Basketball Roundup: Barons thrive in own tourney

Fountain Valley High’s opening performance Monday at its own Hoop Challenge girls’ basketball tournament was a balancing act, and the end result produced a 73-43 victory over visiting El Toro.

Sophomore post Mikaila Pacis finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and two steals, junior guards Michelle Wu and Ari Jacobsen each had 12 points and two steals, senior guard Amy Yoshinaga eight points and three steals, junior guard Ashley Masuda eight points, three assists and two steals, senior post Emily Krause seven points and five rebounds, and freshman guard Andie Kristinant was three of five from three-point range and scored nine points.

“We put in a complete team effort tonight on offense and defense,” Fountain Valley Coach Cory Clarke said. “We had balance offensively, scoring inside by attacking the basket and opening up the three-point line for good open shots.

“Our defense was tough and relentless forcing several turnovers leading us to transition baskets. We just need to find confidence from this and continue to get better.”

The Barons won their second tourney game Tuesday and in the process upped their overall record to 4-3 by defeating Los Angeles Eagle Rock, 61-40. Krause contributed 17 points, eight rebounds and two steals, Yoshinaga had 12 points and three steals, Pacis 10 points and eight rebounds, Wu and Jacobsen both had eight points and two steals, and Masuda scored two points and had seven assists.

“We jumped out to a good lead in the first half controlling the pace of the game and applying good pressure defense creating easy baskets,” Clarke said. “In the second half, we struggled to find ways to score and had way too many mental errors.”

Fountain Valley plays its next tourney game at 7:30 p.m. Friday against La Jolla Country Day.

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•Also at the Hoop Challenge Monday, Huntington Beach opened play with a 78-40 romp past Kennedy. Senior guard Paola Roa poured in 30 points and added four assists to lead the way for the Oilers. Freshman forward Frankie Wade-Sanchez and junior center Morgan Potter scored 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The tournament continues Thursday and Friday and concludes Saturday.

Huntington played a home nonleague game Tuesday against Anaheim Canyon, and whipped the Comanches, 70-45. Roa scored 26 points, and senior guard Stephanie Louie, sophomore guard Sammy Gray, and freshman forward Kaylyn Nakaji each scored nine points.

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•Ocean View started play Monday at its own Hawk Holiday Classic, and the host Seahawks got 20 points from sophomore forward Treasure Robinson and 10 from sophomore forward Madisyn Newberry, and overwhelmed Oxford Academy, 68-9.

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•Marina reached the championship game of the Downey Tournament Saturday and took second place after dropping the finale to North Torrance, 60-51. Senior forward Natasha Mangham scored 14 points and hauled in 19 rebounds, senior guard Danielle Kennedy scored 13 points, senior guard Madison Yutkins had eight points and six rebounds, and senior guard Melissa Lindquist scored eight points with five assists.

Kennedy and Lindquist were selected to the all-tournament team.

“North Torrance is a very quick, physical, and disciplined team,” Marina Coach Carol Osbrink said. “We lost because we didn’t take care of the ball but I was proud of the girls for playing tough right to the end, never giving up.”

Marina played its initial game Tuesday at the Hawk Holiday Classic at Ocean View, and dropped a 69-57 game to Lakewood. Kennedy powered the Vikings (4-2) with 26 points and nine rebounds. Mangham scored nine points and had 17 rebounds, Lindquist had seven points and six assists, and junior forward Kydell Pearson scored eight points.

“The team played hard until the end, but we have to play better defense and stop the drive if we expect to win consistently,” Osbrink said.

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•Edison contended for the Century Tournament title Saturday and finished runner-up to El Dorado following a 69-29 loss to the Golden Hawks. Senior guard Loli Gomez topped the Chargers (3-1) with 10 points.

Edison previously won its first three tournament games over Irvine (55-28), Godinez (46-6), and Century (57-24).

El Dorado (4-0) won its four tournament games by an average of 53 points.

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Boys’ Basketball

•Brethren Christian opened its season Monday at the Cougar Classic at La Verne Calvary Baptist High, and routed Hesperia Christian, 70-27. Senior guard Caleb Keller led four Warriors in double figures with 15 points.

