Titans Start Slow, Finish Fast, 85-76

Torrance High’s basketball team came into a steamy Rolling Hills gym Thursday night intent on a shoot-out, hoping to wrest a share of the Bay League lead from the first-place Titans.

But, like the challengers before them, the Tartars didn’t possess the firepower to stay with Rolling Hills.

After falling behind early, the Titans gradually pulled away behind the play of forward Ron Dinnel and point guard Mark Tesar, coasting to an 85-76 victory that increased their league lead to two games.

“We started to get in a running game early,” said Torrance Coach Carl Strong, whose team opened a 17-14 advantage. “But we can’t run with them. Especially up here.”

While the Tartars had one offensive threat--junior guard Rick Robison--early in the game, Rolling Hills had an arsenal of weapons.

Dead-eye shooters Dinnel, Tesar and guard Steve Clover combined for seven three-point shots in the first half as the Titans opened a 52-38 lead, and they finished with 10. It was more of the same in the second half, with the Titans opening a 71-48 lead before Torrance chipped away down the stretch.

Dinnel scored a game-high 26 points, including five three-pointers, Tesar had 22 points and 10 assists, and Clover scored 13. That was enough to compensate for a sub-par game by center John Hardy, Rolling Hills’ leading scorer, who was saddled with foul trouble and finished with 11 points.

“It helps when Dinnel and Tesar have such great games,” said Rolling Hills Coach Cliff Warren, whose team improved to 15-3 overall and 6-0 in league play. “Dinnel worked so hard on defense against Robison and still played well on offense.”

Torrance, losing for the second time this week, dropped to 9-7 and 4-2. Robison led the Tartars with 25 points, but the 6-foot junior tired in the second half after scoring 19 in the first.

“We asked (Robison) to play a lot of minutes,” explained Strong, whose team must come back tonight with a home game against Beverly Hills.

Center Art Terrill chipped in 24 points for Torrance, most of them coming late in the contest.

Rolling Hills will complete the first round of league play Saturday night at Palos Verdes.