Tustin Defense Mann-Handles Prep Standout

Santa Ana Valley point guard Olujimi Mann never got into the flow. And, except for a few brief moments, his second-ranked team never got into the game against third-ranked Tustin--losing 64-52 Friday night before a full house at Santa Ana Valley.

Mann, in foul trouble much of the way, had trouble with Tustin’s trapping defense and scored just six points on three of seven shooting.

“I waited too long to take my shots,” he said. “I tried to get the other players into the game. It’s cool to be a team player, but sometimes you have to take over a game. I didn’t shoot enough.”

Tustin point guard Doug Gottlieb didn’t shoot much either, but he maximized his shots--scoring 15 points on five of eight shooting--and he got his teammates involved with 10 assists.

“I passed up a lot of shots early because I wanted to get everybody going and run the offense,” he said. “I didn’t care how many points I scored.”

Tustin center David Lalazarian took advantage of Gottlieb’s unselfishness to score 24 points, many off nifty Gottlieb passes. He also grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked four shots.

“David didn’t have a good first game,” Gottlieb said. “We wanted to get him the ball early to get his confidence up. He was a man tonight.”

Santa Ana Valley (1-1) fell behind, 15-7, in the first quarter, but tied it at 29 by halftime behind the three-point shooting of Michael Riggins (16 points). But Tustin scored 11 of the first 13 points of the third quarter and was never threatened after that.

Ike Harmon, Valley’s other big threat, scored 12 points but had a tough time staying with Lalazarian inside. Harmon had only six rebounds.

Still, Gottlieb said shutting down Mann was the key.

“Luge is the best player I’ve seen--a 6-5 point guard,” Gottlieb said. “We centered our defense around stopping him.”