Long Beach Poly Wins 15th Title

Leland Matthews, a senior forward, scored a game-high 21 points to lead Long Beach Poly to a 63-53 victory over Fontana A.B. Miller in the Southern Section Division I-AA final Saturday night at the Pond of Anaheim.

The title was the first for top-seeded Poly (27-4) since 1994 and its 15th in school history.

The Jackrabbits, who never trailed, took control of the game by outscoring the Rebels 22-13 in the third quarter. Senior guard IsamuNichols scored 16 points for Poly.

Senior forward Travis Reed, who announced Friday that he’ll sign with UCLA in April, led A.B. Miller with 20 points.

Santa Ana Mater Dei 88, Etiwanda 70--Kevin Augustine scored 32 points, including 18-of-18 from the free throw line, to lead the Monarchs (30-2) to their sixth consecutive Division I-A title.

Corey Landrum led Etiwanda (24-6) with 17 points.

Irvine Woodbridge 56, Villa Park 50--Woodbridge (27-3) used a 15-2 run to start the third quarter, erasing a five-point halftime deficit, and went on to win its first Southern Section Division II-AA title since 1988.

Chris Burgess led the Warriors with 17 points.

Eric Chenowith of Villa Park (24-5) led all scorers with 23 and also had a game-high 16 rebounds.

It was the second time Woodbridge defeated Villa Park this season. The teams played in a holiday tournament in January.

Cathedral City 84, Hemet West Valley 69--Junior guard Caleb Gervin scored a game-high 32 points and had nine rebounds to lead Cathedral City (22-6) to its first title in the Southern Section Division III-AA final.

Rasheed Fudge, another junior guard, added 26 points for the Lions, who outscored West Valley, 51-38, in the second half.

Marcial Nevarez scored 23 points for top-seeded West Valley (26-4).

Pacific Hills 67, Pilgrim 53--Pacific Hills (22-8) outscored Pilgrim (17-7) by 14 points in the fourth quarter to win its second Southern Section Division V-A title in a row and fourth in the past five years.

Junior forward Conrad Adamczak led Pacific Hills with 21 points. Senior forward Devlin Glymph had 19 points and nine rebounds.

Pilgrim senior forward Jeret Black led all scorers with 25 points.

CITY SECTION

Bell 60, Franklin 57--Kesh Desargent’s three-point shot with seven seconds remaining fell off the rim, preserving the Division 3-A title for Bell (26-5) at Cal State Los Angeles.

Franklin (20-8) led, 30-26, at halftime but struggled in the second half with Bell’s man-to-man defense.

Senior forward Javier Rodriguez hit all five of his three-pointers and finished with 23 points for the Eagles. Sam Espinoza scored 18 points.

Desargent, a senior forward, led all scorers with 25 points.