BOYS’ DIVISION II-AA BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS

In other Division II-AA games:

Compton 62, Canyon 40--The visiting Comanches could not handle the speed and aggressive man-to-man Compton defense and lost to the top-seeded team in the division.

The co-champions of the Moore League (with Long Beach Poly) never trailed, and take a 24-5 record into Tuesday’s quarterfinal against Whittier California. Canyon’s season ends at 19-9.

“I’d say we did OK,” Compton Coach Rod Palmer said. “We didn’t run as well as I’d hoped, but overall we played well against a good team.”

Canyon Coach Rob Alexander had no complaints about the loss.

“Their speed defeated us,” Alexander said. “But I was proud that we hung in there for three quarters. We battled them. The final score was not indicative of the game.”

Palmer had preached to Compton that Canyon was not a team to be taken lightly despite the Comanches’ third-place finish in the Century League.

“I knew they could shoot well from the outside and they have nice size,” Palmer said. “I didn’t think they would be as quick as us, but they do have players--especially Drew Gaulden--who can get up and down the floor.”

What Alexander did not know was if the Comanches could contain Compton senior point guard Deandre Moore, who is headed to Vanderbilt.

“I thought with our size we could negate some things,” Alexander said. “But not their quickness at the point.”

Instead the Comanches discovered Compton’s team speed began with Moore, who fired enough shots to keep the Comanches’ 1-2-2 zone off 6-9 center David Hamilton (game-high 22 points and six rebounds) and also kept the rest of the Compton offense flowing.

Meanwhile, Canyon struggled for clear looks at the basket and didn’t make many. The Comanches shot 35% for the game (17 of 49) and made only three of 17 from three-point range.

Ali Goodman led Canyon with 12 points. Gaulden had nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds.