Dominguez Wins Battle and the War

All hail Dominguez, dominator of the war on the floor.

The Dons (6-0) overcame a one-point halftime deficit Friday night to defeat Simi Valley, 60-47, in the War on the Floor tournament final at Canoga Park High.

Dominguez trailed, 20-19, at the intermission, but outscored the Pioneers, 41-27, to pull away in the second half.

The Dons had their first shot of the game blocked and missed their next five en route to a 7-0 deficit five minutes and 30 seconds into the game. However, Dominguez responded with a 13-2 run to take a 13-9 lead with 10 minutes to play in the first of two 21-minute running halves.

Dominguez increased its lead to 19-14 with 2:50 to play in the first half, but Simi Valley (4-2) answered with a 6-0 run to close the half.

Dominguez scored the first seven points of the second half and did not look back. Walter Small led the Dons, the defending State Division II champions, with 16 points. Keith Kincade had 12 points and Mike Carlso added 11.

For Simi Valley, Rafael Berumen had 19 points and Branduinn Fullove had 16.

Dominguez played the tournament without standout Jason Thomas, who attended a football camp at the University of Michigan.

Simi Valley 57, San Fernando 47--Brett Michel scored 18 points and the Pioneers (4-1) never trailed in a semifinal defeat of the Tigers (4-2).

Michel, who scored 10 points in the first half, hit three three-point shots and sank all three of his free throws. He also grabbed six rebounds.

Berumen scored 17 points and had seven rebounds and Fullove scored 12 points.

Luis De La Rosa scored 14 points for San Fernando, and Devin Montgomery and Bryson Atkins each with 10.

San Fernando trailed, 11-9, 12 minutes into the game, but surrendered an 11-0 run to Simi Valley shortly after and was down, 31-18, at halftime.

San Fernando trailed, 53-45, with a minute to play when Sean Atkins broke in for a lightly contested layup.

However, Atkins traveled and the Pioneers got a basket from Berumen and two free throws by Shaun Michel to pull out of danger.

Brett Michel, Berumen, Fullove and Kurt Mjoen, who had six points, are all returning starters from Simi Valley’s 1997 Marmonte League co-championship team.

The only starter lost to graduation was point guard Ronnie Noel, and Pioneer Coach Dean Bradshaw played Branden Foster and Shaun Michel in that spot against San Fernando.

“[Point guard] is a big hole to fill but we’re a lot deeper than last year,” Bradshaw said. “[Foster and Michel] are young and they’re going to make mistakes.

“As structured as we are, it takes a lot of repetition to get comfortable, but with these guys playing as much as they will this summer it will be great for their development.”

The Pioneers earned the dubious prospect of playing Dominguez, which outscored its first five tournament opponents, 374-211. Nonetheless, Bradshaw was happy to have a shot at the Dons.

“You hear talk that they’ll be the top-ranked team in the country at the start of the season and you love to play that kind of competition in the summertime,” Bradshaw said. “We’re trying to play the toughest competition around. We know we’ll take some losses but it’s building for the future.”

Compton Dominguez 57, Cleveland 29--The late-arriving Dons (5-0), held up in traffic, looked sluggish and out of sync but led, 32-19, at halftime.

Thursday, Dominguez led Valencia by 50 points at intermission.

“Both teams weren’t near ready to play from what I saw in the game,” Cleveland Coach Andre Chevalier said. “It didn’t help that we warmed up for 20 minutes and then sat around.”

Keith Brooks scored 16 points for Dominguez, 10 of them in the first half. Keith Kincaide had 15 points, all in the first half.

The Dons never trailed, led by four points three minutes into the game and steadily increased their lead.