Canyon Wins First Title in 8 Years : Cowboys Beat Saugus, 52-43, for Golden League Championship

Every basketball coach should have Greg Hayes’ problem.

“It’s a nice problem to have,” the Canyon High coach said Thursday night, “when you win by nine points and you’re still not satisfied.”

Hayes must have felt some satisfaction. Canyon, paced by Butch Mettinger’s 16 points and Greg Paskwietz’s 14, claimed the Golden League championship with a 52-43 win over Saugus.

It is the first Canyon league title since 1978, and the first since Hayes took over as coach four years ago. Canyon (17-7, 9-1 in league) shares the title with Burroughs of Ridgecrest, which beat Quartz Hill, 91-55, on Thursday.

“I think all the kids feel the same way,” Hayes said. “We could have played better. I think the fact that we won the league will probably sink in tomorrow. You didn’t see any wild celebrating out there.

“That’s no excuse,” he added. “Saugus played a great game.”

Canyon played tentatively in the first half. “We were a little tight,” Hayes said.

But the Cowboys broke it open in the second half when Darrin Moloznik hit two free throws to put Canyon ahead, 43-33.

Stuart Sayre, a junior, was the mainstay of the Cowboys’ defense. Sayre had a game-high 18 rebounds and scored 11 points.

“Stuart had a tremendous game,” Hayes said. “He had every big rebound and every big basket.”

Paskwietz scored 10 of his points in the second half, after scoring only two in the first.

“We were just a little more intense in the second half,” Paskwietz said. “The coach told us at halftime that we would have to work a little harder. We were sluggish in the first and not playing our game. But this feels great. Burroughs has been doing it for so long and we, this team, changed that.”

Said Mettinger: “We worked so hard in the off-season. Coach said that if we worked really hard it would pay off and it finally did. I’m kind of stoked.”

George Aliano, Saugus’ 6-3 senior forward, scored a game-high 18 points for the Centurions. Saugus ended the season at 10-13, 3-7 in league.

By virtue of a coin toss Thursday at Burroughs, the Burros are seeded No. 1 in the playoffs and Canyon is No. 2.

SAUGUS--Aliano 17; Morse 6; R. Bilek 5; Tellez 4; V. Bilek 4; Jones 4; Clark 3.

CANYON--Mettinger 16 and 9 rebounds; G. Paskwietz 14; Sayre 11 and 18 rebounds; Moloznik 9; Dolder 2.