Swanson Soars for 24 Points; Alemany Wins

Senior forward Dave Swanson leaped, flew and hung somewhere in the Ohhh Zone Saturday night to lead Alemany High to a 78-64 victory over Loyola in a Del Rey league opener.

The forward did his best to defy the law of gravity, scoring 24 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.

Alemany improved to 9-5 and Loyola dropped to 7-6.

As well as the outcome turned out for Alemany, Coach Joe Anlauf wasn’t all that pleased.

“We looked a little sloppy out there tonight,” Anlauf said. “We’ve worked against the press a lot, but it seems to come up and bite us every third game or so.”

Anlauf was refering to Loyola’s full-court press late in the fourth quarter. With a little under three minutes left, Alemany held a comfortable 70-51 lead, which prompted Loyola to put on the pressure.

It had the desired effect as Alemany couldn’t control the ball and appeared disoriented.

“We didn’t handle it well at all,” Swanson said.

However, for the press to have its desired impact, turnovers must be taken advantage of, something which Loyola couldn’t do. At one point, a Loyola miss was tipped five times without falling.

It was a game of catch-up from the beginning for Loyola. The Cubs trailed, 19-9, after one quarter. Swanson had eight points in the quarter.

Down by only six at the beginning of the second half, Loyola tried and was able to cut off Alemany’s big men from going to the baseline.

But defense is not an easy task against Swanson, who leads Alemany with an average of 16.5 points and nine rebounds per game. Utilizing excellent jumping ability--which he flashed in the first half with a driving slam dunk--Swanson set himself for easy jumpers and short turnarounds.

Also providing good shooting for Alemany was center Bill Lucid, who had 20 points. Lucid, who had three fouls in the first half and was benched for about five minutes, is Alemany’s second-leading scorer, averaging 14 points a game.

Jim West, a junior guard, led Loyola with 24 points, mostly on outside shots.

Alemany is favored to win the league after experiencing ups and downs in nonleague tournaments. The Indians lost early in the Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks tournaments but advanced to the final of last week’s Hart tournament.

ALEMANY--Shaun 8, Berganio 2, Lucid 20, Swanson 24, Bear 9, Beaucheman 7, Thompson 8.

LOYOLA--West 24, Belchor 6, McDonald 4, Jones 6, Keller 14, Bacon 3, Jordan 2, Pinza 5.