CANYON TOURNAMENT : Monrovia Takes Advantage of Canyon’s Defense

Eighty-one points is usually enough to make Canyon High School Coach Steve Sabins happy.

Unfortunately for Sabins and a ragged Comanche defense, Monrovia scored 91 Thursday to bounce Canyon from the winners’ bracket in the quarterfinals of the Canyon Tournament.

“If you would have told me before the game we’d score 81 points, I’d have told you we’d blow them out,” Sabins said. “We scored well enough to win. We just didn’t have it together on defense.”

Canyon’s man-to-man defense is supposed to create turnovers, but Thursday it merely provided easy scoring opportunities for Monrovia.

Monrovia (5-6) outscored Canyon, 27-12, in the second quarter and held on for the victory. Monrovia’s Brett Moore led all scorers with 28 points and Kirby Gardner added 20.

Eric Oliver kept the Comanches close with 27 points. But Kevin Wilborn, Canyon’s leading scorer all season, picked up three fouls early and didn’t score until 3:42 remained in the third quarter. Wilborn finished with 12 points.

Tom Bottiaux scored 14 for the Comanches (6-4), and Abdi Barkhordar added 11.

Canyon outscored Monrovia, 23-18, in the fourth quarter, but Iu Man kept the Comanches at bay with a pair of three-pointers.

“Everything went our way tonight,” Monrovia Coach Steve Hebert said. “We were lucky to catch Canyon on an off-night.”

In the consolation round:

Vista 56, Anaheim 55--Rudy Fernandez scored 18 for Anaheim, but Vista’s outside shooting proved too much. Chris Johnson (17 points) hit five three-pointers and Nils Michals (15 points) had three.

Villa Park 67, Ridgecrest Burroughs 65--Aaron Boone scored 21 for Villa Park, which also got 12 points each from Matt Gibson, Dave Mansolino and Ryan McArthur.

Santa Ana 84, Bolsa Grande 50--The Saints (6-4) jumped to a 22-5 lead after the first quarter and a 41-18 lead by halftime. Ramon Yerena paced Santa Ana with 26 points, followed by Chauncey Woolridge with 25. Bolsa Grande (2-5) was led by Sy Sayarath with 23 points.