Sophomore forward Cameron Griffin scored 14 points to go with 10 rebounds, senior guard Patrick Poss had 12 points, and junior guard Brandon Bryson scored 10 points and led BC in assists (six) and steals (seven).

“We had a very good defensive effort to start the season and also shared the ball very well,” said BC Coach Jon Bahnsen, who earned his 300th career victory with Monday’s win.

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•Edison improved to 3-0 overall Monday by rolling past Long Beach Wilson, 66-28, in an opening-round game at the Corona del Mar tournament. Junior guard Brae Ivey led all scorers with 19 points and junior guard Jake Haar added 11 points for the Chargers.

In a nonleague game Friday at Edison, the Chargers rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit against West Torrance to topple the Spartans, 59-56. Ivey had 19 points in the win and fellow junior guard Derek Molina scored 17 points.

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•Fountain Valley went to 2-0 Tuesday at the Valley Christian Tournament by defeating Norwalk, 66-63. Senior guard John Volkert hit five three-point shots and scored 15 points, sophomore guard Calvin Le hit four three-pointers for 12 points, senior guard Cory Bitzer had eight points and five assists, and sophomore guard Shea Sueda scored six points with four assists.

Tuesday’s win puts Fountain Valley, which hit 13 three-point shots against Norwalk, six coming in the first quarter, in the tournament semifinals Friday.

In their tournament opener Monday, the Barons sank 20 three-point shots and went on to cruise past Los Angeles New Millennium, 90-36. Volkert hit five three-point shots and finished with 15 points, Le hit four three-pointers and scored 12 points, and senior guard Richard Le also had four three-pointers and scored 14 points. Sophomore forward James Philhower scored 11 points and senior forward Jacob Meyer had nine points and six assists.

The Barons, missing two players due to injury, previously closed out play Saturday at the Godinez Tournament and lost, 81-62, to Yorba Linda. Junior guard Luke Jacobsen scored 11 points in the finale, and Meyer made the all-tournament team.

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•Huntington Beach closed out play Saturday at the El Modena-Canyon Kickoff Classic against Paramount and lost, 62-55, to the Pirates. The Oilers, beset by injuries early in the season, finished 0-4 at the tournament.

“I thought we battled, it’s just hard when you’re not playing at full-strength,” Huntington Coach Fabian Luna said. “We will bet better and hopefully by January, everything will come together.”

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•Marina played its home opener Tuesday and Aliso Niguel used a 16-0 run late in the first half to pull away to a 59-46 nonleague victory. Junior guards Jeff Feit and Greg Fronek, and sophomore guard Ethan Young, each scored nine points for the Vikings (2-4).

Marina took sixth place Saturday at the Cerritos/Gahr Tournament after the Vikings were edged, 47-46, by Warren in the fifth-place game. Senior guard Derek Mallard scored 17 points and Fronek had 11 points.

The Vikings reached the fifth-place game by holding Bell scoreless in the fourth quarter to win going away, 54-24. Fronek led the way with 13 points.

Senior guard Ryan Funai was named to the all-tournament team.

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•Ocean View closed out play at its Jim Harris Memorial Tournament of Champions Saturday and fell, 51-43, to Lynwood. Senior center Khemet Osborne led the Seahawks with 13 points.

The Seahawks (1-4) were coming off a 67-55 tournament win Dec. 5 against Dominguez. Senior forward Tristan Wenschlag scored 19 points, senior guard Evan Bunin 14 points, and senior guard Angel Nieves 12 points.

“The message for us is the same: we need to take advantage of our experiences in December,” Ocean View Coach Tim Walsh said. “There are lots of aspects we improved on in the tourney, but we learned this week that we need to learn how to win. In three of our games in the tourney, we had leads in the fourth quarter, but we only got one win.

“Once again, we need to learn from these experiences in the preseason to help us compete in league play in January.”

Ocean View is idle until it starts play Tuesday at the Loatella Tournament. The Seahawks open at 4:30 p.m. against co-host Katella at Loara High.