PREP BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : P. V. Gets Big Break: Scoreboard Didn’t Work

Wednesday night’s Bay League basketball game between West Torrance and Palos Verdes was delayed for about 10 minutes after the scoreboard controls shorted out at the end of the first quarter.

The score was kept on a blackboard the rest of the game, which was just as well for Palos Verdes. The Sea Kings, who never led after the opening minutes, probably didn’t want their score prominently displayed anyway.

West outplayed the Sea Kings in virtually every facet of the game en route to a 60-49 victory at home. The Warriors (14-4 overall, 3-1 in league) led by as many as 18 points.

“They outshot us, out-rebounded us and out-hustled us,” said disappointed John Mihaljevich, the Palos Verdes coach. “From the very beginning we were playing from behind.”

The victory kept West in a second-place tie with Torrance (6-11, 3-1) while Palos Verdes (11-7, 2-2) finds itself in a do-or-die position heading into Friday night’s game against first-place Rolling Hills (14-4, 4-0).

“Every game for us becomes a must win,” said Mihaljevich, whose team was the preseason league favorite and top-ranked team in the CIF 3-A Division.

West’s balanced attack was led by forward Jason Arquisch and guard Phil Bendik with 15 points apiece. Point guard Denny Hocking added 14 and center James Severance contributed 8 and a team-high 6 rebounds.

Coach Dan McGee was pleased with the play of his Warriors, whose only loss in their last 13 games came last week at Rolling Hills.

“I think the loss to Rolling Hills made our kids get back to square one,” he said. “They learned that they’ve got to play better defense and do a better job on the boards. They did tonight.”

While West enjoyed balanced scoring, Palos Verdes received all but 10 of its points from two players. Point guard John Mika led all scorers with 21 points and forward Mike Matteoni had 18. Center Jeff Whitley, who averages 13 points a game, scored only 4.

“West did a good job defending us,” Mihaljevich said. “We weren’t able to get anything inside.”

West took command by outscoring Palos Verdes, 13-5, to end the first half and take a 32-20 lead. Hocking started the spurt with a three-point shot and capped it with another three-pointer.

Morningside 71, El Segundo 50--For the first half Wednesday night, Morningside High School’s basketball team was cold in more ways than one.

After scoring 104 points Friday against Miraleste, Morningside could manage only 29 in the first half at home against El Segundo.

And they were cold physically--the gym heater was broken.

But after Coach Ron Randle lit a fire under his team at half time with a vigorous jumping drill, Morningside rallied to thump El Segundo, 71-50, and remain unbeaten (4-0) in the Pioneer League and 12-6 overall.

“We were kind of sleepwalking in the first half,” Randle said.

El Segundo (7-9, 2-2) trailed by only one point at the half.

But forward Kevin Lilley engineered Morningside’s comeback, scoring 14 of his 16 points in a second-half barrage in which the Monarchs outscored El Segundo 42-22. Forward Marvin Franklin had 16 points and 12 rebounds and guard Dwayne Lucas poured in 10 points from the perimeter.

Center Jeff Crowe added 9 points and 10 rebounds, and 6-6 forward Eddie Scott scored 8.

El Segundo Coach Rick Sabosky’s team also had a bout with cold shooting in the chilly gym. Normally hot-handed forward Shawn Foster was held to only 13 points, which led the Eagles.

Forward Ken Talanoa (12 points) banked a jump shot off the glass with 3:15 left in the fourth quarter to score El Segundo’s first field goal of the period.