Leuzinger Doesn’t Mess Around in Win : Basketball: The Olympians take a 30-10 halftime lead and cruise to 69-35 victory over North Torrance.

Appearances can be deceiving.

Just ask Wendell Robinson or other members of the Leuzinger High boys’ basketball team. They learned that by experience.

But the upstart Olympians did not repeat the same mistake in their 69-35 victory over North Torrance in the El Segundo tournament Wednesday night at El Segundo High.

Two days earlier, Leuzinger (3-3), a team whose starting lineup includes three juniors and a sophomore, squandered a 24-point lead but managed to escape with a 61-60 victory over St. Genevieve in the first round.

North Torrance (2-4) defeated Westside Prep, 75-38, in its first-round game. However, Leuzinger limited the Saxons to three points in the second quarter to build a 30-10 halftime lead.

“We felt we were bigger than (St. Genevieve) and had all the physical advantages, but we didn’t play to our potential,” Robinson said. “North Torrance looked pretty impressive against Westside Prep. We didn’t take them lightly.”

Robinson finished with a game-high 22 points and 13 rebounds. Junior guard Donte Aubry had 12 points and six assists and sophomore forward Ega Usu added eight points and 10 rebounds for Leuzinger.

The Olympians will play Mira Costa in a semifinal game tonight at 7:30. The winner will advance to the final of the 12-team tournament against Bishop Montgomery on Friday.

“We played a lot better and as a team,” said Aubry, who made a half-court shot as time expired in the first quarter. “We didn’t mess around and take them for granted.”

Leuzinger did not give up a field goal during a seven-minute 33-second span in the first and second quarters to build a 22-5 advantage. Leuzinger trailed, 5-2, early in the first quarter. However, Robinson scored eight of his 10 first-quarter points to give the Olympians a 22-7 advantage.

“We’re a young team and we did just the opposite of what we did last time,” Leuzinger Coach Jimmy Ellis said.

Robinson took Ellis’ words to heart. He opened the second half by scoring eight of Leuzinger’s first nine points to open a 39-16 lead during the first two minutes of the third quarter.

Mira Costa 77, El Segundo 36--The Mustangs (4-1) scored the game’s first 14 points en route to a 31-2 lead midway through the second quarter of the second-round game.

Mira Costa’s Frank Zeno scored a game-high 22 points, including 20 in the first half.

Scott Layne and Aaron Willett had 10 points each for El Segundo (3-2), which was limited to 10 points or fewer in each of the first three quarters.

Bishop Montgomery 58, Hawthorne 47--Andre English led all scorers with 15 points for Bishop Montgomery (2-0). The Knights raced to a 31-21 halftime lead and extended their advantage to as many as 15 points in the second half in the semifinal victory.

Ray Outler had 15 points and Shannon Davis and Monjero Jones (six assists) had 10 each for Hawthorne (2-4), which will meet North Torrance in the third-place game Friday.