GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Kennedy Height Keeps Santiago at Bay

Score another one for the always effective intimidation factor.

The visiting Santiago High boys’ basketball team allowed the size advantage of the Kennedy front line to alter the Cavaliers’ minds--and shots--Wednesday night and they wound up falling to the Fighting Irish, 62-55, in a Garden Grove League game.

Or at least that’s what Santiago Coach Paul Anderson thought.

“I think we were just a little intimidated at first,” Anderson said.

The Cavaliers (11-5, 4-2 in league) couldn’t penetrate Kennedy’s 2-3 zone defense early in the game and spotted the Fighting Irish a 17-4 lead before rallying to make a game of it, then collapsing again.

Kennedy (11-6, 6-0), the two-time defending league champion, forced the smaller Cavaliers to shoot from outside-- way outside--throughout the game. Santiago attempted 17 three-point shots, including six in the first quarter, and converted eight. With the exception of two baskets on offensive rebounds and one fast-break layup, the Cavaliers never scored on anything shorter than 12- or 15-foot jumpers.

Jeff Cummins, a 6-foot-3 forward, opened the scoring for Kennedy with a layup right after the opening tipoff and kept on pumping them until he had 11 of his game-high 23 points in the first quarter.

The Fighting Irish, who feature a front line of 6-foot-6 center Pat Kunz, 6-10 forward Jermaine Galloway and Cummins, had leads of 32-28 at the half and 47-40 after three quarters before pulling away for the victory.

Galloway had21 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots.

Tony Soriano led Santiago with 17 points and six rebounds, and Con Nguyen had 15 points.

In other league games:

Pacifica 71, Garden Grove 56--Tim Rouleau and Chris Vlasic each scored 17 points for host Pacifica (4-12, 2-4). Cordel Archer scored 21 points and Scott Flores scored 17, including five three-point baskets, for Garden Grove (7-9, 3-3).

Los Amigos 67, Rancho Alamitos 66--Eddie Benson scored to put Los Amigos (5-9, 3-3) up, 67-64, with two minutes left in play. Teammate Jeff Martell scored 13 points. Helmet Bustamente scored 16 points for Rancho Alamitos (4-2 in the league).

La Quinta 63, Bolsa Grande 57--Lloyd Bennett scored 29 points for visiting La Quinta (3-13, 1-5).

Jim Fletcher had 14 and Robert Fierro and Vince Mitchell 10 each for the Aztecs (0-14, 0-6).