Cleveland Rolls Over Bishop Montgomery

Cleveland High’s basketball team has barely missed a beat this season despite the loss to graduation of 6-8 Trevor Wilson, who is now a freshman at UCLA.

In fact, the Cavaliers (6-0) have beaten everyone they’ve played, running their unbeaten streak to six straight Friday night, running past Bishop Montgomery, 90-37, in a first-round game of the Chaminade tournament at Calabasas High.

“We pressured them defensively,” Cleveland Coach Bob Braswell said. “Last year we had a bigger team and Trevor was the dominant player. This season, we’ve had to rely on the other team making turnovers and us capitalizing on them.”

It was a long night for Bishop Montgomery (0-7), which dressed just nine players. Out with injuries were 6-7, 280-pound Stefano Merrero, 6-3 Jim Nelson and 6-3 Jeff Forney.

By halftime, Cleveland had raced to a 49-23 lead. And that turned out to be the better half for Bishop Montgomery. In the second half, the Knights scored only 14 points.

Cleveland’s lead had grown to 71-32 after three quarters.

“We went out and worked real hard on the defensive end and we wanted to be aggressive and take the ball to the hoop,” said Cleveland’s Andre Anderson, who, along with Joey Manliguis, led the Cavaliers with 16 points.

“It’s been tough this year without Trevor,” Anderson said. “He was our big man. Now, we have to play aggressive defense and get the ball to the open man.”

Cleveland scored the game’s first seven points and entered the second quarter with a 25-11 lead.

Bishop Montgomery’s only offensive weapon was sophomore point guard Michael Wright, who finished with a team-high 11 points.Cleveland did most of its damage from inside, scoring six layups in the second quarter. With four minutes left in the half, Cleveland was ahead, 38-17.

Cleveland will meet Calabasas in a second-round game today at 5:30 p.m. The remainder of the games in the 16-team tournament will be played at Chaminade. If the Cavaliers reach the final, as expected, they will probably meet Valley League rival Fairfax, the City’s No. 1-ranked team and a 120-51 winner Friday over Murphy.

Calabasas 55, Gardena 52--After trailing 50-49 late in the fourth quarter, Calabasas outscored Gardena 6-2 in the final minutes to win.

With Calabasas (8-4) leading, 53-50, Gardena’s Eddie Shannon, who finished with a game-high 17 points, missed two free throws. The Coyotes’ 5-7 senior guard Scott Fitzgerald scored on a layup to seal the victory for Calabasas.

“The game was sloppy,” Calabasas Coach Bill Bellatty said. “But we hung in there and we did not lose it at the end.”

Jon Reezner, a 6-2 junior forward scored 14 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for Calabasas. His teammate, senior guard Steve Ward had 16 points.

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Chatsworth 54, Crossroads 52--Kendell McDaniels, a 6-5 senior center, scored a game-high 22 points, including Chatsworth’s final basket, to lead Chatsworth (3-2) to a first-round victory. The Chancellors outscored Crossroads, 20-14, after the half to take a 40-34 lead into the final period. Crossroads was led by Matt Bailey with 20 points, and David Wolfe, who scored 16.

Chatsworth plays Jordan at 8:30 p.m. today in the quarterfinal round. Jordan upset Santa Monica on Friday, 66-64.

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Chaminade 54, Santa Paula 31--Kevin Black, a 6-8 senior center, scored 10 of his game-high 19 points in the second half for Chaminade. Forwards Tom Dieterle and Mike Toggenburger and guard Brian Gehl each scored eight points for Chaminade, which led at halftime, 27-18. Chaminade plays Fairfax at 7 p.m. today at Chaminade.

Guard Joe Johnson led Santa Paula with 14 points.

In other tournament games, Verbum Dei defeated Montclair Prep, 70-48, and Riordan beat Antelope Valley, 77-49. Montclair Prep plays Antelope Valley at 12:30 p.m. today in the losers’ bracket.