Poly Weathers Sylmar Scare in 79-59 Victory

Poly High, favored to win the Northwest Valley League, survived an early scare before dispatching winless Sylmar, 79-59, on Friday in the league opener for both teams.

The Parrots (7-4, 1-0) got a tougher battle than they expected from a young Sylmar team that has only seven players and was 0-6 in nonleague games.

Poly led early, 13-9, before Sylmar slowly came back to tie, 17-17, after the first period.

Though they would never lead again, the Spartans stayed close in the second quarter, sparked by forward David Kellog.

“We showed a lot of heart,” Sylmar Coach Billy Reed said. “We showed some character. We took much better care of controlling the ball in the first half.”

The second half was another matter.

Poly’s height advantage and uncontested layups off steals doomed the Spartans.