WINTER SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS : Chaminade Pressures Pater Noster, 44-40

Exploiting a height advantage and fueled by an aggressive defense, Chaminade High emerged with a 44-40 win over Pater Noster in a Santa Fe League game Thursday night.

Forward Jeff Denton led Chaminade (6-5, 2-0 in league) with 13 points, mostly from the outside, and Kevin Black, Chaminade’s 6-7 1/2 center, scored 11.

“When Denton hits, it opens up the inside for Black,” Pater Noster Coach Dominic Castro said. “We just wanted to stop Black and hope Denton didn’t kill us. We didn’t play smart basketball. They put a little pressure on us and we made mistakes.”

Pater Noster (0-2, 3-6), which held a four-point lead at halftime, was led by Martin Cota’s 24 points.

With Chaminade leading, 40-38, with 1:10 left, Scott Stuber converted two free throws for a four-point lead. After Cota countered with a short jumper, Chaminade’s Steve Hurdle put the game away on two free throws.

Chaminade’s scrambling defense forced 19 turnovers.

“I didn’t expect them to play as well as they did,” Chaminade Coach Mike Lynn said of Pater Noster. “But our offense was hurting us. We want to get the ball inside more.”

Chaminade shot only 32% percent, but Pater Noster was not much better at 38%.

Pater Noster made 10 of 13 free throws. Chaminade, which converted on 18 of 29 free throws, made 7 of 8 in the final quarter.

Castro believes the game was won on sidelines.

“It’s the best coached team in the league,” he said. “I had used everything I had in the first half. We we just hoping to stay in the ballgame.”

PATER NOSTER--D. Ramaya 0, D’Acosta 2, Cota 24, D’Errico 4, Espinosa 9, Rivera 1.

CHAMINADE--Denton 13, Stuber 5, Black 11, Gehl 3, Hurdle 9, Carolan 2, Toggenburger 1.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Oakwood 90, Southwestern 30--Mitchell Butler led Oakwood in its Liberty League opener with 30 points and 16 rebounds. Lloyd Levine and Eric Leddel each added nine points, and Jon Mark had 13 rebounds for Oakwood.

Campbell Hall 59, Faith Baptist 52--Donnie Sakaida scored a game-high 27 points and Tim Sutton scored 16 and had 11 rebounds for Campbell Hall (4-2, 2-2). Faith Baptist dropped to 0-2 in league.

Camp Kilpatrick 97, Cal Christian 53--Harper Vaughen had 28 points and 14 rebounds, and teammate Lloyd Reid had 23 points and 11 rebounds for Camp Kilpatrick (7-5).

GIRLS BASKETBALL

L.A. Baptist 65, L.A. Lutheran 37--Dawn Broline scored a game-high 25 points as L.A. Baptist raised its record to 5-0. Maricela Lopez scored 12 points for L.A. Lutheran.

Holy Martyrs 51, Windward 35--Ayline Amirayan of Holy Martyrs (7-1) scored a game high 22 points in the Liberty League opener at Windward. Teammate Caroline Zouloumian had 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.

Campbell Hall 74, Buckley 26--Cherise Smith and Maria Alba scored 18 points each for Campbell Hall (6-2, 2-0) in the Delphic League game. Laura Kirkpatrick led Buckley with 16 points.

Corvallis 49, Marlborough 45--Lisa Senette scored a game-high 24 points and had 17 rebounds for Corvallis. It marked the third consecutive game in which Senette scored 20 or more points.

BOYS SOCCER

Chatsworth 6, Lincoln 3 (OT)--Chris Horn, Charles Gordon and Ron Mertzel struck for goals in a sudden-death shoot-out after two scoreless overtimes to launch Chatsworth into the second round of the City playoffs.

Chatsworth goalkeeper Scott Kuhn, substituting for injured Wes Dixon, did not allow a penalty kick to get by as the Chancellors improved to 11-0-4.

The match was tied, 3-3, at the end of regulation.

Kennedy 8, Roosevelt 7 (OT)--Kennedy (7-1-6) advanced to the second round of the City playoffs after a 1-1 tie in regulation was decided on penalty kicks. Zoltan Kallos scored to give Kennedy an 8-7 lead in the sudden-death shoot-out. Kallos, who had seven saves as goalie, stepped back into the goal and blocked Roosevelt’s final shoot-out attempt.

Belmont 2, Reseda 1--Salvador Hualos scored the winning goal with 10 minutes remaining to lead Belmont into the second round of the City playoffs. Senior forward Marc Tushnet score the lone Reseda goal in the first half.