Chaminade Wins With Hit and Run

Pound the ball inside.

Pound the ball inside.

Pound the ball inside.

That’s what Chaminade High did for the first three quarters of its quarterfinal game against Santa Paula in the Simi Valley boys’ basketball tournament at Camarillo High on Wednesday night.

But it wasn’t until the Eagles got several fast-break baskets in the fourth quarter that they put away the undersized Cardinals in a 76-62 victory.

Chaminade (2-0) will play Camarillo in the semifinals at Simi Valley High on Friday at 6:30 p.m.

“To an extent, we wanted to post them up,” said 6-foot-5 forward Scott Long, who had 29 points and 16 rebounds. “But we also wanted to work on moving the ball around and going outside as well as inside.”

With four starters from a team that was 20-8 last season, Chaminade is regarded as one of the top teams in the region. But the addition of 6-7 freshman Scott Borchart has the Eagles looking better than anticipated.

Borchart had 15 points and five rebounds against Santa Paula after a 21-point, 17-rebound debut against Santa Barbara on Tuesday.

“To have a freshman come into this program and contribute on the varsity level says a lot,” Chaminade Coach Jeff Young said. “But to have him come in and start shows you’re talking about a very special player.”

Leading, 51-44, after three quarters, Chaminade took a 60-49 lead with 3:47 left in the game on two free throws by Long.

Santa Paula (1-1) closed to within 64-57 with 2:35 left. Joey Riccio, who had 30 points, scored all eight of the Cardinals’ points during the run on two free throws and two three-pointers.

Santa Paula drew no closer, as Chaminade sank 10 of 11 free throws down the stretch, including six by guard Cayce Cook, who had nine points and seven assists.

Moses Gasio, Willie Zavala and David Herrera each scored 10 points for Santa Paula.

Camarillo 58, Chatsworth 56--Mike Pallotto made three of four free throws in the final 39 seconds at Camarillo to push the Scorpions (2-0) into the semifinals.

The Scorpions trailed, 56-55, after Chatsworth’s Richard Harrison converted a three-point play with 55 seconds left. Pallotto hit two free throws with 39 seconds remaining to give Camarillo a 57-56 advantage and he made one of two with 26 seconds left.

Chatsworth (3-1) failed to score in two ensuing possessions.

Montae McFarland, who scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half for the Chancellors, had the ball knocked away from behind on the first one and Jeff Stuteville of Camarillo intercepted a length of the court pass intended for McFarland with one second left.

Stuteville and Kyle Lassiter each scored 14 points for Camarillo and D.J. Nakaba had 11.

Simi Valley 78, Hart 37--Rafael Berumen scored 20 points and Brett Michel added 17 points for the Pioneers, who opened the first and second quarters with 13-0 runs in the quarterfinal game at Simi Valley High.

Simi Valley (2-0) plays Newbury Park in a semifinal game at 8 p.m. Friday at Simi Valley.

Jeff Whitmore had 19 points for Hart (1-1).

Newbury Park 67, South Gate 46--Luther Staine scored 17 points and Daniel Bobik added 13 for the Panthers (2-0) in a quarterfinal game.

Palmdale 93, Granada Hills 87--Kerry Yates of Palmdale scored four of his 44 points in overtime in a consolation game.

Yates equaled a school record for points in a game which stood for 28 years.

Granada Hills scored the first three points in the overtime, but Palmdale outscored the Highlanders, 13-4, the rest of the way.

Notre Dame 60, Monroe 54--Joe Donnelly scored 20 points for the Knights, who raced to a 17-4 lead in the first quarter and held on in a consolation game at Camarillo.

Damien Ritter of Monroe, who scored 16 points, hit three-point shots on three consecutive Monroe possessions to cut a 52-40 deficit to 54-49 with 2:07 left in the game, but Notre Dame (1-1) scored six of the next eight points to take a 60-51 lead with 19 seconds remaining.

Tyrone Cook had 12 points for Monroe, eight in the first quarter when the Vikings made one of their first 11 shots before hitting their last three.

Santa Barbara 80, Canoga Park 72--The Dons made three of four three-point shots while outscoring the Hunters, 16-6, in overtime of a consolation game at Camarillo.

Johnny Ortiz, who scored 17 points, hit a three-point shot with 3:38 left in overtime to give Santa Barbara (1-1) a 67-64 lead. Bryce Maloney and Tyler Burke followed with three-pointers to give the Dons a 75-68 lead with 1:29 left.

Charles Harper had 17 points, 15 rebounds and five blocked shots for the Hunters (0-3).

North Hollywood 73, El Camino Real 56--Dejon Lee had 18 points and Keron Wilkerson added 17 for the Huskies (1-3) in a consolation game.