Rowland Eliminates Edison With 54-44 Victory

Rowland High players declined Coach Gordon Hamlow’s offer to wear their new Sierra League championship T-shirts to school Friday, opting instead to wear the Raider shirts they had worn all season. The point was to stick with what had worked for a team coming off its first league title in four seasons.

Rowland then followed through on the gesture Friday evening, pulling out a 54-44 victory over Huntington Beach Edison in the first round of the Southern Section Division I-A boys’ basketball playoffs at Rowland Heights.

After Edison erased an 11-point, third-quarter deficit to take a 44-43 lead with about three minutes to play on Jon Nehrig’s 15-foot jumper as the shot clock expired, the Raiders rattled off the final 11 points to secure victory.

“I was especially pleased with the way our kids kept their composure,” said Hamlow, who has built a winner in his first season. “They didn’t get rattled.”

Rowland (20-7) will play third-seeded Thousand Oaks (24-3), a 64-48 winner over Santa Ana Century, in the second round Tuesday at a site to be determined by a coin flip.

Senior guard Vashon Pruitt had 19 points and Marques Smith added 13 for the Raiders, who pulled away as three Edison starters fouled out in the final minutes.

Pruitt tied the game at 44 on a free throw with 2:42 to go, then gave Rowland the lead for good on a putback of his own miss. Edison’s Eric Prendergast could have pulled the Chargers (17-11) back to within a point with about a minute to go, but his three-pointer rattled out of the rim and the Raiders went on to secure the victory by making six of 10 free throws.

Billy Braun, who led Edison with 12 points, and Nehrig, who added 11, both fouled out. The Chargers also played without 6-foot-6 center Tommy Grady, , who was nursing an ankle injury.

Rowland has not advanced to the second round since the 1996-97 season. “We’re going to take this thing as far as we can,” Pruitt said.

Ben Bolch

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San Gorgonio 66, Corona Santiago 63--Khorry Lewis hit a three-pointer to give San Gorgonio (20-7) a one-point lead with a minute to play and Kevin Houston made two free throws with four seconds left in the Division I-A first-round game. Lewis, Houston and Daryl Leach had 18 points each.

Capistrano Valley 76, Ontario 53--Matt Sweany led all scorers with 21 points for Capistrano Valley (22-6) in a Division I-AA first-round game. Pete Decasas scored 17 points and Jake Franzen had 15 points for the Cougars. Ontario (15-10) got a 20-point performance from Marcel Mack.

Woodbridge 49, La Palma Kennedy 48--Patrick Haddan scored 11 of his team-high 18 points in the first quarter and made a crucial steal with 12 seconds to play that helped host Woodbridge defeat La Palma Kennedy in a Division II-AA first-round game.

Sophomore center David Burgess added 15 points, and scored Woodbridge’s only two baskets during a 17-4 Kennedy run that brought the Fighting Irish back from a 14-point fourth quarter deficit. Kennedy (16-11), had a chance to win the game, but Rhema McKnight’s 22-footer at the buzzer bounded off the front of the rim.

Tim Dermody

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Santa Ana Mater Dei 80, Hemet 56--Harrison Scahen had 19 points and 11 rebounds for top-seeded Mater Dei (23-4), which outscored Hemet in the second and third quarters, 45-19, in the Division II-AA first-round game.

St. John Bosco 86, West Valley 62--Senior guard Giovanni St. Amant tossed in 40 points and contributed 15 rebounds, five assists and five steals for visiting St. John Bosco (22-6) in the Division II-AA first-round game.

Ridgecrest Burroughs 64, La Canada 61--Gavin MacGregor had 22 points and 17 rebounds and Karl Williams had 14 second-half points and seven assists to help visiting Burroughs (14-9) upset third-seeded La Canada (22-5) in a Division III-A first-round game.