Irvine World News Basketball Tournament : Irvine Advances to Final With 64-47 Victory

Irvine High School advanced to the final of the Irvine World News basketball tournament by defeating University, 64-47, in front of 450 Friday at Irvine.

Savanna (9-0) defeated Kennedy, 67-46, in the other semifinal at Woodbridge and will play Irvine (6-0) at 7:30 tonight at UC Irvine.

University (4-4) stayed within striking range in the first half, trailing, 32-24, at halftime. Then Irvine turned it on.

“We felt that we were out of sync in the first half,” Irvine Coach Steve Keith said. “Our execution went way up in the second.”

That was evident right away. Irvine scored the first 5 points of the second half in about a minute. And Irvine’s defense limited University to only 8 points in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Irvine went to the free-throw line 17 times, making 12. Six of those were by John Molle, who finished with 10 points.

His brother, Raphael, led all scorers with 15 points, and Bryan Allred had 13.

University was led by Stephan Muman, who scored 12 points before fouling out. University had four players foul out.

Edison 63, Paramount 59 (2OT)--Jason Carey scored off a missed free throw by teammate by Brian Murphy to clinch the victory for Edison in a consolation game at Irvine High School. Bill Martineau scored 21 points and Murphy 17 for the Chargers.

Dana Hills 52, Long Beach Wilson 40--Chris Delf scored 6 of Dana Hills’ 12 points in the second quarter as the Dolphins opened a 21-17 lead in a consolation game at Woodbridge High School. John Lloyd scored 15 points and Delp ended with 13.

Marina 50, Brea-Olinda 49--Francis Carreon drove the baseline and scored a layup with just 2 seconds left for Marina in the fifth-place semifinal at Woodbridge. Brea’s Keith Walker, who finished with 20 points, was short on his half-court shot at the buzzer. Marina’s Cherokee Parks led all scorers with 22.

Saddleback 60, Santa Ana 50--Malru Dottin scored 22 points and Tony Agnew added 11 to lead Saddleback.