Las Vegas Classic: A comeback bid is not in the cards for Manual Arts. Huntington Beach triumphs, 55-48.

Fremont and Manual Arts highs sought their fortunes in the Las Vegas Holiday Prep Basketball Classic. But like many gamblers, they folded when the stakes got high.

Huntington Beach defeated Manual Arts, 55-48, Wednesday night in the third-place championship game, while North Hollywood rallied to beat Fremont, 60-54, in the fifth-place game.

The Toilers trailed by 18 points after Huntington Beach scored the first basket of the second half. Lamar Thompson scored nine points during the next six minutes as Manual Arts tied the score at 38.

Huntington Beach regained the lead by scoring the next six points and held on for the win.

Troy Matthews scored 18 points to lead the Toilers, who dropped to 9-4 overall. Guard David Rickenbacker had 15 points. Both players were named to the all-tournament team.

In the fifth-place game, North Hollywood rallied after losing a 15-point lead in the second half. Junior forward Damon Ollie made four free throws in the final 16 seconds as the Huskies beat the defending tournament champion. The victory was the team’s fourth in five tournament games.

“We’re about 70% to 80% of where I think we can be,” North Hollywood Coach Steve Miller said. “We’ve still got some things to work on to get to the level I’d like, but we’re getting better every game.”

The free throws--four of Ollie’s game-high 18 points--helped hold off Fremont (8-4), which used a barrage of three-point baskets during a 22-4 second-half run.

The lead changed hands four times before senior forward Anson Credille put North Hollywood ahead to stay on a layup with 4:28 remaining.

The Huskies increased their lead to seven points, 56-49, with 2:19 to play before Fremont trimmed the deficit to 56-54 with 39 seconds left on a layup by junior forward Calvin Patterson and a three-point shot by senior guard Demetrius Sanford.

Ollie then hit two free throws with 16 seconds left and provided the final margin with his final two just six seconds later.

Junior guard F.J. Johnson added 15 points for North Hollywood. Patterson paced Fremont with 16 points.

Third-place game

MANUAL ARTS--Mathews 18, Rickenbacker 15, L. Thompson 9, J. Thompson 6, Luckett 0.

HUNTINGTON BEACH--Gonzalez 23, Jones 11, Ambrose 8, Chang 8, Walden 5.

Record: Manual Arts 9-5.

Fifth-place game

NORTH HOLLYWOOD--Ollie 18, Johnson 15, Coleman 10, Lee 7, Credille 5, Sanders 3, Poole 2, Baker 0, Collins 0.

FREMONT--Patterson 16, Davis 14, R. Brown 9, Sanford 7, Drummer 6, Bean 2, Cox 0, Jefferson 0, Radford 0.

Record: Fremont 8-4.