NORTH HOLLYWOOD TOURNAMENT : Allen Keys Win by Granada Hills

The Granada Hills High basketball team had nine days to savor its victory over highly regarded Carson, but the Highlanders needed about eight minutes to forget it against Poly in the first round of the North Hollywood tournament on Thursday night.

Nevertheless, Granada Hills, ranked No. 1 in the area by The Times, overcame the sluggish first quarter to emerge with a 95-55 victory at North Hollywood High.

Forward Jerry Allen scored 14 of his game-high 23 points in the second quarter and Granada Hills outscored Poly, 32-8, to extend a two-point first-quarter lead to 52-26 at halftime.

“We haven’t played in a week and we came out slow,” said Allen, a 6-foot-3 senior who also had nine rebounds and five assists. “We were rusty, but we didn’t get frustrated because we have been together for so long. We finally got hot in the second quarter.”

With Granada Hills trailing, 18-15, with 28 seconds left in the first quarter, Sagy Koren came off the bench to hit a three-point basket and Gene Barshtak scored on a driving layup to give the Highlanders (8-1) a 20-18 advantage.

Koren drilled three consecutive three-point baskets in the first 90 seconds of the second quarter that gave Granada Hills a 29-20 advantage and spark an 11-2 run that put the game away.

“I wasn’t nervous at all after we fell behind,” Granada Hills Coach Bob Johnson said. “We had a long layoff. They had a lot of good luck and we just made a lot of mistakes.”

Eleven Granada Hills players scored. Adrian Sellers had 19 points and Koren added 14. Ryan Cravens pulled down 11 rebounds.

Poly fell to 2-5.

In other games:

El Camino Real 80, Bell-Jeff 49--The Conquistadores overcame a 5-0 first-quarter deficit with an 18-2 run and did not trail thereafter. Clyde Price (18 points) and Marquis Brown (15) paced El Camino Real (5-1). Brian Lee had 17 for Bell-Jeff (3-4).

Grant 54, Reseda 40--David Knight led a trio of Grant players in double figures with 14 points.

Grant (6-1) extended a 31-21 halftime advantage to as many as 17 in the second half.

Marquis Burns and Ian Crawford led Reseda (2-4) with 10 points each.

North Hollywood 72, Chatsworth 64--Chatsworth whittled a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit to 68-63 with 49 seconds left, but North Hollywood’s Robert Hill sank two free throws five seconds later.

Hill scored 23 points and Eric Jackson had 18 for North Hollywood (6-2).

Chris Dunbar led Chatsworth (4-2) with 23.