CENTURY TOURNAMENT : Whitlock Benched, but Loara Finds Its Way to Victory

With Tes Whitlock watching from the bench, Loara High School squeezed into the winners’ bracket of the Carl’s Jr. Century Basketball Tournament Wednesday afternoon.

Whitlock, who set an Orange County single-game scoring record with 68 points Saturday, was benched for disciplinary reasons. But his teammates came through, defeating St. Paul, 69-68, in a first-round game at Century High School.

“He missed practice Monday and didn’t tell me in advance,” Saxon Coach Ed Prange said. “We have a policy that if you miss a practice and don’t notify me, you don’t play.”

Said Whitlock: “It happened on short notice. My uncle called and told me my mother was in town from Tennessee. I hadn’t seen her in a long time so I went to see her. I may not play the rest of the tournament. I’d like to visit with my relatives.”

Prange said he plans to settle the Whitlock matter today.

Wednesday, Loara (5-6) got some offense from Charlie Gibson, Pete Gonzalez and Ron Harris. Gibson and Gonzalez each scored 18 points and Harris added 12 points, including two free throws with 10 seconds remaining.

“We rose to the occasion,” Prange said.

In other tournament games:

El Modena 49, Westminster 46--Bob Baytosh scored 15 points for El Modena (6-5).

Foothill 65, Costa Mesa 47--Sean Amos scored 24 points for Foothill (3-7). Mike Degerazio had 17 for Costa Mesa (1-6).

Century 66, Calvary Chapel 43--Darvin Thompson scored 14 and Damien Hunter 13 for Century (6-2). John O’Brien had 21 for Calvary Chapel (4-6).

Western Christian 69, Los Amigos 54--Los Amigos led, 41-35, at halftime, but the Lobos (0-6) were outscored, 34-13, in the second half.

Buena Park 60, Southern California Christian 45--Angel Barrios scored 20 points for Buena Park (6-4). Paul Lange and Dan Navar each had 13 points for SCC.

Newport Harbor 82, Garden Grove 67--Justin McIntee scored 28 points and Mark McAnlis had 22 for the Sailors.