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Sports

Boys Hoops: Rebels Win Shootout with La Salle

Big games from Hamane and Norsworthy help Flintridge Prep win high-scoring affair.

The Flintridge Prep boys basketball team beat La Salle 69-55 in a nonleague matchup on Saturday. The Lancers played Flintridge evenly for two quarters, but the Rebels put up a remarkable 41 points in the second half behind the hot shooting of Kory Hamane (24 points) and Jared Norsworthy (15 points).

“Jared and Korey were big for us,” Flintridge coach Garrett Ohara said. “They made up for the offense lost when Kenyatta (Smith) was out.”

Smith, the Rebels’ leading scorer, was in foul trouble early on and scored just two points before exploding for 10 points in the fourth quarter.

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“They were covering me tight. It felt like they had seven on five,” Smith said. “I just put it behind me and slowed the game down when I got back out there.”

A 3-pointer by Norsworthy and a bucket by Smith helped Flintridge Prep (16-4) jump ahead 9-0 in the first quarter. La Salle came right back behind the hustle of Kishon Sanders, who totaled 15 rebounds in the game.

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Sanders stole a pass in the sixth minute of the game and dished to Gary Goebel for a layup. Sanders then grabbed a rebound and drove to the basket for a bucket to cut the deficit to 12-8.

With 10 seconds remaining in the quarter, point guard Israel Lacy got pinned at the baseline by a Rebel defender and threw a pass to Sanders in the corner who made a one-touch pass to a cutting Ian Schuler for a layup at the buzzer to tie the game at 12.

“Kishon is our workhorse inside,” said La Salle coach Steve Goldstein. “Defending Smith is tough. We like facing a tough matchup with Flintridge this time of year. It helps us get better as we close out league.”

Lacy got the second quarter scoring started with a 3-pointer, but Hamane answered with a 3 on the other end. In a back and forth battle, Schuler hit a long 2-pointer to give La Salle a 19-17 lead. Hamane hit another 3-pointer to reclaim the lead, but Schuler went down the court and hit another long 2-pointer.

Trailing by a point, Smith made an aggressive move to the basket, but he drew a charging foul and was forced to sit the rest of the half. Hamane reclaimed the lead once again by stealing the ball from La Salle, drawing a foul and making both free throws. A free throw from Sanders would tie the game at 28 at halftime.

Smith made the most of his limited minutes in the third quarter. Three minutes in he blocked a shot by Sanders, and on La Salle’s next trip down he blocked shots by Gary Mkrtichyan and Schuler.

“We try to play at our top level every night and we weren’t getting it done in the first half,” Smith said.

Smith’s defense would spark a 13-4 run by the Rebels. Hamane stayed hot and hit a 3-pointer. Then Robert Cartwright stole the ball from Lacy and passed to Norsworthy for two points. Cartwright made a nice assist to Hamane on Flintridge’s next possession to open a 44-35 lead.

La Salle (13-9) tried to shoot its way back in the fourth quarter, but Smith finally got his offense going. Midway through the quarter, he made a nice spin-move for a layup, drawing a foul and sinking the free throw. Two minutes later he made a similar move for a layup, once again drawing the foul and making the shot to give the Rebels a 60-47 lead.

“Great scorers are going to score,” Goldstein said. “You can only hold them down for so long.”

Smith led the Rebels with 11 rebounds and five blocks to go with his 12 points. Mkrtichyan led the Lancers with 13 points while Schuler added 10.

Flintridge will resume league play on Friday against Poly, while La Salle will host Serra.

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