Montclair Prep Gets It Together

Montclair Prep has been less than impressive this season but a solid performance during the Mounties’ 76-42 victory over Hollywood in the first round of the Valencia tournament Tuesday night at Valencia High should silence critics . . . for now.

The Mounties (5-1) will face City Section power Birmingham at 6 p.m. today in the featured game of the second round.

Though sporting a solid record, Montclair Prep didn’t seem to be living up to the preseason hype that had the team ranked third in The Times’ preseason regional poll. A loss to South Gate, not known as a strong City Section team, fueled the doubts.

After Tuesday’s games, players and coaches felt better about themselves.

“We kind of broke out of a slump tonight,” said Rocky Steryo, who had 34 points and seven assists. “Our heads kind of blew up at the beginning of the season with all the articles about Montclair Prep this and Montclair Prep that. We had a lot of team meetings with coaches yelling at us and we are back down to earth now.”

Steryo, who made 13 of 26 shots, was eight for 20 after three quarters before making five of six in the fourth.

“We have had streaks where we’ve looked great,” Montclair Prep co-Coach Howard Abrams said. “Now we have to work on making those streaks longer.”

Antelope Valley 70, La Salle 64--Josh Speaks had 22 points for the Antelopes (5-2).

The Antelopes trailed, 33-22, with three minutes left in the first half, but went on an 18-4 run to take a 40-37 halftime lead.

Compton Centennial 63, Granada Hills 47--Scott Neumann had 21 points but the Highlanders (2-4) could not overcome four-for-14 shooting in the fourth quarter.

Centennial (4-1) opened the second half with a 17-2 run after a 23-23 halftime tie.

Birmingham 56, Calabasas 51--Stanley Fletcher made a baseline jump shot with 18 seconds to play to seal the victory.

Fahim Hassankhail had 19 points and nine assists for the Braves (5-2). Huton Ghoreishi had 19 points for the Coyotes (2-4).