Johnson, McLaughlin & Stewart shine at Nike X 19

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SANTA ANA, Ca.  –Three of the top seniors in the country put on marvelous displays for their Southern California teams Saturday during Saturday’s marathon nine-game, 15-hour and second-day session of the 19th Nike Extravaganza at Mater Dei High.

The trio combined to go for 2-for-3 in the victory department, though.

*USC-bound guard Jordan McLaughlin had a slow scoring start, missing his first five shots and only scored via a breakaway dunk near the end of the first half.

But he, over the final 20 minutes (the third and fourth quarters, and an OT), he was nothing short of stunning, scoring 30 of his day-high 32 points to help Etiwanda rally to a 62-53 victory over Bellflower St. John Bosco.

McLaughlin’s 10-foot floater with five seconds to go sent things into overtime, then he scored seven points and assisted on the four points the Eagles scored to seal things.

Junior forward Kamron Edwards added 16 points and 11 rebounds for Etiwanda while Daniel Hamilton (18 points, five rebounds and four assists) played well for the Braves.

*Senior wing Elijah Stewart scored 22 points in the first half to propel L.A. Westchester to a nine-point edge over nationally ranked Hyattsville (MD) DeMatha.

Stewart, who signed with Loyola Marymount in November, finished with 32 but the Stags got 33 points from one of the few seniors on their roster (guard Corey Henson) to overtake the Comets.

*In the event’s finale — which didn’t tip off until about 10:10 and wrap up until nearly 11:30 – Stanley Johnson, a member of the McDonald’s All-American team that was unveiled on Wednesday, played a strong final quarter and a half en route to 27 points point as his Mater Dei squad remained unbeaten via its very hard-earned 69-57 victory over Chicago Whitney Young.

Whitney Young has a McDonald’s AA of its own in center Jahlil Okafor.

But the Duke-bound player’s performance was often sluggish at best in the first half and he often failed to convert some shots around the bucket again a collapsing defense. He did finish with 17 points (13 of those in the second half when he was a bit more assertive).

Guard Miles Reynolds scored all 16 of his team’s first-quarter points but was held to five the rest of the contest by Mater Dei’s diamond-and-one defense.

Junior Rex Pflueger (with 16 points) continued his string of exceptional performances for the Monarchs.

 

In other games Saturday:

Las Vegas Bishop Gorman 68, San Juan Capistrano JSerra 53: The Gaels, who played in Las Vegas Friday night then car-pooled south on the I-15 immediately after, finally pulled away in the fourth quarter to take a 15-point victory with them on the trip home an hour or so later.

Coach Grant Rice’s Gaels got double-figure scoring from four players with a fifth — center Stephen Zimmerman — coming just a point short.

Junior forward Chase Jeter led the way with 19 points and 11 rebounds while senior guard Johnnie Vassar was a volume shooter (eight of 22 from the floor) en route to a game-high 21 points for JSerra.

Orange Lutheran 60, Santa Ana Foothill 54: Junior forward Keisean Lucier-South – better known as one of the better football prospects in the west’s class of 2015 – scored 14 points and muscled his way to 14 rebounds to lead the Lancers in the all-Orange County tussle.

Two of his classmates, Rogers Printup (17) and C.J. Hankins (14), combined to chip in with 31 points.

Juniors Eric Patton (16) and Riley O’Hern (13) led the Knights with a combined 29 points.

Corona Centennial 67, Redondo 60: Junior guard Sed Barefield hit an 18-footer from the right side with 1:15 to go to snap a tie and lead the Huskies (18-2) to victory in a battle of teams likely to be high seeds in the CIF Southern Section’s new Open Division playoffs.

After the jumper by Barefield (17 points) put his team up 59-57, the Sea Hawks (18-4) missed a shot, Khalil Ahmad followed in miss by Jordan Griffin to pad the advantage to four points with 46 seconds to go.

Long Beach State-bound Deontae North (a game-high 19 points) then hit a batch of free throws down the stretch for the Huskies, whose only losses are to I-AA powers Etiwanda and Loyola.

Guards Ian Fox (17) and Leland Green (14) combined for 31 points for Redondo but also turned the ball over a combined 13 times.

Mission Hills Alemany 54, L.A. Fairfax 52: Despite trailing by 15 points going into the fourth quarter, the Warriors went on an 18-zip run in the fourth quarter and win in overtime.

With his team trailing 44-36, sophomore forward Daron Henson hit three 3s in a row to put Alemany up. The Warriors went up by five points but Fairfax put things into OT after a 3 by Sage Woodruff and, following a turnover, a layup by Lindsey Drew.

Henson and senior guard Brandon Boyd scored 16 points apiece.

Gardena Serra 81, Upland 50: Five Cavaliers scored in double figures, paced by Cal State Northridge-bound post Tavrion Dawson (with 21 points and six rebounds) as they breezed to their ninth consecutive victory to improve to 17-6.

Junior point guard Jason Richardson added 10 points and seven assists while sophomore forward Ian Carter chipped in with 10 points and six rebounds

Senior DeAngelo Stowers and junior Marquis Reed combined for 29 points for Upland.

Los Alamitos 57, Colony 42: The Griffins (who are unbeaten in six Sunset League games) improved to 19-4 overall with the coast-to-coast win.

Sophomore guard Eyassu Worku led the winners with 16 points while junior post Jack Kaub added 14 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.