CARSON BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Rolling Hills Reverses Fate, Wins on 3-Point Shot in Carson Tourney

There was a bit of irony in Rolling Hills’ 102-96 overtime victory over Morningside High in the Carson boys basketball tournament Thursday.

There were also controversial calls, exciting individual performances and a lot of offense.

“It’s so ironic,” said Rolling Hills Coach Cliff Warren. “Wednesday we lost on a long three-pointer that bounced off the backboard and today we won with a three-pointer that bounces off the backboard. I guess if you stay in the game long enough, everything kind of evens out for you.”

The victory puts the Titans in the championship bracket of the tournament where they face Carson at 2:30 p.m. today. Artesia plays Dominguez in the other semifinal match-up at 1:10 p.m., with the final to be played at 7:30 p.m.

A day earlier, Long Beach Poly beat Rolling Hills with a long three-pointer off the backboard, and Thursday Mark Tesar’s 22-footer bounded off the glass and through the net to give the Titans a lead they would not relinquish.

Morningside had scored the first four points in overtime, but John Hardy put Rolling Hills on the board with a jumper in the lane. The Titans forced a turnover and Tesar got the ball at midcourt, took two dribbles and fired the ball.

It was Tesar’s sixth three-pointer of the game, boosting him to 28 for the contest. Hardy knocked down 46 points and was 12 for 13 from the free-throw line.

“It was a great show offensively,” Warren said. “And Tesar and Hardy were phenomenal. Hardy made some great moves inside and was unstoppable, and Tesar just kept hitting. Those two guys were just on fire.”

The game was close throughout as both teams virtually traded baskets. But, according to Warren, one important aspect of the game was missing:

“There was no defense by either team. It was kind of hard for me to enjoy the game when we were playing defense like that.”

Morningside Coach Ron Randle said the Monarchs usually play a strong defensive game but he was concerned about his team’s lack of offense in recent weeks. Therefore, Randle was happy to see Morningside score.

Five Monarchs reached double figures, Ken Jones leading with 20. Jeff Crow scored 19, Don Sanders 15, Jon Madison had 14 and connected on 4 of 4 three-point attempts and Cris Vance chipped in with 11.

“For the most part it was a good show offensively for us,” Randle said. “I’m glad to see that part of it finally come around.”

One particularly sore spot for Randle, however, was the team’s free-throw shooting. Several times the Monarchs had a chance to ice the game from the free-throw stripe but couldn’t hit. Morningside was 13 for 29 from the line.

“One of our goals is to improve our free-throw shooting,” he said. “Our inside game is going to be our biggest strength so it would be to our advantage to improve in that area.

“I don’t know if we were rushing or what today, but our free-throw shooting was not very good.”

In other games Thursday:

Carson 55, Muir 53--The host Colts drew away from Muir early in the game but then had to hold on for the victory that sends them to the championship bracket semifinals against Rolling Hills.

Carson jumped to a 39-27 half-time lead and appeared to be cruising toward an easy win, but Muir jumped back in the game and took a 48-45 lead with five minutes left. The Colts regrouped, however.

“They came back and really made a game out of it,” said Carson Coach Dick Mason. “But we finally got the win.”

Vince Washington and Greg Lindsey paced Carson with 16 points apiece while Enoch Mack tallied 15 for Muir. No other Muir player scored in double figures.

Hawthorne 78, North Torrance 73--Hawthorne’s Mac Wells paced all scorers with 31 points and also had five blocked shots to lead the Cougars.

North received 18 points from Brian Jurado but the Saxons missed 15 free-throw attempts.

Palos Verdes 61, Bishop Montgomery 60--Andy Jacobsen scored four points in the last 20 seconds to lead the Sea Kings to the come-from-behind victory. Craig Nagle paced Palos Verdes with 17 while Mike Wright of Bishop Montgomery led all scorers with 24.

El Camino 65, South Torrance 49--South Torrance trailed the entire way despite Lance Holmes’ 17-point, 12-rebound performance. Teammate Brian Diederich chipped in with 12 points.