Victory Comes in Threes for Villa Park

Nima Taleb, a 6-foot senior guard, made seven three-point baskets and finished with 26 points to help Villa Park, ranked No. 14 in the Southland by The Times, defeat No. 7 Lake Forest El Toro, 70-63, in a championship semifinal game of the Anaheim boys’ basketball district tournament Friday night at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Villa Park (7-0) made just one field goal in the first 7 1/2 minutes but then converted 11 three-pointers. El Toro (8-1) trailed, 63-48, with just over four minutes remaining, then went on an 11-0 run to close the score to 63-59 with 1:27 to play.

Villa Park made seven of eight free throws in the final 41 seconds to seal the victory.

Darryl Best and Kelvin Kim each scored 15 points for El Toro.

Villa Park will face Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley, a 64-48 winner over Orange Lutheran in the other semifinal game, for the tournament title at 8 tonight.

Keith Wilkinson, a 6-8 senior guard, scored 31 points on 13-of-17 shooting from the field to lead the Cougars (9-0).

-- Eric Sondheimer

*

James Keefe had 22 points, 17 rebounds and four blocked shots and Santa Margarita, ranked No. 10 in the Southland by The Times, defeated Redondo, 46-35, in a championship semifinal game of the Irvine tournament.

Keefe scored 11 points in the third quarter, and the Eagles (8-1) outscored Redondo, 18-12, to take a 40-26 advantage. Shane Morgan had 13 points and eight rebounds for Redondo (5-2), ranked No. 23 by The Times.

Santa Margarita will face San Diego Francis Parker, a 78-58 winner over Poway in the other semifinal, in the tournament championship game at 7 tonight at Concordia University.

Dan Arritt

*

Girls’ Basketball

Senior Brandi Jones-Fitzgerald, who suffered a back injury last week in Moreno Valley Canyon Springs’ 63-30 victory over Torrance Bishop Montgomery, should return to the lineup when the fifth-ranked Cougars participate in the Nike Tournament of Champions in Arizona beginning Monday, Coach Gail Hale said.

The fifth-place game of the Brea Olinda tournament was ended with five minutes remaining as Jones-Fitzgerald, a 5-foot-11 guard-forward, was taken to the hospital. Doctors discovered a previously unnoticed spinal condition during an examination, Hale said.

Another top player, Jennifer Risper, a 5-9 senior guard coming off a knee injury, is hopeful of being cleared by doctors in time for the Arizona tournament.

*

In the Nike Tournament of Champions, Moreno Valley Canyon Springs, ranked No. 12 by The Times, will play its first-round game against Forestville (Md.) Bishop McNamara, annually one of the top teams in the country and ranked as high as No. 4 by USA Today.

In the 16-team Gray division bracket with Canyon Springs are No. 3 Lynwood, No. 8 Ventura, No. 24 Fullerton Rosary, No. 25 Marlborough and Sylmar.

The premier White division features four more of the Southland’s top teams, including top-ranked Long Beach Poly, which plays Littleton (Colo.) ThunderRidge, the No. 5-ranked team in the country according to Student Sports magazine.

*

Alhambra Keppel, going for its second major tournament championship in a row, is one of six teams ranked among The Times’ top 25 vying for the title in the Artesia Christmas Classic.

Games in the 32-team tournament began Friday and continue through Wednesday.

Keppel, ranked 10th, is joined by No. 5 Santa Ana Mater Dei, No. 15 Pasadena Muir, No. 16 Long Beach Wilson, No. 17 La Puente Bishop Amat, No. 21 Torrance Bishop Montgomery, as well as previously ranked Valencia.

Martin Henderson

*

Honors

Erin Wilson, a three-year member of the girls’ volleyball team at Fullerton Rosary, and Abraham Alvarez, a cross-country runner at Chula Vista Bonita Vista, have been selected fall recipients of the CIF Spirit of Sport Award.

The award recognizes student-athletes who have demonstrated the principles of the state’s Pursuing Victory With Honor program, are active in school and community service and have leadership qualities.