IRVINE – The Anaheim Canyon High boys basketball team capped a heck of a week Saturday during one of the seven SoCal Showdown high school games played at Irvine Valley College.
The Comanches, getting 30 points from Brandon Benjamin and 29 from Staf Yilmazturk, knocked off Mira Costa, the last of the unbeatens in the CIF Southern Section, 77-72.
Coach Nate Harrison’s team – which came into the week at No. 9 in the CIF SS Computer ratings and 15 in the BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 30 – improved to 16-4.
They opened Crestview League play with two key wins earlier in the week, rallying to beat host Cypress in overtime Wednesday night (63-61), and getting 35 points, 14 rebounds and six assists from Benjamin Friday while topping visiting La Habra (No. 17 in the computer ratings and 21 in BurlisonOnBasketball Top 30), 81-64.
“I guess we’ve ‘caught fire’,” Benjamin said Saturday, after hitting 11 of 19 from the floor and eight of 10 from the free-throw line while grabbing nine rebounds with three assists.
Mira Costa came into the game with 19 wins, and sitting at No.’s 6 and 11 in the CIF SS Computer and BurlisonOnBasketball ratings.
With the focus on the Crestview matchups, there wasn’t much time put into preparing for a Mustangs’ squad that throws multiple defensive, and offensive looks at its opponents.
“We watched maybe 45 minutes of film (on the Mustangs) this morning,” Benjamin said.
The Comanches were pressured into 13 turnovers.
But when the Comanches were able to get the ball thru the Mustangs’ full-court defense and run their half-court offense – which means, thru the hands and decision making of Benjamin – they were able to get a lot of open looks for jump shooting-threats Yilmazturk and Noah Kim.
Yilmazturk hit five of six from behind the arc, Kim adding three of five en route to his 13 points.
As the case with Canyon, the Mustangs got the bulk of their scoring three sources, seniors Eneasi Piuleini (25 points), Jacob DeArmas (20) and Christian Kratz (15, including three of the team’s five 3s).
The Comanches play another key Crestview game at Crean Lutheran on Friday, the same night the Mustangs play host to Redondo (No. 7 in both ratings) in the first of two Bay League showdowns.
*In the final game of the event, Roosevelt – No. 1 in both ratings, as well as state-wide and nationally – cruised past Etiwanda, 75-51.
The Mustangs (21-1) got 24 points, five rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots from senior point guard Issac Williamson, and 16 points, four rebounds, five assists and three steals from classmate and backcourt mate Myles Walker.
Williamson surpassed 1,000 points in his high school career (one season at Riverside Poly, and one-plus at Roosevelt).
The Eagles (13-8/No.’s 27 & 23) were led by sophomore guard Sloane Harris’ 18 points, four rebounds and three assists.
In other games Saturday:
*La Mirada 76, Rancho Cucamonga 64: Sophomore Gene Roebuck (25 points) led four players in double-figure scoring as the Matadores (No. 5/CIFSS and 6/BurlisonOnBasketball) improved to 17-4.
Senior guard Julien Gomez added 17 points and led the Matadores with 10 rebounds and five assists.
Texas A&M-bound guard Aaron Glass scored 18 points (with four rebounds and five assists) for the Cougars (16-7/30 & 24 in the ratings).
*Damien 71, San Juan Hills 52: The Spartans (15-6/19 and 26) stepped outside of Baseline League play, getting 25 and 20 points, respectively, from juniors Eli Garner (with nine rebounds) and Elijah Smith (4 of 4 behind the arc, five rebounds, four assists, four steals and no turnovers).
Six-foot-eight Mason Hodges – one of the better still-available senior posts in the state – led the Stallions (13-7) with 28 points (including two 3s), nine rebounds, four assists and two steals.
*Crean Lutheran 79, Temecula Valley 59: Hunter Caplan continued a strong sophomore season, scoring 26 points (hitting six of nine 3s) to go with four assists while helping the Saints improve to 8-9, less than 24 hours after beating host Foothill, 61-60, in a Crestview League game.
Junior forward Jacob Majok – who had a terrific week for the Saints – added 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds
Another sophomore guard, Fabian Ruiz, led the Golden Bears (11-9) with 26 points – including eight 3s.
*Rolling Hills Prep 64, Village Christian 58: Every starter scored at least 11 points, with sophomore center Nick Welch, Jr. leading the 15-6 Huskies (50 & 17) with 14 points.
Junior forward Kawika Suter added 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists, and senior guard Mateo Trujillo 12 points, five rebounds and eight assists.
Sophomore guard Deion Lewis had 11 points, five assists and three steals for the Crusaders (9-7).
*Alemany 53, Fairmont Prep 42: Six players scored from six to 15 points – led by Tyler Vuille – as the Warriors, outscoring the Huskies by 15 points in the third quarter, improved to 15-3.
Six-nine junior David Abisogun led Fairmont Prep (9-8) with 13 points, 15 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and three steals.
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