PREP BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Rolling Hills Titans Hang In There to Beat Beverly Hills, 78-75

Rolling Hills basketball Coach Cliff Warren expected a battle Wednesday night in his team’s Bay League opener, and that’s exactly what he got from visiting Beverly Hills.

“I was petrified about this game,” Warren said. “Now I know why.”

Plagued by foul trouble and a tenacious Beverly Hills team, the Titans considered themselves fortunate after hanging on for a 78-75 win. Beverly Hills nearly tied the game in the closing seconds but missed two 3-point shots, the last coming at the buzzer.

“Thank God we were at home,” Warren said. “We would have lost on the road. We were really lucky tonight.”

Rolling Hills (10-3) encountered nothing but bad luck early. John Hardy, the team’s top scorer and rebounder, picked up three fouls before the game was 3 minutes old, but the 6-4 senior managed to stay out of trouble for the rest of the way and ignite a third-quarter rally.

Hardy, who finished with a game-high 28 points, scored the Titans’ first 15 points of the third quarter to erase a 2-point halftime deficit and give Rolling Hills a 55-48 lead.

The Titans never trailed again, but two turnovers in the final 30 seconds nearly let Beverly Hills (6-4) off the hook.

Trailing 78-73, Beverly Hills stole the ball on an in-bounds play and scored on an offensive rebound by Jonah Naulls with 17 seconds left. Then, following a timeout, Rolling Hills guard Mark Tesar dribbled the ball off his foot out of bounds, setting up the dramatic finale.

Jacob Poura missed on the 3-point attempt near the top of the key and, after Beverly Hills got the ball back in a scramble under the basket, Naulls missed a 3-pointer from the base line as time expired.

“This is not the way you want to start league,” said Beverly Hills Coach Jack Dyck. “Coming in here I thought we had a good chance of winning the game, but they out-executed us.”

Other than Hardy, Rolling Hills received big games from forward Rick Judge, who had a game-high 15 rebounds, and forward Ron Dinnel, who scored 8 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter, including a rare 4-point play to open the period.

Dinnel fouled out with 3:39 left to play, while Tesar and Judge played a good portion of the second half with four fouls each.

Forward Michael Moore paced Beverly Hills with 24 points and did a good defensive job on Steve Clover, Rolling Hills’ top 3-point shooter. After hitting three 3-pointers in the first quarter, Clover was ineffective from long range the remainder of the game and finished with 15 points.

St. Bernard 76, Serra 65--Center Ed Stokes scored 27 points, pulled down 12 rebounds and blocked 6 shots to lead the Vikings (12-2) in a Camino Real League opener at Serra.

Forward Eric Carpenter led Serra (4-7) with a game-high 31 points.

Morningside 80, North Torrance 43--The Monarchs forced 26 turnovers with their pressing defense and had 14 players score en route to an easy Ocean League opening win at Morningside.

Forward Chris Bance led a balanced attack for Morningside (7-4) with 14 points and 8 rebounds, guard Kenny Jones had 13 points, 5 assists and 5 steals, and center Jeff Crowe added 9 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks.

Redondo 70, South Torrance 48--Senior guard David Dinnel scored 15 of his game-high 25 points in the second half to help the Sea Hawks pull away in an Ocean League opener at South.

It was the fourth victory in the last five games for Redondo (8-4), which will play host to Morningside in an important league match-up Friday night.

The Sea Hawks opened a 25-20 halftime lead, then gradually increased the margin behind the scoring of Dinnel and forward Mike Houck, who finished with 15 points and 7 rebounds. Center Steve Cottey added 11 points.

Coach Steve Shaw said Redondo applied more defensive pressure in the second half, resulting in several South turnovers.

South (3-7) was led by forward Lance Holmes with 14 points and guard Ken Chieh with 13.

Carson 88, Granada Hills 78--Center Vince Washington scored 24 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and ignited a big second half that carried the Colts to a non-league win at Carson.

Leading by 1 point at halftime, Carson (6-5) opened a 69-60 lead in the third quarter by outscoring Granada Hills, 23-15. Guard Greg Lindsey scored 8 of his 22 points in the third period while Washington scored 15 in the second half.

Guard Raymond Bennett added 16 points, 5 assists and 5 steals for Carson, which opens conference play Friday afternoon at Dorsey.

Cleveland 111, Gardena 58--Cleveland, still rolling after winning the championship of the Las Vegas Holiday Tournament last week, blew away Gardena after a close first quarter to post a non-league win in Reseda.

The Cavaliers (10-2) outscored Gardena, 67-32, over the second and third quarters to put the game away. The Mohicans fell to 9-4.

Point guard Adonis Jordan, who signed early with Kentucky, led Cleveland with 29 points, 15 assists and 6 steals. Gardena guards Chris Thompson and Darryl McMillan each scored 16.

Inglewood 71, Leuzinger 64--If the opening game was any indication, Bay League fans can look forward to a lot of exciting, fast-paced basketball in 1989.

In the league opener for both teams at Inglewood, the Sentinels surged ahead with an 11-2 run midway through the fourth quarter, then held off a furious charge by Leuzinger to record the victory.

Leading, 55-52, Inglewood increased its lead to 66-54 with 2:25 left. But the Olympians cut the deficit to 68-64 with 18 seconds remaining. Inglewood protected the lead by converting 3 of 4 from the free-throw line in the final seconds.

Harold Miner led Inglewood (6-4 and 1-0) with 21 points and teammate Steve King contributed 14.

Leuzinger (7-6, 0-1) was paced by Mac Williams’ game-high 24 points, while Al Killehua chipped in 12.

Westchester 95, San Pedro 65--Before this non-league contest at Westchester, the Comets gathered at one end of the court to pose for the team photo. Then they went out and played a picture-perfect game.

Despite limited playing time, Zan Mason paced Westchester with 24 points and Renaud Gordon pitched in 15. The Comets, who substituted freely, received 12 points from Julian Brame and 10 from Jim Bova off the bench.

Westchester (7-3) took command in the second quarter by outscoring San Pedro, 34-17, to take a 56-32 halftime lead.

Jay Horton led San Pedro (5-5) with 16 points, John Wells had 15 and Willie Sanchez contributed 11.