Sweetwater Casts Aside Any Doubt Who’s Tops in Mira Mesa League

First place in the Mira Mesa League was up for grabs when Sweetwater took the floor Wednesday night at Montgomery. It remained up in the air only for one quarter, as the Red Devils (8-1, 14-6) grabbed a two-game lead over Montgomery (6-3, 10-7) as easily as they pulled down rebounds on both boards.

Sweetwater’s control underneath--46 rebounds to Montgomery’s 27--more acurately reflected domination of the game than did the 87-66 score. Led by forward Matt Simmons’ 14 rebounds and 19 points, the Red Devils left no doubt as to their dominance in the league.

“Our guys were ready; they were up for Montgomery,” Sweetwater Coach David Ybarra said. “We didn’t want to settle for a co-championship and have to have a play-off at the end of the season.”

The prospect of a co-championship did not seem remote in the first quarter. Forward Kenny Thompson hit two field goals and two free throws in the opening two minutes to give Montgomery an 8-2 lead.

But the other 30 minutes of the game belonged to seventh-ranked Sweetwater, which took a three-point lead by the end of the first quarter and had blown out the Aztecs, 30-18, by the half.

The Devils came down with the rebounds; Montgomery came down with the fouls. Forward Tracy Taylor got into foul trouble early, leaving Thompson to go it alone inside against the Devils’ big three: Simmons, Brent Lawrence and Mahlon Williams. Thompson performed admirably, picking up 17 points in the first half.

But even this offensive weapon was neutralized by Sweetwater. After some fine-tuning of their offense at the half, the Devils’ began keying on the big forward, holding him to four points the rest of the night.

As Sweetwater’s lead and the Aztecs’ frustration grew, so did the number of fouls on Montgomery. By the fourth quarter, Thompson and guard Rudy Rodriguez had joined Taylor in foul trouble. In a play that typified Montgomery’s problems, Thompson went one-on-one against Williams as the Sweetwater forward drove to the basket. Thompson stopped Williams--but fouled out of the game.

“The officials made numerous calls that took us out of our game--they took us out of our defense,” Montgomery Coach Dave Aguilar said. “Our hands were tied. I was so disappointed because we did show what we could do.”

The Devils had no trouble showing what they could do. With the Aztecs’ big men out of commission, John Styles, Simmons and Williams dominated the basket in the late going, finishing with 21, 19 and 18 points, respectively.