Setterberg, Cossio lead Eagles to upset of Cougars

By Bill Dickens
Updated: January 13, 2016

2015-16 EAST COUNTY PREP BOYS BASKETBALL

By Bill Dickens

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RANCHO SAN DIEGO (1-13-16) — Granite Hills senior DAVID SETTERBERG scored a career high 29 points and pulled down 9 rebounds as the visiting Eagles surprised Steele Canyon 63-61 in Tuesday’s (Jan. 12) Grossmont Conference crossover contest in Cougar Canyon.

Setterberg nailed 10 of 13 shots from the floor, including one trey, and was 8 of 13 from the free throw line. He scored 11 points in the 3^rd quarter as the Eagles maintained a 50-46 lead.

When it came down to it DARIEN COSSIO knocked down a 3-pointer with less than a minute to play, staking the Eagles to a 62-61 advantage. Setterberg tossed in a free throw to make it a 2-point advantage.

RYAN KELLY, who has had a hot hand of late, pitched in 15 points and snagged 9 rebounds for Granite Hills.

“I’m happy that we kept our composure,” said Granite Hills coach RANDY ANDERSON of his 7-8 Eagles. “We’ve had a really tough schedule and should be ready for the start of Grossmont Hills League play on Friday (Jan. 15) (when the Eagles host Monte Vista) at 7 p.m.

MARCUS WHITE led Steele Canyon with 18 points, including hitting 10 of 17 free throws.

JALEN SYLES buried 3 treys to finish with 12 points, while NICK HODGE added 11 and THOMAS FISHBURNE contributed 10 points.

“They played well I thought,” said Cougars coach DEREK STEPHENS of Granite Hills. “They went up 20-16 after the first quarter. We would catch up and then they would go ahead again. They are bigger than we are. Our two biggest players fouled out. There were a lot of fouls called in the game.

“Give Granite Hills credit, they made a lot of free throws and we missed at least 10 free throws.”

Granite Hills: David Setterberg 29 (9 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk), Ryan Kelly 15 (9 reb, 2 stl, 1 blk), Darien Cossio 8 (3 reb, 2 ast), Dylan Garcia 6 (3 reb, 2 blk), Cameron Spitzer 4 (3 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk), Jorden Rogers 1, Jacob Burton (2 reb, 1 ast, 2 blk), Erin Swinson (1 ast).

Steele Canyon: Marcus White 18, Jalen Sayles 12, Nick Hodge 11, Thomas Fishburne 10, Javon Nutter 6, Kyree Woods 2, Amir Harris 2.

Monte Vista’s Shai Stevenson looks for options against Grossmont on Tuesday night. / photo by Ramon Scott

GROSSMONT 72, MONTE VISTA 44 – Monte Vista tried a different strategy on Grossmont’s 6-foot-10 kingpin TOMMY RUTHERFORD in Tuesday’s (Jan. 12) Grossmont Conference crossover game.

“We sat in a 2-3 zone, looking to take Rutherford out of the game,” said Monte Vista coach MIKE TULLY. “We held him to 2 baskets – one in each of the first two quarters, but we found out that Grossmont is more than just Rutherford. They have a lot of nice pieces around him and they proved it against us.”

The Foothillers (15-3) proved they have several weapons, including HUNTER GAINES, who knocked down 4 three-pointers to take the Monarchs out of their zone defense and help propel the Foothillers to a 40-17 lead by halftime.

Monte Vista (6-12) shifted into man-to-man coverage and their success wasn’t a whole lot better.

“We shot the ball really well in the first half,” said Grossmont coach FRANK FOGGIANO. “Gaines had all four of his 3s in the first half, and MATT MURRAY scored all 13 of his points in the first half.”

Game over.

Playing little more than three quarters Rutherford concluded his outing with 20 points, 21 rebounds and 6 blocks.

“It just goes to show that even if you can contain Rutherford, Grossmont has many other ways to hurt you,” Tully noted. “We tried about every kind of defense there is and we did a pretty decent job of containing Rutherford, but the other guys went wild.”

For Monte Vista it’s back to the drawing board.

Grossmont: Tommy Rutherford 20 (21 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 6 blk), Matt Murray 13 (8 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Hunter Gaines 12 (3 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Jeremiah Appleton 6 (2 reb, 5 ast, 3 stl), Branik Brown 6 (3 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Jonah Hebel 5 (1 reb), Jacob Niskey 4 (3 reb, 1 stl), Ryan Shirley 2 (1 ast, 1 stl), Alex Lilliard 2 (1 reb), Hunter Mulder 2 (2 reb), Damageae Gant (1 reb, 1 stl), Dayveion Crawford (1 reb), Franklin Golojuch (1 reb).

Monte Vista: Bo Rankins 14, Shai Stevenson 9, Tre Owens 8, Deondre McHayle 6, Terry Bone 5, Adrian Bass 2.

CHRISTIAN 46, CORONADO 41 – The Christian High Patriots maintained their early lead in the Central League race as they toppled Coronado in Tuesday’s (Jan. 12) encounter on the peninsula.

It was the third straight win for the Patriots, who are 12-5 overall, 3-0 in league. At the moment they hold a half game lead over Kearny (15-2, 2-0 CL).

Christian and Kearny will face off Friday (Jan. 15) in Clairemont Mesa at 7:30.

Meanwhile, against Coronado Christian took a 24-18 halftime lead.

KYLE STOWERS came up with his second big game, producing 12 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists for the Patriots.

TRAVIS BALLARD was his usual steady contributor with 18 points, 12 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal for Christian.

Christian: Travis Ballard 18 (12 reb, 2 blk, 1 stl), Kyle Stowers 12 (8 reb, 2 ast), David Todd Jeremiah 10 (3 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Dominic Bristol 2 (2 reb, 1 ast), Layne Larsen (3 reb, 2 ast), Jacob Sandusky 2 (1 reb), Daniel Welch 2 (4 reb).

WEST HILLS 69, EL CAPITAN 39 – Coaches talk about team effort, and some might call that a cliché. But that was a fact when the Wolf Pack mowed down El Capitan on Tuesday (Jan. 12) in a Grossmont Conference crossover game in Lakeside.

All 13 players on the West Hills roster made a contribution to the victory, including 15 points and 8 rebounds by MARQUELL COOL.

The Pack also got 10 point scoring lifts from BRYCE PARSONS, NATHAN BALL, MIGUEL NAVA and CHRIS MOYER.

Cool also snagged 8 rebounds, as did Parsons.

“We have a lot of depth this year,” said West Hills coach JEFF ARMSTRONG. “Parsons finally came alive and that was a plus. He’s a pretty solid kid.”

El Capitan (6-10) started fast, taking a 15-9 first quarter lead.

However, the Pack (13-3) tucked away the victory with a 23-10 third quarter spread.

West Hills: Marquell Cool 15 (8 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl), Bryce Parsons 10 (8 reb, 5 ast, 3 stl), Nathan Ball 10 (4 reb), Miguel Nava 10 (4 reb), Chris Moyer 10 (7 reb, 3 ast, 4 stl, 1 blk), Kyle Ruiz 8 (5 reb, 2 ast), Scott Wheeler 4 (1 reb, 2 stl), D’Ante Hill 2 (1 reb, 1 stl), Cameron Barry (3 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl), Marco Ovies (3 ast), Cesar Curet (1 reb, 1 stl), Nelson Zoree (1 blk), Spencer Moyer (1 ast).

El Capitan: (No report.)