| The LookOut sports | |
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Santa Monica Sports Notes Nick Forman came off the bench for the Crossroads boys basketball team to lead a 76-56 victory over Brentwood Friday night before a capacity crowd of 800 in Crossroads' new Grisanti Gym. Forman scored 16 points in the first half as Crossroads took a 38-21 lead. Brentwood rallied early in the second half before Crossroads pulled away. Forman was the high scorer with 18 and starting guard Phil Abrahams had 15. Center Isaiah Fox, who has signed with Arizona, wasn't much of a factor in the game. He scored just nine points. Crossroads took a 22-7 lead but Brentwood scored the next six points and Fox picked up his second foul. He was taken out, but with the opponent having no big players Fox wasn't needed. Brentwood won the girls game, which was played after the boys game, 49-43. Many fans left after the boys game but others came in and the gym was not mostly empty, as some critics said it might be. Athletic Director Chuck Ice is experimenting with having the boys play the 6 p.m. opener at times this season. Besides basketball Friday night there will be a soccer extravaganza at 5:30 p.m. next door at the Crossroads Sports Complex at 18th and Olympic Blvd. The St. Monica High boys basketball team lost an important Camino Real League game at Verbum Dei, 57-50. The two league powers will play again at St. Monica. The St. Monica High girls basketball team won a league game at St. Matthias Saturday night, 53-33... |
Samohi Basketball Team Gets First League Win By Mitch Chortkoff After the Santa Monica High boys basketball team defeated Morningside Friday night, 70-57, Coach James Hecht smiled broadly. ``We really needed that,'' he said. The team won 10 of its first 13 games but then experienced unforseen difficulty. It lost a Bay League game to North Torrance when several team members had the flu, lost to highly-ranked Inglewood by three points and to powerful Leuzinger by four. Then it was tied with Peninsula, 26-26, on that dreadfully rainy Wednesday last week. The roof began leaking and the game had to be halted. ``We have to go back there next Saturday and complete the game,'' said Hecht. ``The right decision was made because water was pouring in and it would have been dangerous to continue.'' What Samohi needed was a league victory to restore confidence. It came out strong and took a 42-22 halftime lead before a capacity crowd of 1,000 at home. Then Morningside used an aggressive full-court press to cut the deficit to 48-37 before Santa Monica steadied itself. ``We jumped on them early but we knew they'd make a run,'' said Hecht. Junior Pablo Dresie led the way with 26 points. Senior point guard Jared Brunk got a workout from the Morningside pressure defense but managed to get the ball to the right teammates and also scored 12 points. Senior forward James Folonis, the Vikings' season-long high scorer, sat out stretches in the fast-paced contest and didn't have one of his better games but still scored 17. Another contributer was Kahlid Jones, who scored seven. Samohi has regouped pretty well following the graduation of guard Jacoby Atako, who led the way last season and is now playing at UC Santa Barbara. And of Martin Castro, the second-leading scorer last season. But the Bay League is one of the strongest in Southern California. Samohi already has three league losses and hasn't yet played Redondo, which is led by UCLA-bound Dijon Thompson. Last week Thompson scored 46 in a game and he's probably the best player in the league. CIF basketball teams will compete mostly in league play until Feb. 8. Then the playoffs will begin. Last season Samohi won its first round playoff game, but whether it can do as well without Atako remains to be seen.
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