SOUTHERN SECTION BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS

Bolsa Grande 60, Torrance 58--Senior guard Nam Cao hit two free throws with four seconds remaining as Bolsa Grande rallied for a the victory at Bolsa Grande.

Although Cao scored the winning points, it was junior Joe Small who rallied the Matadors from a 10-point third-quarter deficit. Small led the Garden Grove League champions with 27 points, 21 of them in the last 12 minutes 16 seconds.

Cao scored 19 points and senior Thurman Brown had 10. Center Todd Muck led the Tartars, third-place finishers in the Bay League, with 19 points. Forward Jon Zaletel and Jeff Cummins added 15 and 12.

Bolsa Grande is 16-6; Torrance is 11-12.

Schurr 63, Los Alamitos 62 (overtime)--Thai Ngo made two free throws with 21 seconds left in overtime to lift the Spartans to the win over the Griffins at Schurr High in Montebello.

Los Alamitos (18-7) had a chance to win when the Griffins, trailing by a point, rebounded a missed free throw with 12 seconds left, but Brent Pagett’s short bank shot missed at the buzzer.

Paul Chavez scored 22 points to lead the Spartans (16-9). Doug Wadleigh scored 20 points, and Mo Warner added 19 for the Griffins.

Valencia 53, Kennedy 46--Dennis Burbank scored 29 points to lead Valencia before a capacity crowd of 700 at Kennedy. Burbank, a 6-foot 5-inch center, scored 8 of his points in the fourth quarter to keep the Tigers (19-5) in front. Burbank added 15 rebounds.

Valencia took a 39-38 lead one minute into the fourth quarter on a rebound layup by Burbank. Kennedy (17-8) remained within striking range behind the outside shooting of Wendell Lauderdale and four freethrows by Jeff Howe.

The Fighting Irish had three chances to take the lead in the final three minutes. Each time they missed outside shots and Burbank grabbed the rebound.

The Tigers extended their lead to 51-46 on freethrows by Bernie James and Chris Barr in the final minute of play.

After trailing 25-24 at halftime, the Tigers took control of the tempo. Kennnedy was not able to get its transition game in gear and were forced to play a half court game.

Gary Rassmussen scored 11 points to lead Kennedy while Lauderdale and Howe each scored 10.

California 58, La Quinta 54--Senior forward Javier Nungaray scored 12 second half points including 2 free throws with 7 seconds remaining to lead California at California.

Nungaray, who finished with 14 points, converted the clinching freethrows after being fouled by La Quinta’s Mike Whitcomb with the Condors leading, 56-54. His subsequent conversions of the one-and-one freethrow opportunities halted an Aztec rally which tied the game at 52-52 after trailing by 8 points with 5 minutes remaining.

Sophomore forward Scott Campbell led the La Quinta comeback by scoring 15 of his game-high 19 points to tie the game with 1:26 remaining in the game.

“Our kids did an outstanding job tonight and played really tough defense,” said California co-coach Pat Turley. “The outside shooting of Javier and Saldana (16 points) made them come out of their zone defense and play man-to-man which took away the big height advantage inside.”

Corey Hoffert, Whitmont League co-mvp, added 14 points for the Condors. Whitcomb scored 18 points and had 14 rebounds for La Quinta.

California (16-6) advanced to play Saugas Tuesday. La Quinta finished the season 13-11.