Boys’ basketball: Open Division madness in first round
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The opening round of the 16-team Open Division tournament turned out as good as advertised.
No. 1-seeded Santa Ana Mater Dei (28-0) needed overtime to hold off No. 16 Cantwell-Sacred Heart, 66-59. Stanley Johnson and Isaiah Juarez each had 17 points and M.J. Cage 15. Mater Dei will play at Mayfair, which defeated Chaminade, 72-64. Dillon Reise scored 22 points and Kendall Small 19.
Loyola (25-2) opened a 23-point lead in the second half, then held off St. John Bosco, 70-67. Thomas Welsh made two free throws with 8.2 seconds left. He finished with 20 points, 20 rebounds and five blocks.
“It’s a big boys tournament,” St. John Bosco Coach Derrick Taylor said. “This isn’t for the weak of heart.”
St. John Bosco (17-10) unleashed a full-court press against a team that still hasn’t adjusted to the loss of point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright.
Tyler Dorsey, who finished with 26 points, connected on consecutive three-pointers, pulling the Braves to within, 68-67, with 12 seconds left.
Key to the victory was Loyola’s steady, overall team contributions. Khalil Bedart-Ghani had 12 points, including a pair of dunks that energized Loyola’s vocal home crowd. Max Hazzard had 18 points. And Thomas Lapham made four three-pointers.
“We’re still getting used to not having Parker,” Bedart-Ghani said of the Cubs’ many turnovers in the fourth quarter. “I knew I had to pick it up.”
Loyola will play on the road against Redondo on Friday. Redondo defeated Compton, 65-56, with Leland Green scoring 21 points. Isaiah Bailey had 26 points for Compton.
In the biggest upset of the night, No. 10 Riverside North defeated Chatsworth Sierra Canyon, 65-56. Deshon Taylor scored 25 points and made 14 of 14 free throws.
Etiwanda defeated Cathedral, 55-45, with Jordan McLaughlin scoring 17 points.
Corona Centennial defeated Gardena Serra, 81-71. Sedrick Barefield scored 28 points. Chino Hills defeated Bishop Montgomery, 69-58, with LiAngelo Bell scoring 21 points.
The quarterfinal matchups: Mater Dei at Mayfair; Corona Centennial at North; Loyola at Redondo; Chino Hills at Etiwanda.
eric.sondheimer@latimes.com
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