Quartz Hill Comes On Strong and Ties for Lead

Sahael Almuallem’s knee was killing him.

His Quartz Hill High teammates had no excuse--they were just playing poorly.

But Almuallem and the Rebels, staggering and stumbling defending champions in the first half, rebounded in the second half to defeat Littlerock, 59-50, in a Golden League boys’ basketball game Friday night at Quartz Hill.

The Rebels, lackluster for the first 16 minutes, outscored Littlerock in the second half, 39-27, and pulled into a tie with the Lobos for first place.

With four games left, the league championship is up for grabs.

“If we lost tonight, they pretty much had the Golden League title,” said Coach Bernard Nichter of Quartz Hill.

“We had to beat them. We had to protect our own floor.”

All week long, guard Anthony Johnson of Quartz Hill kept telling his friends the same thing: Come out and see the championship game.

He and backcourt mate Kevin Johnson played like champions right after halftime, penetrating Littlerock’s match-up zone and dishing off to 6-foot-9 Jared Corpening or 6-8 Almuallem for easy baskets.

Corpening did not start for Quartz Hill (15-6, 5-1 in league play) because he was disruptive at practice on Thursday, but he finished with 11 points.

Almuallem scored 12 points, all in the second half, and was part of a game-turning series of events that occurred with 6:48 left to play and Quartz Hill ahead, 44-39.

Almuallem took a pass down low and scored on a dunk. He was fouled on the play and he missed the free throw but more important, Frank Robinson of Littlerock fouled out.

Robinson picked up his fourth foul, then was called for a technical--his fifth and final foul--for pushing Corpening after the play.

Grant Drake made both free throws on the technical foul to give Quartz Hill a 48-39 lead. Game over, much to the relief of Almuallem.

“I didn’t want to face the weekend after losing,” said Almuallem, who said he hurt his knee when he was tripped by center Brandon White of Littlerock. “I didn’t want to have to face coach on Monday.”

Littlerock defeated Quartz Hill, 67-64, earlier this month, with Gene Myvett scoring 31 points.

Myvett scored 29 on this time but received little help from his teammates. Brandon White scored 10, but no other player had more than four points for Littlerock.

“Frustration,” Myvett said. “That’s the word. We’ve just got to win four straight and hope for them to lose one.”

Littlerock, ranked No. 5 in the region by The Times, had been living on the edge. The Lobos (16-6, 5-1) needed a three-pointer at the buzzer to defeat Palmdale last week,

This week, they learned a tough lesson.

“You can go 5-0 in the first half [of league play], but the only thing we clinched then is that we could go 5-5,” said Coach Ben Dale.

Quartz Hill and Littlerock each have to play pesky Lancaster, which could easily prevent the teams from tying for the league championship.

“This race is by no means over,” Nichter said.

Anthony Johnson finished with eight points and Kevin Johnson had nine assists for Quartz Hill.