BOYS’ BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Westminster Edges Garden Grove, Advances to Tournament Semifinal

Robert Ishii scored 15 points, including four key free throws down the stretch, as Westminster advanced to the semifinals of the Carl’s Jr. Holiday Classic with a 59-56 victory over Garden Grove at Century High.

Jeff Madland led the Lions (5-4) to their fourth consecutive victory by scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Teammate Lac Tran added 14 points.

“We haven’t been to the semifinals of a tournament in a long time,” Westminster Coach Brian Underwood said. “The kids are starting to believe we have a chance at a fine season.”

The first pair of Ishii’s fourth-quarter free throws came with 1:23 left and gave Westminster a 55-52 lead. He clinched the victory with two more free throws with 32 seconds remaining.

“Ishii did a tremendous job tonight,” Underwood said. “All three of our guards had outstanding efforts.”

Jim Sebreros led Garden Grove (2-7) with 10 points, and Cornel Archer, Mike Campuzano and Ray Green had nine each.

Garden Grove trailed, 16-7, early in the first quarter but rallied to tie the score, 28-28, at the half. Westminster took a 44-43 lead at the end of the third quarter, but the Argonauts rallied to go ahead, 49-46, with 4:20 remaining. Garden Grove went into a delay offense, but abandoned it after Westminster scored two field goals on their next two possessions.

In other Carl’s Jr. Holiday Classic quarterfinals:

Trabuco Hills 67, Santa Fe Springs St. Paul 38--Center Matt Moore scored 19 points and had 12 rebounds for Trabuco Hills (10-3). St. Paul (5-4) made only one of 15 field-goal attempts in the second quarter and trailed at the half, 31-11.

Sonora 74, Santa Ana 46--Peter Lythgoe scored 20 points and Chris St. Clair and Chris Campbell each added 19 to lead Sonora (10-2) to a quarterfinal victory over Santa Ana (4-4), which got 14 points from Fred Mora.

Brethren Christian 42, Santiago 36--Reggie Davis scored 15 points for the Warriors (4-5) as they pulled away from the Cavaliers (3-5) down the stretch. Yang Ung and Raymond Tecson scored five points each in the fourth quarter to bring Santiago within five points of the lead, but Keith Washington drove inside for easy layups to put Brethren back in control. Ung finished with 14 points, and John Pelayo added 11 for the Cavaliers.