Ninth-ranked Foothillers have sights set on Falcons

By ECS Staff
Updated: December 22, 2015

Tommy Rutherford scores two of his season-high 35 points against Hilltop on Monday at the Grossmont Winter Classic at Grossmont High School.

2015-16 EAST COUNTY PREP BOYS BASKETBALL

By Bill Dickens
© East County Sports.com
EL CAJON (12-22-15) — The Grossmont Foothillers will dribble into two of the biggest games of the season as they tip off in the semifinals of the Grossmont Winter Classic against La Jolla on Tuesday (Dec. 22) at 7:30 in the Foothillers’s gym.

Then on Wednesday (Dec. 23) at 7:30 in a battle of county ranked teams, the No. 9 ranked Foothillers will host the No. 4 ranked Torrey Pines Falcons for the tournament championship.

Marquise Purnell, of Grossmont, gets an offensive rebound and putback Monday night.

On Monday (Dec. 21) Grossmont knocked off Hilltop 61-41 to advance to the semifinals.

“We played steady the whole game and picked up our intensity in the fourth quarter, when we pulled away,” said Grossmont coach FRANK FOGGIANO.

Grossmont’s 6-foot-10 post player TOMMY RUTHERFORD turned in a season high 35 points, grabbed 21 rebounds, blocked 5 shots, dished 2 assists and made 3 steals.

MARQUISE PURNELL pumped in a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds against Hilltop.

Grossmont: Tommy Rutherford 35 (21 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl, 5 blk), Marquise Purnell 13 (11 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl), Jeremiah Appleton 6 (2 reb, 7 ast, 2 stl), Matt Murray 5 (4 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Jacob Niskey 4 (1 reb), Damageae Gant 3 (1 reb), Hunter Mulder 2 (3 reb), Hunter Gaines (3 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl).

GRANITE HILLS 56, CALIPATRIA 50 – Granite Hills stormed past Calipatria in Monday’s (Dec. 21) Coronado Tournament behind a powerful inside game.

The Eagles will play in Tuesday’s (Dec. 22) third place game against either Imperial or Coronado at 4:50.

RYAN KELLY hit 7 of 9 from the floor and 6 of 10 free throws for 20 points to lead the Eagles. He also had 9 rebounds.

DAVID SETTERBERG rolled a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds.

“He really sparked us,” said Granite Hills coach of Setterberg. “He suffered a dislocated ankle in the summer and he’s just now coming into his own. He was aggressive going to the rim and that really helped us.”

DYLAN GARCIA came off the bench to grab 7 offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter to put the game away for the Eagles (2-6).

Granite Hills: Ryan Kelly 20 (9 reb, 1 stl, 1 blk), David Setterberg 13 (10 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl), Darien Cossio 6 (1 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 2 blk), Jacob Burton 6 (8 reb, 1 ast), Cameron Spitzer 6 (4 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl), Dylan Garcia 5 (7 reb), Jorden Rogers (2 reb), Erin Swinson (2 reb).

PATRICK HENRY 46, HELIX 41 – Helix trailed Patrick Henry only 43-41 in the final seconds of Monday’s (Dec. 21) Xtreme Glass Holiday Tournament at Sweetwater High, but they couldn’t put the game away.

MALIK TAMBWE muscled in 14 points and 7 rebounds for the Highlanders, while JUSTIN FLISHER collected 10 rebounds.

But other than that the Helix offense stalled. The Highlanders’ averaged 42 percent shooting and it was only that high because Tambwe hit 7 of 9 shots from the floor. Helix failed to connect from the free throw line, hitting only 4 of 20 shots from the charity stripe.

Helix: Malik Tambwe 14 (7 reb, 1 stl, 2 blk), Isaiah Wooden 6 (3 reb), Dylan Lee 6 (5 reb, 2 stl), Jamar Wynn 5 (2 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl), Jaylen Arnold 4 (6 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl), Justin Flisher 3 (10 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk), Amari Green 3 (6 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Brandon Parker (1 ast, 1 stl).

Monte Vista’s Tre Owens scoops in a shot during the first half on Monday night against Torrey Pines at Grossmont High.

TORREY PINES 89, MONTE VISTA 48 – Torrey Pines hit 14 three-pointers en route to a blowout of Monte Vista in Monday’s (Dec. 21) Grossmont Winter Classic.

“It was pretty painful to watch,” said Monte Vista coach MIKE TULLY of his Monarchs, who trailed 50-19 at halftime.

“Honestly we played a murderer’s row of opponents, including this one.

Shai Stevenson makes a layup for Monte Vista during the first half against Torrey Pines on Monday at the Grossmont Winter Classic.

“They came out in a 1-3-1 zone and we had a difficult time trying to shoot over it, so when they went to man defense in the second half we did a better job of attacking the basket. But obviously the game was well out of hand by then.”

Tully praised SHAI STEVENSON for his overall performance which included 17 points, including 3 three-pointers.

TRE OWENS and BO RANKINS each contributed 10 points in the losing cause.

Monte Vista: Shai Stevenson 17, Tre Owens 13, Bo Rankins 10, Terry Bone 4, Kelton Vun 4.

OCEANSIDE 66, EL CAJON VALLEY 43 – For a half, the El Cajon Valley Braves were playing as a group and were keeping pace with the Oceanside Pirates on Monday (Dec. 21). Then the second half came. After all the dust settled, the Pirates defeated the Braves 66-43 in Grossmont Winter Classic action at Steele Canyon High.

El Cajon Valley’s HUSSEIN AL-ANEZI had a team-high 11 points in the contest that saw the Braves take a small lead in the third quarter.

After the first half ended knotted up at 29, AHMAD SULYMAN hit a 15-footer to put the Braves up by a pair of points. Then the floor dropped out from under the Braves (2-6).

In the first half, the Braves committed a very respectable six turnovers. The turnover numbers tripled in the second half as they had nearly 25 such miscues.

El Cajon Valley coach Scotty James

“We are just trying to get better each and every day,” Braves head man SCOTTY JAMES said.

DMIR WITHERSPOON and Sulyman both nearly joined the double digit club as they each had nine points. RONNE READUS, the do-everything tight end from the Braves football team, poured in seven first half points before falling victim to foul troubles.

The Braves will be back in action today as they take on Canyon Crest Academy at 4:30 p.m., once again at Steele Canyon High School.

El Cajon Valley: Hussein Al-Anezi 11 (4 reb, 1 stl), Ahmad Sulyman 9 (3 reb, 2 stl, 1 ast), Dmir Witherspoon 9 (4 reb, 1 stl), Ronne Readus 7 (7 reb, 1 stl, 1 ast), Jeremiah Davis 5 (4 reb, 3 blk, 1 ast), Mikey Velez 2 (6 reb), Quentin Sanders 0 (1 reb).
— CHRIS DAVIS

Santana moves the ball during the game with Ramona Monday at Cuyamaca College.

RAMONA 64, SANTANA 43 – Ramona used a 26-7 third quarter run to smack Santana in Monday’s (Dec. 21) Grossmont Winter Classic contest.

DAULTON BARRY pumped in 12 points, grabbed 6 rebounds and dished 4 assists as the Sultans fell to 6-4.

TRENT BAUGH pitched in 11 points in the losing cause.

Santana: Daulton Barry 12 (6 reb, 4 ast), Trent Baugh 11 (1 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk), Frankie Gutierrez 7 (6 reb, 6 ast, 1 stl), Anthony Romero 6 (1 stl), Noah Nunez 4 (3 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Mitchell Miller 3 (2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Cooper Mendoza (2 ast, 1 stl), John Bobof (1 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl).