, Monroe 50--The Wolves remained unbeaten (5-0) behind the strong performance of sophomore forward Alonzo Galloway, who had a season-high 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Senior forward Damon Fredeiu, who scored 14, and senior guard Pat Meyer, with 15, helped Van Nuys to a 38-23 halftime lead.

Monroe cut the lead to 10 points in the third quarter, but that was as close as the Vikings (2-3) would come.

Granada Hills 64, Reseda 47--Center Gary Gray scored 14 and had 15 rebounds as the Highlanders (4-1) beat Reseda to advance to the semifinals.

Reseda (1-3) played much of the first half without four of the team’s regular starters, who had transportation problems getting to the game.

Granada Hills led 22-13 at halftime and the closest Reseda would get was six points.

Birmingham 66, Canoga Park 37--The Braves coasted to a 26-2 first-quarter lead and 33-10 margin at halftime to advance to the semifinals.

Keith Owens led Birmingham (5-2) with 16 points. Canoga Park is 0-7.

GRANT--Bolton 7; O’Neal 8; Belser 11; Sutton 7; Whithead 5; Cohen 3; Sabalburo 2; Stanley 2; Walton 7.

POLYTECHNIC--Ruzich 11; Larson 2; Perkins 4; Ramos 17; Ehrlich 27; Habelmann 6; Balas 2.

VAN NUYS--Fredeiu 14; Galloway 16; Krulak 2; Meyer 15; Dorsey 2; Charbonneau 2; Granberry 6; Lyles 4; Silberman 10.

MONROE--Campos 2; Finley 6; Ray 5; Thomas 9; Stribling 6; Bond 8; Johnson 6; Cardenas 6; Jones 2.

GRANADA HILLS--Bishop 9; McBride 3; Gray 14; Inzar 10; Puathasnanon 13; Smith 7; Lytle 6; Furman 2.

RESEDA--Spears 3; Session 4; Stepner 4; Ricks 2; Crawford 2; Williams 19; Nickelson 2; Hamilton 4; Whiting 3; Wills 4.

CANOGA PARK--Mears 2; Harvey 11; Elrington 6; Delange 6; Lemieux 10; Galowitsch 2.

BIRMINGHAM--Owens 16; Donnell 2; Arnow 4; Carrasco 10; Fuentes 2; Maxwell 4; Johnson 8; Jones 1; Manning 3; Whittaker 5; Zuckerman 10; Blumkin 2.