Jones, Notre Dame Finish Off Crespi in Opening Round

Chalk one up for the San Fernando Valley League.

Notre Dame High, representing the fledgling league, defeated Crespi, its former arch-rival from the Del Rey League, 54-46, in the first round of the Beverly Hills tournament Tuesday night at Beverly Hills High.

The Knights (3-3) actually won battles on 2 fronts. Notre Dame won the game as senior forward Brian Jones poured in a game-high 22 points--10 in the fourth quarter--and also claimed the battle of the bleachers.

Notre Dame’s fans skillfully positioned themselves behind the Crespi basket in an attempt to disrupt the Celts’ free-throw shooting, and they didn’t neglect to remind a Crespi player when several field-goal attempts failed to reach the rim.

Air ball!

Bolstered by its support group, Notre Dame jumped to a 13-10 first half lead, extended it to 24-17 at halftime, held off the charging Celts at 26-25 in the third quarter and relied on Jones to ice the game down the stretch.

“We really focused on trying to stop Jones,” Crespi Coach Paul Muff said. “Maybe we didn’t concentrate on stopping their other guys.”

Mike Rimkunas (9 points), Pico Sandoval (7), James Borella (7) and Paul Hewitt (7) teamed to score 30 points for Notre Dame.

“He had an off first half,” Notre Dame Coach Mick Cady said of Jones, who scored 6 in the first half. “But the difference between him last year and this year is that last year if he didn’t have a good start, he didn’t have a good finish.”

Said Jones: “In the first half, they were all over me. “In the second half, I just let them have it.”

Senior forwards Ken Lynch (team-high 18 points) and Pat Brady (12) combined for 16 second-half points for Crespi (2-4). But Jones’ 2 free throws with 51 seconds to play secured a 51-43 lead for Notre Dame.

A nail-biting, last-second finish, which both teams probably expected, never materialized.

“It was strange,” Muff said, “playing Notre Dame here instead of in our own gym or in their gym.”

Said Cady: “It was weird. It wasn’t the same kind of intensity we usually have against them. The game usually means a lot more when we play them. Instead, it was just two nice groups of kids playing basketball.”

In other first-round games:

Ventura 62, Westlake 51--Senior forward Nate Hantgin (23 points) led the Cougars, under former Westlake Coach Roy Gilmore.

Rolling Hills 79, Thousand Oaks 64--Senior center John Hardy (26 points) and junior guard Steve Clover (23) led Rolling Hills.

Thousand Oaks was led by Darren McMaster (15 points), Jeff Peterson (14) and Mike Sandlin (12).

Buena 76, Glendale 73--Four Glendale players, led by Alen Faalnik with 22 and Chad Blatchley with 18, scored in double figures, in a losing effort.