Morningside Wins Pacific Shores Tourney

Morningside High won its seventh Pacific Shores basketball tournament Saturday night by defeating Lakewood, 85-72, Saturday night at Redondo Union High School.

Senior forward Tyrone Paul, who led Morningside with 18 points in Saturday’s game, was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

Morningside got a scare, however, at the beginning of the third quarter, when Lakewood outscored the Monarchs 14-3 to shave 12 points off a 15-point lead.

Then, with 2:43 left in the quarter and the Monarchs leading by only 49-46, Morningside center Jeff Crowe was called for a technical foul after arguing an official’s call.

“We were pretty upset, but the coaches told us to have poise,” Crowe said. “We settled down and we got back in synch.”

In the rest of the third quarter, Morningside went on to outscore Lakewood, 18-6.

A similar run in the opening minutes of the game, when Paul had two breakaway dunks, staked Morningside to a 17-3 lead.

“I felt pretty good tonight,” Paul said, noting that his team had been eliminated in the semifinals of last year’s tournament. “This team has got a winning feeling. Last year we got to the door. This year we’re going inside.”

Crowe had 13 points, eight of them in the fourth quarter.

All-tournament selection Andre Miller, a senior forward for Lakewood, had a game-high 27 points. Lakewood forward Terrence O’Kelley had 19 points.

In the third-place game, Carson beat Rolling Hills 82-73. Senior forward Bobby Kelly led the Colts with 27 points. Roger Hendrix led Rolling Hills with 25.