HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Montrose Christian comes away with Lopes title
The opportunity to make history was there, and the Montrose Christian Mustangs relished it.
Senior point guard Adrian Bowie led the way for the young squad, earning most valuable player honors as Montrose Christian stymied El Toro 61-47 in the final of the Merv Lopes Holiday Classic at King Armory in Kaneohe.
Terrell Vinson scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Tristan Spurlock tallied 11 points. Troy Brewer added 10 points for Montrose Christian, which shot 60 percent from the field (24-for-40) and outrebounded the smaller Chargers 25-14.
A crowd of 950 saw what a disciplined, tenacious basketball program is capable of 5,000 miles from home.
"We look at it as an important tournament, being the first annual Merv Lopes Classic," said Bowie, who scored six points and provided on-court leadership for the Mustangs. "We wanted to make history. Montrose has never won a tournament in Hawaii."
El Toro (Calif.) slipped to 13-2 with the loss to a great defensive squad. Ryan Gahan paced the Chargers with 17 points and Matt Ahrens added 11 with a team-high five caroms.
"They can really shoot the ball, so we wanted to contest their 3-point shots," Bowie said. "We wanted to make the game uptempo and get them tired."
Montrose Christian, of Rockville, Md., improved to 11-0. The sophomore-studded squad is ranked No. 11 in the country. Coach Stu Vetter was pleased.
"This was a great effort. El Toro shoots as well as anyone we'll face this year. They gave us mismatch problems," Vetter said. "We did a great job attacking their matchup zone."
The Mustangs needed some time to heat up against El Toro's 2-3 zone. Brewer's NBA-range 3-pointer from the right wing beat the buzzer to end the first quarter and gave Montrose an 18-14 lead.
Early on, El Toro struggled to get open shots with the exception of Daman Starring, who penetrated effectively but was challenged at every turn by Montrose's posse of giants. The Chargers went cold late in the second quarter, allowing Montrose to stretch the lead to 30-19 before the half.
Bowie began to slice through the Charger zone in the third quarter, setting up Isaiah Armwood for two power dunks. After backup guard Micah Fraction fed the 6-8 sophomore for a breakaway jam, the Mustangs led 49-31 going into the final quarter.
Bowie was joined on the all-tournament first team by teammate Brewer, Tristan Sealy of Thompson, Spencer McLachlin of Punahou and Drew Bruns of El Toro.
"This is Adrian's first year as a point guard, and he's responded beautifully," Vetter said of Bowie, who will play at Maryland next season.
The Chargers shot 38 percent from the field (17-for-45).
No. 1 Punahou 56, No. 3 Kalaheo 51
Miah Ostrowski scored 21 points and fueled a 10-5 run to lead Punahou to third place.
Ostrowski, a senior guard, shot 7-for-13 from the field and helped his team rally from a six-point, second-half deficit.
Spencer McLachlin added 16 points and six rebounds for the Buffanblu (11-2).
Cheynne Lishman and Clifton Pires led the Mustangs (10-6) with 13 points each. Lishman and the Mustangs struggled from the field without center Tyler Caswell, out with an ankle injury.
Lishman was 6-for-17, and Kalaheo shot 37 percent from the field.
Timpview (Utah) 57, No. 2 Iolani 55
Timpview ended its trip to the islands on a happy note by winning its final three games, including a last-second win over Iolani in the fifth-place game.
Bronson Kaufusi, a 6-5 forward, sank two free throws with 2.8 seconds left in overtime to lift Timpview (8-2). The visitors from Provo are ranked No. 3 in Utah.
Castle 58, No. 5 Kamehameha-Hawaii 56
Scott Keiter-Charles scored 26 points, mostly on driving, acrobatic layups and short jumpers, as the Knights upset the Warriors for seventh place.
Keiter-Charles, a 5-10 senior, made 12 of his 17 field-goal attempts. Kyle Kia added 12 points.
Hilo 56, No. 8 Baldwin 49
Leland Alvarez poured in 17 points as the Vikings stunned the Bears. Hilo's full-court press forced Baldwin into 19 turnovers.
Chase Nakamura led Baldwin (5-9) with 11 points but sat out the final quarter with four personal fouls.
Keaau 66, Leilehua 40
Kekai Cazimero scored 15 points and David Howell added 14 to lead the Cougars (7-4) of the Big Island Interscholastic Federation. Jude Domizio added 11 for Keaau, which had a solid showing at the tourney. The Cougars lost to No. 3 Kalaheo (44-36) and No. 2 Iolani (51-46), and posted a win over Waialua.
Mililani 57, Thompson 53
Jonathan Keen's layup gave the Trojans a 53-52 lead with 1:32 left and they hung on for the comeback win over the Sharks.
Keen, a transfer from Thompson, led Mililani (9-7) with 18 points on 8-for-12 shooting. Curtis Murakami added 10 points.
Division II Thompson (2-7), which led 19-4 after the first quarter, got 18 points from Tristan Sealy and 10 from Michael Alexander. Sealy, who shot 8-for-24 from the field, averaged 29.8 points per game in the tournament.
Waialua 54, Nanakuli 48
Brian Graziano scored 21 points and Aaron Lapitan grabbed seven rebounds as the Bulldogs defeated the Golden Hawks.
Jerson Bacalso had 12 points and Tyrone Cross added 10 for Nanakuli, which shot 36 percent from the field. The Golden Hawks were just 50 percent from the foul line (5-for-10) and committed 15 turnovers. Waialua had only five giveaways.