San Diego High School Basketball : Poway Begins Quest for 4th Title With Win

Jud Buechler was back in town Thursday night but not in a Poway High School uniform. Buechler, Poway’s San Diego Section Player of the Year last season, is now a freshman at the University of Arizona, which played San Diego State Thursday.

Still, without Buechler--and without Dominick Johnson and Andy Byrne--three-time defending 3-A champion Poway opened its quest for a fourth consecutive title with a 40-36 victory over host Point Loma.

“I’ll tell you, I think it’s going to be a battle every time this year,” Poway Coach Neville Saner said. “It’s not like it used to be.”

Poway played well on defense Thursday and controlled a slow-paced tempo. The Titans led, 21-12, at halftime. Point Loma closed to within two in the fourth quarter but Poway never lost its lead.

Point Loma is 1-1. Poway was led by Adam Jones with 13 points and Dave Delaney with 10.

Monte Vista 58, La Jolla 46--Scott Winne scored 22 points and Wayne Hallman added 10 to lead Monte Vista to the victory in both teams’ season opener at La Jolla.

Ramona 64, San Diego 44--John Leichty scored 23 points and John Schweitzer added 16 to lead the Ramona to a victory in its first game under Coach Brad McNamara. McNamara was named to the post late Wednesday night replacing Larry Bringham. Bringham remained on at Ramona as athletic director. Ramona (1-0) moved to a 34-23 lead and held on to beat San Diego, which fell to 0-2.