HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP : Taft Takes Step Toward League Title, 95-75

Senior forward Larry Schneider scored a season-high 20 points and Casey Sheahan added 21 to lead Taft High to a 95-75 victory over Granada Hills in a North Valley League basketball game at Granada Hills on Wednesday.

Schneider, celebrating his 18th birthday, made five of six shots from the field in the third quarter--including three of four from three-point range--as Taft rallied from a 43-39 halftime deficit.

The victory moved Taft (14-4, 6-1 in league play) into the driver’s seat in the race for the league championship.

Taft, which last won an outright league title in 1979-80, holds a two-game lead over league rivals Kennedy and Cleveland with three to play.

Omari Miles led Granada Hills (3-15, 0-7) with 24 points and Tyrone Jackman added 15.

Miguel Carrillo added 19 points for Taft, which tied for the West Valley League championship in 1981-82, Coach Jim Woodard’s first season.

In other boys’ basketball games:

North Hollywood 80, Monroe 75--North Hollywood (21-1, 8-0) improved to 4-0 in Mid-Valley League play behind Damon Ollie’s game-high 33 points, but host Monroe made it close.

Eric Spaulding led Monroe with 17 points.

Van Nuys 62, Poly 55--Eric Grayson scored 28 points to lead Van Nuys to a Valley Pac-8 Conference win.

Tony Mancha contributed six points and 10 rebounds for Van Nuys (7-11, 5-3). Eddie Cardenas scored 16 points for Poly.

Chatsworth 67, San Fernando 47--Brady Mertes scored 24 points and Ken Manor added 19 to lead the Chancellors (13-6, 5-2) in a West Valley League game.

Chatsworth limited San Fernando guard Javier Ramos to 10 points, half his scoring average.

Jordan 97, Canoga Park 61--Charles Adams scored 23 points for host Canoga Park (2-17) in a nonleague game.

Chace Johnson added 15 points and six assists.

Thousand Oaks 80, Channel Islands 72--Andrew Borg scored 24 points--14 in the third quarter--to lead the Lancers (16-7, 11-2) in a Marmonte League game.

Kirk Pederson and Paul Foster each added 10 points for Thousand Oaks and Shane Graham and Jason Hartman each had nine.

Noe Noyola led the Raiders with 17 points.

Buena 84, Rio Mesa 71--Lance Fay scored 25 of his game-high 39 points in the second half, including 16 in the fourth quarter, as visiting Buena (19-4, 11-1) overcame a 10-point halftime deficit in a Channel League game.

Fay made 10 of 22 shots from the field and 16 of 21 free throws.

Brothers Swanson Nunnery (15 points) and Tim Nunnery (14) led Rio Mesa.

Moorpark 79, Oak Park 62--Robbie Salone scored a team-high 21 points to lead host Moorpark (8-14, 4-3) in a Tri-Valley League game.

David Shaw scored 25 points to lead Oak Park. Chris Peltonen added 14 for Moorpark, which scored 50 points in the second half.

Bell-Jeff 71, El Segundo 52--Brian Lee scored 21 points and added nine rebounds to lead Bell-Jeff (18-4, 9-0) in a San Fernando League game at El Segundo.

Ignacio Castro added 16 points for Bell-Jeff.

Villanova 61, Thacher 42--George Stamos, a sophomore guard, made 12 of 22 shots from field and scored 25 points to lead Villanova (8-10, 4-3) in a Condor League game.

Marcus Stokes scored 19 points for Thacher.

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

North Hollywood 48, Monroe 47--Nikki Hamilton scored 16 points to lead North Hollywood to a Mid-Valley League win. Karma Goodman contributed 14 points for North Hollywood (15-3, 8-0).

Shanti Carruthers of Monroe scored 12 points.

Granada Hills 77, Taft 49--Karen Berkowitz, last season’s Northwest Valley league co-player of the year, scored 22 points to lead Granada Hills to a league win.

Shelise Tillman contributed 12 points and Kim Guildner and Yung La each had 10 for Granada Hills. Pamela Jackson scored 14 points for Taft (7-7, 2-5).

Kennedy 80, Cleveland 39--Keosha Tidwell scored a game-high 17 points to lead four players in double figures for host Kennedy (11-6, 5-2) in the North Valley League game.

Sylmar 55, Birmingham 34--Sylmar’s Shantye Morgan scored 26 points in the Mid-Valley League game at Birmingham.

San Fernando 31, Chatsworth 25--Sylvia Ramos, the cousin of San Fernando boys’ standout Javier Ramos, scored a game-high 12 points to lead the Tigers in a Northwest Valley Conference game at home.

Erica Tidwell had seven points and 12 rebounds for San Fernando (12-6, 3-4).

Canoga Park 58, Jordan 29--Jadi Contreras had 19 points and 10 rebounds and Dianne LaKatta had 13 points to lead Canoga Park (7-4) in a nonleague game.

WRESTLING

Channel Islands 38, Newbury Park 24--Channel Islands, the two-time defending Marmonte League champion, recorded victories in eight of 13 weight classes in the league finale at Channel Islands.

The Raiders (21-4, 6-1) won at least 20 matches for the seventh consecutive year.

Danny Castillo (160 pounds) recorded a pin over Newbury Park’s Dan Haan in 1:31.

Other winners for Channel Islands included Cesar Puga (135), 7-5, over Chris Trefz, and Jerome Tinoco (189) over Eric Masaki, 8-1.