EMPIRE LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Whitlock Hits 58 in Home Finale

It was some farewell for Tes Whitlock Friday night. Whitlock, playing his final regular-season game in Loara High School’s gymnasium in Anaheim, scored 58 points in Loara’s 88-87 victory over Katella in Empire League play.

Whitlock tied former record-holder Art Worthy of Huntington Beach with 58 points on the county’s all-time single-game scoring list. Worthy held the county mark for 80 years before Whitlock scored 68 points earlier this season against Saddleback.

Whitlock now owns three of the top five scoring games in county history. He had 54 points against Los Alamitos in an Empire League game last season.

Whitlock made 18 of 36 field-goal attempts and was 18 of 20 at the free-throw line. He also made four three-point shots and had nine rebounds and seven assists. Whitlock scored 11 points in the first quarter, 13 in the second quarter, 17 in the third quarter and 17 in the last quarter.

“I wanted to go out in style,” Whitlock said. “I wanted to give something to the fans and students who have followed me for four years. I wanted to give them a show.”

Whitlock had been in a scoring slump for two weeks, scoring only 79 points in his last four games for a 19.8 average, far below his average of 33.9 points. He scored 43 points in an 89-87 loss to Katella in the first round of league play and anticipated another big night in the rematch.

“They play man-to-man and an up-tempo game, so that was looking like 60 points all the way in my gym,” he said. “I didn’t know how many points I had, I just wanted to come out and have fun in my last home game.”

Whitlock had 54 points with 4 minutes 3 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter when he made his fourth three-point shot. Then, he helped Loara build an 88-80 lead with 49 seconds remaining, scoring on a follow shot and two free throws. But he missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity with 25 seconds remaining in his last attempt to get 60 points.

Whitlock was an offensive nightmare for Katella. Three players--Eric Martinez, Roger Arias and Dave Jensen--fouled out attempting to guard him. Arias finished with 28 points and teammate Kevin Carlson added 31 points, despite missing most of the third quarter.

“You throw out all the rules when you go up against Whitlock,” said Katella Coach Tom Danley, the dean of county coaches. “The only other player I’ve seen that compares with him was (former Troy High star Mark) Wulfemeyer.”

Katella (13-8, 4-4 in league) opened a 10-point lead in the first quarter and controlled the game until three of its starters got into foul trouble in the third quarter. Loara tied the score at 49 with four minutes remaining in the third quarter when Whitlock scored on a dunk.

Loara (11-12, 4-4) maintained its lead through the remainder of the game as Whitlock made 11 of 15 shots in the second half.

In other Empire League games:

Los Alamitos 78, Cypress 46--Jason Cunningham had 25 points and 10 rebounds as Los Alamitos (17-6, 8-0) clinched the league title for the second consecutive year.

Esperanza 65, El Dorado 54--Matt Kordik scored a game-high 20 and Joe Foss scored 15 for Esperanza.