Patriots topple Dons; Scotties win Hills

By Ramon Scott
Updated: February 9, 2020

Monte Vista goes for a bucket on Friday night against Santana. / photo by Dave Dickens

Santana controls the ball against Monte Vista on Friday night. / photo by Dave Dickens

2020 EAST COUNTY PREP BOYS BASKETBALL

EastCountySports.com staff report

EL CAJON – The Christian Patriots made a statement that they are a contender for the San Diego CIF Open Division title by knocking off No. 1-ranked Cathedral Catholic in a Western League game on Friday night at the Ryan Athletic Center.

Patrick Roberts helped eighth-ranked Christian to an early 14-6 lead after one quarter with a pair of field goals.’

Christian High during a time out on Friday.

Vinny Signorelli had a three-pointer in the third quarter as Christian maintained a 26-14 halftime lead by jumping out to a 30-18 advantage.

Kobe Sanders added a three-pointer in the third quarter to help put the Pats up 40-24.

Cathedral Catholic rallied in the fourth quarter to bring the deficit to under 10 points, but Sanders had three field goals during an 8-0 to put Christian back on top, 52-36.

Vincent Warren made a three-pointer for the Patriots to make it 55-40 with just over a minute to play.

Christian improved to 4-3 by dealing the Dons their first league loss in seven starts.

The Patriots also moved to 19-5 overall, while Cathedral fell to 19-6.

Of Christian’s five losses, three have come to second-ranked St. Augustine, one has come against the Dons, and the other came against fifth-ranked Foothills Christian.

Christian faces another top-five team on Saturday when the Patriots take on Francis Parker in the Mission Bay event.

GRANITE HILLS 71, EL CAPITAN 58 – The Eagles improved to 6-0 in the Grossmont Valley League win the home win over the Vaqueros.

With the victory, Granite Hills clinched no worse than a share of the league title.

Granite Hills (13-9) led 28-21 in the second quarter when it hit a three-pointer to extend the lead to 10.

Late in the second period, the Eagles made another three-pointer to take a 36-23 lead into halftime.

El Capitan started the second half with a big 9-0 run, including a pair of threes, but the Eagles struck right back with four consecutive scores from downtown and another set of field goals to reassert command with a 54-32 advantage.

The Eagles led 63-46 at the end of the third quarter.

“A lot of great performances tonight,” Granite Hills head coach Dan Duffy said.

John Yakou had 24 points for Granite Hills, while teammate John Vrzich had 8 points and 11 rebounds.

Deon Spear had 20 points and seven rebounds for the Eagles.

“If we can stay healthy, I feel we can surprise a lot of teams in D3 and pull an upset championship,” Granite Hills senior McKay Roberts said.

Roberts had 11 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, and five steals in a championship effort.

Caleb Erickson had three points and 10 rebounds for the Eagles.

JakePfitzner scored 28 points, including 6-of-11 from three-point range, for El Cap.

“Pfitzner had it going late into the fourth quarter,” El Capitan head coach Elias Totah said. “I was really proud of his efforts toward the end of the game. He kept playing and tried to bring his team back.

“We dug ourselves a hole in the second and third quarters. Yakou’s dribble penetration really hurt us. We sustained damage from (Roberts) who was our main priority headed into this contest, but others really stepped up for Granite Hills. They will be a tough out in Division III this year.

Senior Harrison Morton came home with 12 points for the Vaqueros.

“Morton had a good rhythm going tonight,” Totah said. “We just couldn’t sustain their guard play. To end on a positive note, I liked our fight. We played through a hostile crowd.”

HELIX 71, GROSSMONT 46 – After allowing the West Hills Wolf Pack a mild fourth-quarter comeback on Tuesday, the Helix Highlanders turned on the jets in the second half to improve to 8-0 and clinch the Grossmont Hills League championship with two games remaining.

It was Helix’s 13th consecutive victory.

The Foothillers were the closest challenger to Helix coming into the game with a 5-2 mark, but the defeat knocked Grossmont down to 5-3. West Hills is also 5-3 in the GHL.

Helix had four players in double figures as the team continues to gel as a unit.

