Chatsworth Backs Grant Into Corner

What basketball fans see as a four-corner stall, Chatsworth Coach Sandy Greentree sees as a four-corner offensive attack.

And the Chancellors worked the corners to perfection Friday night, ending up with a 53-35 victory over visiting Grant in a City Section 3-A Division quarterfinal playoff game.

Although Chatsworth fans were vocally displeased with their team’s offense, they didn’t seem to mind the outcome.

“We weren’t stalling,” Greentree said. “We get better shots off the four-corner offense.”

The Chancellors (18-6), West Valley League champions, owned a 26-21 halftime lead and went to the corners for the entire second half.

“We do that when we’re up to make them feel pressure to come get us,” Greentree said “Then we get easy lay-ins off it--like we did tonight.”

The teams ran the floor in the first quarter and played to a 17-17 tie. Grant’s Wayne Carlisle buried two short jump shots early in the second quarter to give the Lancers a 21-17 advantage, but that was the extent of Grant’s scoring in the period.

Carlisle, a 6-foot-8 senior center, picked up a third foul shortly after his third field goal and Grant Coach Howie Levine pulled him with 4:48 to go until intermission.

“We were moving the ball well (in the first half) and (Carlisle) was hurting them inside,” Levine said. “But we had to take out our big gun and that hurt us.”

Carlisle, who scored a team-high 13 points, matched up inside against Chatworth’s leading scorer, 6-7 junior center Brady Mertes (19 points).

“If they’re going to let Mertes get away with what he was doing inside with his body, then there’s nothing we can do,” Levine said. “He’s throwing his body around and doesn’t get the call and then we get called for ticky-tack fouls on our guy.”

The Chancellors forged a 9-0 run after Carlisle’s departure for a 26-21 halftime lead.

Grant (16-7), the East Valley League champion, shot just 23% (five of 22) in the second half and missed four layups after steals at midcourt. The Lancers scored just four points in the second quarter and 14 in the second half.

“We weren’t making the shots we’ve been making in the past four or five games,” Levine said.

Ken Manor, Chatsworth’s senior forward, was having a field day while Grant was missing.

He converted seven of 12 field-goal attempts and finished with a game-high 20.