GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Kennedy’s Pappas Keys 88-58 Victory

Emotion and hot shooting kept upset-minded Garden Grove close to seventh-ranked Kennedy for a half. But Kennedy’s size and depth simply wore down host Garden Grove in the third quarter and turned a possible upset into an 88-58 rout Friday night.

Kennedy senior guard Paul Pappas (29 points, six three-pointers) and senior forward Jeff Cummins (20 points, 14 rebounds) keyed an 18-2 run that sparked the runaway and turned an eight-point, halftime lead into a 56-32 margin. Pappas had two threes in the spurt and Cummins had four points and controlled the inside.

“I made it very clear that we had to pick up Pappas,” Garden Grove Coach Dewey Van Cleave said. “But our guy who was supposed to be out there was sitting in the lane.”

If Pappas had not knocked down four three-pointers in the first half, Kennedy (11-3, 2-0) would have trailed the Argonauts (4-8, 0-2) at halftime.

“Pappas broke it open early,” Kennedy Coach John Mayberry said. “He can hit those three-pointers. He’s going to have one night where he’s going to hit 10 or 12 of those.”

But Pappas got little help in the first half. Garden Grove’s Mike Campuzano (5-10), Cornel Archer (6-0) and Odis Craig (5-11) gave a taller Kennedy front line fits in the first half with their leaping ability. They continually slipped inside or jumped over Cummins (6-4), Pat Kunz (6-6) and Rich Anderson (6-4) for offensive rebounds.

Archer, who finished with five points and 13 rebounds, also swatted a couple of Cummins’ shots.

But Cummins, Kunz and Anderson started using their size in the second half and Pappas and Steve Vetica’s pressure on the perimeter created turnover after turnover.

Mayberry said his team had something to prove.

“People get on the Garden Grove and say ‘It’s no big deal,’ ” Mayberry said. “But we still wanted to show the Garden Grove League that we’re a good team.”

Afterward, Van Cleave said he was a believer.

“They are just so strong physically,” Van Cleave said. “They keep coming at you. I wish I had just one big guy, like Cummins, and we could really compete.”

Unfortunately for Van Cleave, all he had Friday was a group of 6-foot leapers playing on plenty of emotion.

In other league games:

La Quinta 55, Los Amigos 54--Greg Greenfield had 12 points to lead La Quinta (4-7, 2-0) past host Los Amigos (1-10, 0-2). Jeff Martell had 20 points for Los Amigos.

Rancho Alamitos 74, Pacifica 71--David Guzman scored 19 points and Helmut Bustamante added 18 for visiting Rancho Alamitos (6-7, 2-0). Forward Chris Vlasic scored 23 for Pacifica (6-4, 1-1).

Santiago 61, Bolsa Grande 53--Pablo Martinez and Johnny Pelayo each had 16 points to lead Santiago (5-7, 1-1) past host Bolsa Grande (5-6, 0-2). James Britton had 25 points for Bolsa Grande.