MLK: La Salle turns back Bell-Jeff
La Salle Lancers 67, Bellarmine-Jefferson Guards 59By Dave Keefer
Showcase host La Salle let a 13-point lead slip away but regrouped and finished strong to defeat Bell-Jeff, 67-59, Monday afternoon at the 2014 MLK Day Showcase at La Salle HS in Pasadena.
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Junior Chris Robinson had 17 points and Senior Conor Williams added 16 to lead the way for the Lancers.
It was all La Salle (8-12) until early in the second quarter when Bell-Jeff (10-8) went on a 17-4 run to get back in it. La Salle jumped out to a 6-0 lead after a jumper from Justin Jitpatima and two buckets from Johnny Knox, one on a fastbreak layup.
Bell-Jeff got on the board after some post work by Abid Oses that made it 6-2. Oses went on to score a game high 25 points for the Guards.
La Salle extended its lead to double digits, 18-8, when Jitpatima hit a stop and pop jumper late in the first quarter, which ended with La Salle holding an 18-10 lead.
La Salle still had an 8-point lead, 20-12, when Jason Dalcour scored 5 straight points on a fastbreak layup, followed by a three-pointer and the Lancers had their biggest lead of the game, 25-12, with 6:50 left in the half.
Bell-Jeff responded in a big way with its 17-4 run to tie the game. The run started with a putback by Oses and didn't end until Isaac Etter nailed a three and Raffy Verano followed with a jumper to make it 29-29 late in the half.
Williams hit two free throws (he was 10-11 in the game) for La Salle, then Oses got another stickback with 5 seconds left and the half ended at 31-31.
Then Bell-Jeff finally got its first lead of the game after Verano and Clark Thomas hit back to back jumpers to make it 35-31.
That capped a 23-6 run going back to early in the second quarter. La Salle fought back and eventually retook the lead, 36-35, after a trey by Williams.
Bell-Jeff led twice more in the game at 38-36 and 40-38 but La Salle took the lead for good on a free throw from Robinson that made it 41-40. Robinson added a score after a nifty feed from Williams to make it 43-40, and the game would soon gradually slip away from Bell-Jeff.
A three-pointer by Knox made it 50-44 and the third quarter ended at 50-46. Oses scored on a nice assist from Marco Escribano to open the 4th quarter and the lead was down to two, 50-48.
Williams answered with two FTs, then Bell-Jeff scored to get to within 2 one more time, 52-50. A tip in by Robinson extended the lead at the 4:10 mark to 58-52 and Bell-Jeff never got closer than 6 points the rest of the way.
Miles Hopkins scored on a floater in the lane for Bell-Jeff to make it 60-54 with 3:05 to go. Etter laid one in at the 1:50 mark for Bell-Jeff to make it 62-56 but time was winding down on the Guards.
Knox hit both ends of a one and one with 1:25 on the game clock and the lead was eight, 64-56. Oses managed to get the deficit down to 6 again, 65-59, with two free throws but only seconds remained and La Salle closed out the win, 67-59.
For La Salle, Robinson had a double double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. He was named Player Of The Game. Williams also had a huge game with 16 points and game highs of 6 assists and 4 steals. Jitpatima also scored in double figures with 12.
For Bell-Jeff, Oses led with his double double game highs of 25 points and 13 rebounds. Verano added 13 points. Escribano had a team high 5 assists.
Score by Quarters:
Bellarmine-Jefferson---10-21-15-13 = 59
La Salle-------------------18-13-19-17 = 67
Bellarmine-Jefferson (59):
1-Marco Escribano 4 (5 assists)
3-Miles Hopkins 2
10-Cameo Hill 2
11-Isaac Etter 5
15-Clark Thomas 8
22-Raffy Verano 13
31-Abid Oses 25 (13 reb)
La Salle (67):
1-Jason Dalcour 5
10-Justin Jitpatima 12
22-Conor Williams 16 (6 assts, 4 stls)
25-Phoenix O'Shea 2
32-Johnny Knox 9
33-Chris Robinson 17 (12 reb)
34-Isiah Spencer-Lopez 6 (10 reb)