Burroughs Gets the Best of Douglas and Guards

As good as Ruben Douglas is, he can’t beat a good team by himself, or even with the help of a teammate.

The Burroughs High boys’ basketball team proved that Saturday night with an 86-62 victory over Douglas and Bell-Jeff in a semifinal game of the Bell-Jeff tournament.

Burroughs will play Marshall in the final Monday at 7:30 at Bell-Jeff.

Douglas, who has signed with Arizona, scored 25 points and center Mike West added 25 for Bell-Jeff (6-2) but it wasn’t nearly enough against Burroughs (7-2), which led, 43-35, at halftime.

No other player for Bell-Jeff scored more than four points.

“Our game plan going in was to make [Douglas] earn his points,” Burroughs Coach Art Sullivan said. “We weren’t going to let him get big numbers.”

Kevin Klose led the Indians with 23 points and Jeremy Cartee added 17.

“We are a very balanced team,” Sullivan said. “If you stop one guy, someone will do the job.”

Nine different players scored for the Indians, who were sparked by Preston Tucker, who scored 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter and had 12 rebounds.

After an evenly played first quarter, which ended at 14-14, Burrughs began to dominate inside, outrebounding the Guards, 52-31, and scoring 14 baskets on second-chance opportunities.

“We just outworked them,” Sulivan said. “This is probably the best game we’ve played this season.”

Ronnie Castro scored 15 points for Burroughs.

Marshall 59, Grant 52--Brandon Marshall scored 17 points and Aaron Taylor added 13 for the Eagles (4-4) in a semifinal.

Mike Yildez kept the Lancers (6-3) close with 17 points. Yildez was four of five on three-point attempts.

Krishna Evans added 14 for Grant. Gilbert Arenas, the Lancers’ leading scorer, was held to nine points.

Marshall broke out to an early lead and led by 11 points at halftime.

Brian Holyfield scored 11 points and had three three-pointers for Marshall.

North Hollywood 64, Culver City 55--Keron Wilkerson scored 12 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Huskies (4-4) in a consolation game.

Edward Baisden added 10 points for North Hollywood, which outscored Culver City, 28-14, in the fourth quarter.

The game was tied with six minutes remaining.

Kyle Shumway scored 24 points and had 10 rebounds for the Centaurs (5-5).

Wilkerson made 18 of 22 free throws.

Sylmar 52, Eagle Rock 40--Geroge Wrightster scored 21 points and T.K. Reed added 10 for the Spartans (3-3) in a consolation game.