Lalazarian Leads Tustin to Victory Over Santa Ana
Tustin continued its roll through the Golden West League Wednesday night, although it took nearly two quarters before the Tillers really ran away from pesky Santa Ana.
Second-ranked Tustin got 27 points and 15 rebounds from David Lalazarian and 20 points, including two key three-point shots, from Robert Griffin, in its 80-60 victory at Tustin.
The victory put Tustin (17-3, 4-0) a leg up on Santa Ana (11-7, 3-1) in the league race.
Raul Martinez scored 21 points and had eight rebounds and Danny Rivero had 18 points for Santa Ana.
The Tillers might not have played as well as they liked defensively in the first two quarters, but once they had the ball in their hands, Santa Ana was overmatched. Tustin blistered the nets, hitting 15 of 22 field-goal attempts in the first half. Santa Ana responded with a 12-for-24 performance, not bad on any other night.
“We didn’t come out as we should have in the first half,” Lalazarian said. “They gave us trouble. But in the second half we blew it open by stepping up our defense.”
Griffin’s three-point basket just before the first quarter ended staked Tustin to the lead it never gave up, although Santa Ana battled to keep the game respectable as long as it could. Griffin’s eight-foot bank shot with 5:20 left in the second quarter made the score 27-17 and Tustin took that margin into the locker room at halftime.
When the Tillers returned, they opened with a 16-4 flurry for a 51-33 advantage and stretched their lead to as many as 28 points before both coaches cleared their benches early in the fourth quarter.
“They played us real tough and took it to us early,” Tustin Coach Andy Ground said. “They shoot the ball real well and their quickness gave us problems in the first half.”
But a superior height advantage paid off for the Tillers in the second half.
“I think we wore them down. We have more depth and we got out there and defended the passing lanes well in the second half,” Ground said.
Tustin outrebounded Santa Ana, 35-16.