ROUNDUP: Cougars, Scotties, Knights win

By Bill Dickens
Updated: January 8, 2017

2016-17 EAST COUNTY PREP BOYS BASKETBALL

By Bill Dickens
© East County Sports.com

EL CAJON (1-8-17) — Granite Hills barged in front of Saturday’s (Jan. 7) Wolf Pack Shootout championship game, which sent Steele Canyon reeling for a time.

The Eagles extended their lead to 33-24 by halftime but the Cougars came fighting back to slice Granite Hills advantage, outscoring the Eagles 23-12 in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Cougars maintained their advantage with a 21-15 spread that added up to a Steele Canyon 68-62 Wolf Pack Shootout championship.

Steele Canyon walked away with the narrow victory and JALEN SAYLES was named Most Valuable Player.

Sayles finished with 14 points and De’ANGELO LEWIS drilled in 19, while GAGE SANDERS chipped in with 17 markers.

RYAN KELLY led Granite Hills with 23 points and 11 rebounds, while CAMERON SPITZER added 21 points, and JORDAN ROGERS pitched in 14 points.

“We were ahead by 9 points at the half,” said Granite Hills coach RANDY ANDERSON. “We shot well early but ran out of gas in the second half. Steele Canyon kept the pressure on us. MOSES SMITH is still ill so we didn’t have him.

“We had two tough games back to back where our starters played a lot of minutes. I was proud of the kids.”

Steele Canyon: De’Angelo Lewis 19, Gage Sanders 17, Jalen Sayles 14, Kobe Sanders 9, Darrin Spence 5, Tyler Smith 2.

Granite Hills: Ryan Kelly 23 (11 reb, 3 ast), Cameron Spitzer 21 (3 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl), Jorden Rogers 14 (3 reb), David Coffey 3 (1 reb, 1 ast), Xsavior Smith 1 (8 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk), Aaron Cobb (1 ast, 2 stl), Austin Ballo (1 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl), Cody Cox (1 reb).

HELIX 67, MADISON 48 – Any time MILES NORRIS scores 22 points, the opponent is likely to go down.

Such was the case against Madison when the Highlanders rolled over the Warhawks on Saturday (Jan. 7) in a non-league game.

“It was a very physical game,” said Helix assistant coach JOE HERNANDEZ. “We didn’t rebound as well as we should have but we played pretty good defense in the second half.”

DYLAN LEE chucked in 16 more for the Highlanders, who hoisted their record to 13-5.

Helix: Miles Norris 22, Dylan Lee 16, Jaylen Hinson 9, Amari Green 8, Carson Baker 6, Jaylen Arnold 4, Maurice Holmes 2.

DEL NORTE 69, WEST HILLS 64 – West Hills provided a 1-2-3 punch with NATHAN BALL (21 points), CAMERON BARRY (20) and MARQUELL COOL (10) combining for 51 points as Del Norte Tournament host Del Norte escaped with a 5 point victory.

“This was by far Nathan’s best game,” said Wolf Pack assistant coach TIM BARRY. “He gave us a good physical presence.

“We made a comeback from an 11 point deficit,” Barry said. “With 9 seconds left it was 65-64 and they hit all their free throws at the end. We fought hard. I definitely saw improvement tonight. It’s a psychological thing when you play well but you don’t win.

“We’re playing such a difficult schedule – we’ve played three of the top five teams in the county. Del Norte shot really, really well.”

West Hills: Nathan Ball 21, Cameron Barry 20, Marquell Cool 10, Chris Moyer 7, Adam Dillon 6.

FOOTHILLS CHRISTIAN 73, LYNWOOD 58 – The Foothills Christian Knights got off to a hot start behind the shooting of JORDAN VAN OMMERING and JAYLEN HANDS, as the pair combined for five first-quarter threes in the win over Lynwood.

Van Ommering hit a pair of triples for a quick 6-0 lead, then Hands added his long balls, including one at the buzzer, as the Knights led 29-12 after one.

Newcomer DERRICK CARTER-HOLLINGER made his season debut for Foothills Christian and had back-to-back field goals in the second quarter to extend the lead to 35-16.

Van Ommering continued his hot-shooting in the second half from outside.

Hands finished with 25 points, while Van Ommering contributed 19.

MARANATHA 73, CHRISTIAN 69 – NASHOM CARTER scored a career high 37 points, hitting 10 field goals and 14 of 15 free throws in Saturday’s (Jan. 7) Wolf Pack Shootout Silver Bracket contest.

“We wouldn’t be here if we were without Nashom,” said Patriots coach BRAD BRISTOL.

DOMANIC SAFARTA served up 9 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists, while JACKSON LARSEN popped in 8 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, dished one assist and made 3 blocks.

The Patriots fell behind 23-14 in the first quarter and never recovered.

Christian: Nashom Carter 37 (5 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl), Domanic Safarta 9 (3 reb, 5 ast), Jackson Larsen 8 (6 reb, 1 ast, 3 blk), Daniel Welch 6 (7 reb, 1 blk), Javier Jimeniz 5 (4 reb, 2 stl), Patrick Roberts 3 (4 reb).

EC-SOUTHWEST 63, SANTANA 55 – The Santan Sultans suffered a stunning loss to El Centro Southwest in Saturday’s (Jan. 7) non-league contest in Santee.

TC SIMMONS scored 15 points and BRANDON SIMMONS added 14 in an attempt to escape defeat but came up short.

NICK BERHALTER pitched in 10 points for the Sultans.

Santana: TC Simmons 15 (3 reb, 2 ast), Brandon Simmons 14 (7 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Nick Berhalter 10 (3 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk), Simone Maritano 8 (1 reb, 1 stl), John Bobof 3 (5 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk), Zach Leggitt (1 reb), Cole Kinkade (1 reb).

SERRA 72, MONTE VISTA 39 – DEONDRE McHAYLE rolled a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds, plus 5 assists and 3 steals, while DAVID GARCIA also hit a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday’s (Jan. 7) non-league contest with powerful Serra.

The game was tied at 22-all in the first half with 2 minutes to play.

“But we lost our composure,” said Monarchs coach MIKE TULLY. “We got outscored 12-0 late in the second quarter.”

JAMES CARROLL, the Conquistadors’ coach and former Monte Vista coach, said, We outscored them with a 12-0 run in the second quarter.”

“You know, we made a lot of mistakes but I can’t criticize my kids because they did play really hard,” said Tully.

DERRICK WILEY scored 8 points for Monte Vista and grabbed 9 rebounds and made 2 assists.

Monte Vista: Deondre McHayle 12 (10 reb, 5 ast, 3 stl), David Garcia 12 (10 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Derrick Wiley 8 (9 reb, 2 ast), Fernando Guererro 5 (1 reb), Gabrial Galvez 2 (5 reb, 1 stl).

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