BOYS’ BASKETBALL / LAS VEGAS CLASSIC : Chatsworth Wins With 20-0 Closing Run

Chatsworth High scored the game’s final 20 points en route to an 81-78 consolation-round victory over Las Vegas Western in the Las Vegas Holiday Prep Basketball Classic on Tuesday.

Brady Mertes, Chatsworth’s 6-foot-8 center, scored a game-high 33 points, but sophomore guard Tariq Hill scored 10 of his 12 points, including a decisive three-point play with 52 seconds left, during the Chancellors’ closing run.

The Chancellors (6-8) were eliminated Tuesday night with a 63-40 loss to Fremont, which will play North Hollywood in today’s fifth-place game.

Chatsworth trailed Western by as many as 21 points, 72-51, with 6 minutes 50 seconds to play and by 17 points, 78-61, when the Chancellors got hot with 4:05 left.

Mertes opened the run with a free throw and Hill followed with two more.

Sophomore guard Mike Cable hit a three-point shot to close the gap to 78-67 and Hill followed with a layup, a follow basket and a free throw as Chatsworth pulled to within 78-72 with 2:21 left. Guard Desmond Armstrong then hit a driving layup and forward Kevin Gold added an offensive rebound basket to bring the Chancellors to within 78-76 with 1:19 to play.

Hill gave Chatsworth the lead, 79-78, with his three-point play and guard Philbert Hernandez closed out the scoring with two free throws with 10 seconds left.

Western did not score in the final 4:53, missing its last 12 shots from the field and its lone free throw.

Junior guard Prince Fowler, who had averaged 39.5 points in the Warriors’ first two tournament games, finished with 26 but missed a three-point try with two seconds left that would have given Western a tie.

“When we were down, 70-51, I said to myself, ‘I can’t believe we’re losing to this team when they’re taking zero-percentage shots,’ ” Chatsworth Coach Sandy Greentree said of Western. “But then their shot selection came back to work in our favor.”

Chatsworth hit 52% from the field, 56% in the second half.

North Hollywood 70, New Haven (Conn.) Wilbur Cross 55--Junior forward Damon Ollie scored 22 points to lead four Huskies in double figures.

Arthur Lee scored 14 points, F.J. Johnson 13 and Anson Credille 10 for North Hollywood (13-1). Ollie led all rebounders with 14.