Xavier Otis took his turn as the team’s scoring leader, putting up 18 points. He got hot in the fourth with 10 points.

Isaiah Robinson finished with 17 points, including a pair of three-pointers for Helix.

Keishon Trice finished with 15 points.

Trice combined with Maurice Holmes for 17 points in the third quarter.

Holmes finished with 13 points in the contest.

Helix led just 12-10 at the end of one quarter but took a 29-19 lead into halftime.

The Highlanders came out strong in the second half, outscoring the hosts, 24-13, in the third quarter.

Lachin Bekirov had a strong performance for the Foothillers, scoring 17 points.

Mykol Rodriguez had a pair of three-pointers for the Foothillers.

Noah Velasco added seven points for Grossmont.

Monte Vista goes up with a shot against Santana. / photo by Dave Dickens

MONTE VISTA 66, SANTANA 59 – The Monarchs remained alive for a share of the Grossmont Valley League title with the road win at Santana.

Monte Vista improved to 4-2 in the GVL and 16-10 overall with its third straight victory.

“Coming into tonight I knew this game was important and we all knew what was needed,” said Monte Vista’s Brandon Tully, who led the Monarchs with 15 points, including four three-pointers. “I felt my shot was on but from my teammates made good passes to set me up.”

Sirr Young had five assists for Monte Vista.

Ivan Maynard finished with 12 points, including a three-pointer in the second quarter. He also had eight rebounds.

Isaiah Gardner added eight points, while teammate Cameron McKan had seven points, including a three-pointer, one of four Monarch treys in the second stanza.

Lavonte Jenkins came up with a big performance, as has 12 points and 10 rebounds for Monte Vista.

“Every day that I get better, my teammates do, too,” Tully said. “With our three good wins this week, it prepares us mentally and physically for our next game versus Granite. Lately, I’ve been trying to do my best to help the team offensively and defensively. The team is growing as a whole and we’re preparing for playoffs and wherever they seed us, we’ll play hard. It was a good team win tonight. We are getting better every day.”

The Sultans fell to 3-4 in the GVL.

WEST HILLS 69, STEELE CANYON 60 – The visiting Wolf Pack outscored the Cougars 45-34 in the second half to win the Grossmont Hills League matchup.

The Wolf Pack improved to 5-3 in the Grossmont Hills League.

West Hills jumped out to an 8-2 lead, although the Cougars tied the game a bit later at 8-all.

A late Wolf Pack run in the quarter propelled them into a 17-12 lead after one quarter.

However, Steele Canyon battled back to tie the game at 22-all in the second quarter following a three-pointer by Alessandro Pabon and a field goal by Miguel Fuentes, of the Cougars.

Fred Murray then hit a field goal with less than a minute to go before halftime to give Steele Canton a 26-24 advantage at the break.

Steele Canyon actually broke out into a larger lead in the third quarter, as Chance Stout hit a three-pointer to make it 31-24 Cougars.

Jayden Moreno made a series of free throws in the third to eventually bring the Wolf Pack back into the lead 36-33. Moreno scored eight straight points at the foul stripe.

Junior Kyle Dobyns had a series of field goals in the fourth quarter for West Hills, which took a 51-47 lead.

“I told my boys tonight that we have 96 minutes of league left and that we need to leave it on the floor,” West Hills head coach Tim Barry said. ”Steele Canyon played so hard tonight. (Cougar head coach) Jason (Robinson) does a good job of getting the most out of his kids and we were pushed to the limit.

“Now we have 64 minutes left to earn a home game for the Pack.”

The Wolf Pack have key league games left with Valhalla in Santee and on the road against Grossmont.

MOUNT MIGUEL 59, VALHALLA 57 – The Matadors won their first Grossmont Hills League game of the season by edging the visiting Norsemen on Friday night.

The game was close throughout, as Valhalla led 14-13 after the first period.

The key stanza was the third quarter. Mount Miguel outscored Valhalla, 16-13.

Valhalla was already a longshot for the playoffs coming in, the loss was detrimental to the playoff chances of the Norsemen.

EastCountySports.com