Hua Leads Alhambra to Victory Over Hart

Alhambra guard Hong Hua scored 19 second-half points to lead the Moors to a 67-64 Foothill League victory over Hart on Tuesday night at Alhambra.

But that wasn’t the real reason why Hart lost.

Hua made four free throws in the final 33 seconds and Alhambra made all eight of its fourth-quarter free throws.

But that wasn’t the real reason why Hart lost.

Just ask Hart Coach Greg Herrick why the Indians lost to Alhambra for only the second time in seven years:

“That was the most horrible officiated game I’ve seen in 15 years of coaching. We were jobbed.”

But coach, didn’t your team play sloppily and commit numerous turnovers? Why one of your players even got called for traveling with 20 seconds to play. . . .

“Walking? Are you kidding me? That was the worst officiating I’ve ever seen,” Herrick said. “That was brutal. Turnovers? The guy was standing there and he gets a turnover.

“That was horrible. The kids played pretty hard and they’d get hand-checked going up the floor and pounded on the post and when we stopped, it’s traveling. An evenly officiated game and we win by 10 points.”

So that’s it. The real reason Hart dropped to 9-7 overall, 2-2 in league play. The real reason Alhambra improved to 15-4, 4-0 and remained the Foothill leader, one game ahead of Schurr.

It had nothing to do with Hua, who made 6 of 7 field goals in the second half. He finished with a game-high 30 points and put the Moors ahead, 53-52, 6:49 into the fourth quarter on a layup and two free throws. Six minutes later, after Hart had taken a 64-63 lead, Hua sank four more field goals to put Alhambra ahead by three.

Hua also had a hand on Steve Valenzuela’s three-point shot at the buzzer, causing it to fall short.

“They did a hell of a job, but if I got that, I’d be undefeated,” Herrick said.

And, of course, Hart’s loss had nothing to do with poor showings in the second and fourth quarters, when the Indians were outscored, 18-13 and 18-14.

“We did what we came to do and we got it taken away,” Herrick said.

Valenzuela scored a team-high 24 points for Hart and Brett Wilson added 14.