Loara Rips Glenn for 8th in Row

Loara won 20 games last season, the most in school history.

A tough act to follow? Guess again.

After Tuesday’s 77-49 victory over Norwalk John Glenn, the Saxons are already halfway to last season’s total, with 10 victories in 11 games. The only loss was to defending state Division II champion Santa Margarita, and that was nine games ago.

“They are tough, well-coached and very quick,” said Glenn Coach Mike Carrasco, after watching his 1-5 Eagles wilt under the full-court trapping, defensive pressure of Loara, which created 25 turnovers.

“They may not be as big and as strong as last year, but quickness can negate height. They’re also very disciplined. I think they’re better than last year’s team.”

It was hard for Loara not to look good Tuesday. They were facing a depleted opponent--Glenn had lost two starters because of academic ineligibility, and another player was gone on a Christmas vacation--leaving Carrasco with eight players.

But Glenn could have added a couple of locked-out NBA players and still might not have had enough to contend against Loara.

The Saxons quickly ran out to a 23-11 first-quarter lead. The lead would grow to 40-23, and Loara would lead by as many as 32 points (58-26) in the third quarter before Coach Ed Sprange began liberally substituting.

Leading scorer Wes Wardrop (24 points) was content to bomb away from the outside, making nine of 17 shots, including three three-pointers. Johnny Patton worked mainly on the inside, scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

Point guard Herbert Gracia had nine assists while scoring 11 points.

In all, 10 different players scored at least one basket for the Saxons.

Glenn was led by Patrick Arboleda with 14 points, 10 of them coming in the second half when the game had pretty much been decided. Manuel Diaz added 13 points and had a game-high 13 rebounds.

But the Eagles had to work hard just to get the ball over the half-court line. They did manage to beat the trap a few times and get layups, but for the most part, they had to find shots anywhere they could.

Because the game got out of hand so quickly, Prange had to work to find some Loara faults afterwards.

“I still need to see us play hard for 32 minutes,” Prange said. “We are still having some mental lapses, and to compete in [the Empire] League, we have to be intense for 32 minutes.

“But I also think we took a step forward tonight. We shot well around the perimeter, we finished off our fastbreaks. There were several positives.”

In the Las Vegas Holiday Prep tournament:

Mater Dei 74, Killeen (Texas) 63--Mater Dei secured a chance to play for seventh place in the tournament by winning. Mike Bayer came off the bench to score 16 points and six rebounds for Mater Dei (10-2).

Steve Scoggin led the Monarchs with 25 points. Howard Smith was the top scorer for Killeen with 18 points. Mater Dei will face Compton Dominguez in the seventh-place game today at 3:20 p.m.

In the Matador Shootout:

Irvine 66, Pine View (Utah) 44--Irvine (11-2) used a 16-5 third quarter to advance to today’s final in Bullhead City in Arizona. Tip Rapp led the Vaqueros with 12 points. In an earlier quarterfinal game, Irvine defeated Buena (Ariz.), 66-47, as Rapp had 16 points and Matt Roggero had 13 for the Vaqueros (10-2).

In a consolation game:

El Toro 65, Service (Alaska) 53--Chris Parrish had 18 points to lead El Toro. The Chargers will play San Diego Granite Hills in the consolation championship. In an earlier game, El Toro (9-5) defeated Mohave (Ariz.) in a consolation game.

In the Reebok Holiday Classic:

Santa Margarita 83, Santee West Hills 53--A day after losing their first game of the season to No. 2-ranked Capistrano Valley, Santa Margarita came back to take third place in the tournament. Spencer Gloger had five three-pointers and finished with a team-high 32 points. Gloger and Tim Rahall (16 points) were named to the all-tournament team.

Laguna Hills 74, Canyon Springs 53--Laguna Hills staked out a 13-point lead in the first quarter and never looked back to secure fifth place. In nonleague boys’ games:

La Quinta 89, La Mirada 52--Chris Smith scored 31 points and Ben Fredrickson added 15 as La Quinta used a 31-6 second quarter to win.

Newport Harbor 74, Huntington Beach 45--Matt Jameson had nine assists and Dustin Illingworth had 25 points and eight rebounds to help Newport Harbor. The Sailors (9-1) had an 11-point lead in the first quarter.