San Fernando Wins, but Feels Pain

The San Fernando High boys’ basketball team, top-seeded in the City Section 3-A Division, won its playoff opener Friday night, but may have lost much more.

Center Tyrone Purnell and guard Devin Montgomery went down with injuries in the Tigers’ 79-55 rout of Venice at San Fernando.

Purnell twisted his left ankle in the first quarter and left with one point.

Montgomery, the Tigers’ leading scorer, scored 15 points before leaving in the second quarter with a strained back muscle.

Both players’ availability for Wednesday’s quarterfinal game against San Pedro is uncertain, Coach Mick Cady said.

Forward Luis DeLaRosa filled the offensive void, scoring 24 points.

Bryson Atkins added 11 points for San Fernando (24-2), which won its 11th consecutive game.

In other 3-A games:

Poly 84, Narbonne 75--Senior guard John Gillard made eight three-point baskets en route to a career-high 26 points and the 15th-seeded Parrots upset second-seeded Narbonne at Narbonne.

Ellis Richardson scored 22 points and Andres De La Hoya had 10 points and 11 assists for Poly (11-14).

Donovan Rousell had 20 points for Narbonne.

Birmingham 52, L.A. Jordan 47--Stanley Fletcher had 21 points and nine rebounds to help the Braves win at Birmingham.

Emmanuel Evans contributed 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Braves (16-9).

Fahim Hassankhail scored four of his seven points on free throws in the final 1:30, and had nine assists for Birmingham.

Sylmar 75, Franklin 59--George Wrighster had 26 points and 12 rebounds to help the Spartans win at Sylmar.

T.K. Reed added 15 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, and Dallas Townsend had 14 points and 18 rebounds for Sylmar (16-9).

Hamilton 82, Reseda 62--Michael Brignac scored 23 points and Robert Arceneaux added 16 points but the Regents fell at Hamilton (14-10).

Reseda (9-16) was outscored, 27-11, in the second quarter and trailed, 41-26, at halftime.

4-A

Manual Arts 70, Cleveland 56--Kent Dennis scored 10 of his 19 points in the first quarter to help the Cavaliers to an early lead but they could not sustain the effort at Manual Arts.

The sixth-seeded Toilers outscored Cleveland, 42-17, over the next two quarters.

Brian Smith scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for 11th-seeded Cleveland (16-10).

Crenshaw 112, Grant 73--Gilbert Arenas scored 41 of his 42 points in the first three quarters but they weren’t nearly enough for the Lancers (17-9) at Crenshaw.

Anthony Garrison scored 21 points for fourth-seeded Crenshaw, which has won five consecutive 4-A titles.

Washington 64, Chatsworth 54--Montae McFarland and Mark Cannon each scored 15 points for the Chancellors in a defeat at Washington.

Richard Harrison had 10 rebounds for the Chancellors (15-10). McFarland had six assists.