Grant Only Delays the Inevitable

Playing on the road without its top two point guards against the fourth-seeded team in the City Section 4-A Division boys’ basketball playoffs, Grant High resorted to keep-away Wednesday.

The stalling tactic slowed South Gate in the first half.

The Rams, however, changed their defensive strategy and turned a four-point halftime lead into a 60-34 rout. They will play Washington on Friday.

“You don’t rattle a veteran team like South Gate,” Grant Coach Howard Levine said. “We kept the game close, but we made some big-time turnovers to start the second half. We also suffered a couple of defensive lapses that really hurt us.”

Miguel Villegas, a 6-foot-3 guard, led South Gate with 21 points, and 6-3 forward Eric Wright and 6-6 forward Sai Tuialii added 11 and 10.

South Gate (23-3) boasts three returning All-City players from a team that reached the 3-A final last season.

The Rams admittedly were overconfident in the first half after having beaten Grant, 57-31, in a nonleague game a week ago. South Gate Coach Tak Aoki gave his team something to fear.

“They thought Grant would be petrified and lay down and die,” Aoki said. “I told them if they did not concentrate, they would get upset.”

Grant (9-14) played without Shawn Hackett, who had flu, and Darwin Alfelor, who was benched for disciplinary reasons. Sophomore Ron Patterson, called up from the junior varsity, started at point guard and led the Lancers with seven points.

Leading, 23-19, at halftime, the Rams switched to a one-three-one zone defense to put more pressure on Grant’s young point guard.

South Gate forced four turnovers and extended its lead to 11 points with four minutes to play in the period.

Raul Quintero came off the bench and scored six points during the 11-4 spurt. That lead grew to 17 at the end of the third quarter and to 27 with three minutes to play.