CITY 3-A BOYS : Banning Holds Off Monroe

Wilmington Banning High jumped to a 14-0 lead, then held off Sepulveda Monroe for a 59-58 victory Friday in the City 3-A Division championship at the Sports Arena.

Top-seeded Monroe had a chance to win, but junior forward Kenyatta Niles missed a three-point shot with four seconds left.

It was the second City championship for second-seeded Banning, which competed in 4-A last season. The Pilots won a City title 10 years ago.

“We had the opportunities, we had the shots we wanted,” Monroe Coach Paul Graber said. “We just couldn’t get them down. Our free-throw shooting let us down, too.”

The Pilots completed a 17-12 season and Monroe finished 23-4 after going 7-11 last season.

Banning 6-foot-1 junior Jason Pickett scored a game-high 25 points. Niles, a 6-4 forward, had 21 points and 6-1 guard Tweedy Stiner finished with 16.

The difference, according to Monroe players, was Banning’s 6-6 senior center Bryan Hill, who had 14 points and 18 rebounds.

“They were big inside,” Stiner said. “We’ve always had trouble with teams that are big inside.”

Hill struggled to make the Pilots’ B team as a sophomore.

“He was nothing but a big kid that played basketball,” Banning Coach Marc Paez said. “His development mirrors the improvement of the program in general.”

The Vikings came out cold in the first quarter, missing their first 13 shots. The Pilots had a 14-0 lead before Jeff Nadeau scored on a tip-in with 3:21 left.

Stiner took over offensively by scoring 16 of Monroe’s first 23 points. He made two free throws to cut Monroe’s deficit to 34-30 with 5:36 left.

Monroe outscored Crenshaw, 15-6, to begin the fourth quarter and held its largest lead, 52-49, with 3:25 left. But Banning switched to a full-court press and the Vikings began to struggle.

In addition to his last second shot, Niles had two chances to tie the score at 59, but missed free throws.