Bakersfield Foothill Beats Artesia, 59-54

Daniel Lee scored six points in the final minute to lead Bakersfield Foothill to a 59-54 victory over second-seeded Lakewood Artesia in a Division II semifinal of the Southern California regional Thursday night at East Bakersfield High.

Lee made two free throws to put Foothill ahead, 55-53, with a minute remaining.

On Artesia’s next possession, Lee stole a pass and drove for a layup that put Foothill ahead by four points with 39 seconds left.

After an exchange of possessions, Artesia’s Ryan Reyes made a free throw to pull the Pioneers to within 57-54.

Artesia’s Andre Hazel missed a three-point shot with nine seconds left. Foothill got the rebound, Lee was fouled, and he made two free throws with five seconds left for the final margin.

Artesia forward Amaury Fernandez was injured early in the first quarter. Artesia forward Jack Martinez did not play.

In other semifinals:

DIVISION II

Compton Dominguez 87, San Diego Serra 58--Junior center Tyson Chandler scored 20 points and had 10 rebounds and two blocks to lead the Dons to victory at Dominguez.

DIVISION III

Bishop Montgomery 56, Compton Centennial 49--Errick Craven had 26 points for Bishop Montgomery (26-5), which scored 14 of its 16 fourth-quarter points from the free-throw line at home.

Ellis Myles scored 30 points for Centennial, which also lost to Bishop Montgomery in the Southern Section final.

Inglewood Morningside 61, Corona del Mar 46--Morningside (23-10) got 21 points from guard Tracy Cathey and 10 points each from Dante Tatum, Dwayne Trotter and Khali Young in the victory at home.

Trotter also had 18 rebounds.

Corona del Mar (23-10) made only 17 of 54 field-goal attempts and only five of 20 in the second half.

Morningside took an 11-2 lead, but Corona del Mar recovered and managed to penetrate several times for easy baskets. Corona del Mar caught the Monarchs, 13-13, at the 6:04 mark of the second quarter, and eventually led 25-20 following a basket by Brooks Morris and a three-pointer by Kevin Hansen.

Morningside Coach Carl Franklin said he was concerned at that point because he thought that the Monarchs had worked hard to get the early lead, only to blow it.

“I thought we had good defensive pressure, but we didn’t capitalize early in the game,” he said. “They are fundamentally sound and we let them get to us.”

Corona del Mar’s 27-23 halftime lead became a 42-32 deficit by the time the third quarter ended.

Morningside took a 33-32 lead on a basket by Tatum, then got another quick jumper following a Sea King turnover by Cathey.

That ignited an 11-0 run for a 44-32 lead following a jumper by Young to start the fourth quarter.

Corona del Mar managed a couple of baskets after that, but the Monarchs stormed back to take a 54-39 lead following a fast-break basket by Young.

“I thought we had good defensive pressure in the second half.” Franklin said.

Hansen led Corona del Mar with 14 points and eight rebounds. Judd Hietbrink had 10 and six rebounds. But Hansen, who faced constant pressure from Morningside’s rotating press, made only four of 17 shots from the field.

As active as the Morningside press was, Corona del Mar found opportunities to get its shots off, particularly from long-range. That was most evident in the first half.

Corona del Mar Coach Paul Orris was at a lose to prevent his team from tiring under the press. Every time it seemed like the Sea Kings were going to get something going, one of two players couldn’t connect on their passes.

And Morningside worked the ball into the post area with more frequency.

“I thought our defense gave up in the second half,” Orris said.