From Top Clockwise: Bryce Hamilton, Darius Brown, Jake Althouse and Joey Walsh. By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor There are only two weeks left in the regular season, but there is still a lot to decide. ** Pacific League: Pasadena won’t admit it, because they’re humble, but they should clinch the Pacific League by the end […]
From Top Clockwise: Bryce Hamilton, Darius Brown, Jake Althouse and Joey Walsh.
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor
There are only two weeks left in the regular season, but there is still a lot to decide.
** Pacific League:
Pasadena won’t admit it, because they’re humble, but they should clinch the Pacific League by the end of the week.
The Bulldogs (16-5 overall, 9-0 in league) host Arcadia on Monday, Burbank on Wednesday and travel to Hoover on Friday.
Pasadena has a three-game lead with five to play, and in the first round of league, the Bulldogs defeated the Apaches, the Bulldogs and the Tornadoes by a combined 70 points.
Bryce Hamilton and Darius Brown II have been on fire of late.
Both juniors scored 27 in Friday’s win over Crescenta Valley.
“We have three games this week, but we still have five to play in the regular season,” Pasadena coach Tony Brooks said. “Our biggest area we need to improve upon is on the defensive end. We play in spurts. If we put 32 minutes of great defense together, we’re going to be a very formidable team to beat. The kids realize this and are working very hard to address it.”
Hamilton averages 22 points and 11 rebounds and Brown pours in 18 a night, with 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
Sophomore Darius Mason has been solid as well. He is scoring 13 per game, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
“I feel comfortable finishing league and our team is real comfortable heading into the playoffs,” Darius Brown II said. “We have to finish league strong, make a statement and have no slip ups. We have to work on our transition defense and I’d like to see us work on our execution down the stretch, and work on minimizing turnovers.”
Muir knows its chances of making up three games over the final 5 are highly unlikely, but Mustangs coach Simeane Stewart knows there is still a lot on the line.
At the moment, Muir (13-8, 6-3) is tied for second with Crescenta Valley (14-7, 6-3) and they have three games this week too.
The Mustangs host Burroughs on Monday, Arcadia on Wednesday and then travel to Crescenta Valley on Friday.
Muir beat all three of its opponents this week in the first round of league play by nearly double digits.
“We would love to go 3-0 this week and get back on track,” Muir coach Simeane Stewart said. “Finishing second in league would give us a good CIF-SS Division 2-AA playoff position. We’re trying to get a top-6 seed.”
Pacific League:
Pasadena (16-5 overall, 9-0 in league)
Crescenta Valley (14-7, 6-3)
Muir (13-8, 6-3)
Burbank (16-6, 5-4)
Burroughs (11-9, 3-5)
Arcadia (10-10, 3-5)
Glendale (10-12, 2-7)
Hoover (7-14, 1-8)
** Mission League:
St. Francis is coming off a blowout victory at Crespi on Friday and its destiny is within their grasp.
The Golden Knights (14-8, 3-5) host Loyola on Wednesday and go to Chaminade on Friday.
St. Francis lost at Loyola in the first round of league, but beat Chaminade, and could move as high as third place by the end of the week if everything went their way (Chaminade loses twice).
Joey Walsh leads the Golden Knights with 19 points per game, Malakhi Jensen averages 11 and Omari Moore chips in about 9 points per game.
Lucan Shin is coming off his best game of the year, when he buried six 3 pointers in the win at Crespi.
“For us, we just take one game at a time,” Walsh said. “Yes, with Loyola coming up, I know that’s a game we all want to win. We can’t look past anything and need to take it one game at a time. We will come in prepared and give it all we’ve got.”
Mission League:
Alemany (19-3 overall, 7-0 in league)
Harvard-Westlake (14-9, 6-2)
Chaminade (16-8, 5-3)
Loyola (12-8, 3-4)
St. Francis (14-8, 3-5)
Crespi (9-14, 3-5)
Notre Dame (9-12, 0-8)
** Olympic League:
Maranatha started the season 6-7, but now find itself atop the Olympic League.
The Minutemen (12-7, 4-0) enjoy a 2-game lead in the loss column over Heritage Christian.
Maranatha will travel to Whittier Christian on Tuesday and then go to Cerritos on Friday to take on Valley Christian.
Chrus Austin’s 18 points per game and Sean Espinosa’s 13 have been a big reason the Minutemen are on a 6-game winning streak, including a 64-58 victory over Durango of Las Vegas Saturday.
Espinosa went off at Cerritos College with 25 points.
“The key to our turn around so far has mainly been just the fact that we all came together and started playing more as a team,” Espinosa said. “Heading into the final two weeks of the season, we are very confident and expect nothing less than keep up this level of play. I would like to see us become more of family, on and off the court, and stay humble and hard working.”
Olympic League:
Maranatha (12-7 overall, 4-0 in league)
Heritage Christian (17-7, 3-2)
Whittier Christian (15-8, 2-3)
Valley Christian (13-10, 2-3)
Village Christian (14-8, 1-4)
** Prep League:
Poly coach Brad Hall and his players are too smart and humble to call this Prep League race over, but it’s over.
The Panthers have a 2-game lead with three league games left, and they’re only real chance at a setback would be at Flintridge Prep on Friday at 7:30 in the rivalry game.
Poly will host AGBU of Canoga Park in a nonleague game on Tuesday, and then face off with the Rebels, who gave the Panthers a solid effort last week.
But in their first round games against Chadwick, the Panthers won by 26 on the road and claimed a 70-55 victory against Firebaugh.
Ryan Bowen, John Genske, Jackson Hayes, Mateo Taylor and the whole Panthers bench is doing their part.
Flintridge Prep (9-8, 4-2) has won 6 of their last 8 games, and have been getting huge efforts from senior forward Jake Althouse, and senior point guard Kendall Kikkawa.
Althouse is the Pasadena Sports Now Boys Athlete of the Week after scoring nearly 60 points and grabbing 30 rebounds combined in the Rebels three games.
They went 2-1, with just their loss at Poly, and wins over Firebaugh and Rio Hondo Prep.
Kikkawa is old-school in that he is short in a big-man’s game, but he plays with incredible heart.
The 5-foot-7 guard has been averaging double digits in points, assists and even rebounds of late.
Prep will host Chadwick on Tuesday and Poly on Friday.
With a pair of wins, Prep would likely finish in second place and a possible home game in the playoffs.
“This week is obviously very important for us, because it will determine our league standings and CIF playoff chances,” Althouse said. “We know finishing second in league is huge in terms of being selected for CIF and the seeding. This is also important, because it’s the last two home games for 9 seniors on our team. We are confident going into this week, and we are motivated to play well. We know what is at stake, but most importantly, we just want to go out on a high note as seniors.”
Prep League:
Poly (14-3 overall, 5-0 in league)
Chadwick (10-10, 3-1)
Flintridge Prep (9-8, 4-2)
Rio Hondo Prep (8-12, 1-5)
Firebaugh (1-19, 0-5)
** Camino Real League:
La Salle finds itself in a tie with St. Anthony in the Camino Real League.
This week, La Salle will host Bellarmine-Jefferson on Wednesday night and St. Genevieve on Friday.
It will all come down, though, to next week, when the Lancers travel to to co-first place St. Anthony on Monday and Bishop Amat on Wednesday.
Camino Real League:
St. Anthony (17-5 overall, 5-1 in league)
La Salle (14-8, 5-1)
Bishop Amat (17-5, 4-2)
St. Monica (7-14, 3-3)
St. Genevieve (8-14, 1-5)
Bell-Jeff (2-16, 0-6)
