Torrey Pines stops Poway 74-43 in San Diego Section Open Division quarterfinals: 3 observations
CARMEL VALLEY -- Torrey Pines turned up their defensive pressure in the second quarter to pull ahead of Poway and cruise to a 74-43 win in Friday's Open Division quarter-final game. Stanford-signee Brandon Angel led all scorers with 21 points. Junior guard Chris Howell added 14 points, six rebounds, and six assists.
SECOND QUARTER
The second quarter began with Torrey Pines holding a 19-15 lead, though things quickly changed. Poway committed seven turnovers in the quarter and had difficulty shooting which led to many quick baskets for the Falcons at the other end.
“This time we really put it on them, and I think the key to
that was we were getting stops, deep outlets and layups there for a little bit,”
junior guard Nick Herrmann said postgame.
The Falcons held Poway to four points in the 2nd
quarter while scoring 25 of their own to open up a 44-19 halftime lead.
“I think we just knew that we’ve been coming out down at half in a lot of games so we put the emphasis on coming from the jump and as coach says, imposing our will,” Stanford-bound forward Brandon Angel said.
The Falcons continued their excellent defense into the third
quarter holding Poway to six points over a 13-minute stretch.
FALCONS DEFENSE SHINES
Torrey Pines has been a defense-oriented team all season and showcased their tough man-to-man pressure against Poway. The Falcons were able to force Poway point guard Adam Sevier into tough shots all night and allowed no other Titan player to reach double digits in scoring. The Falcons finished the night with 12 steals.
With the win, Torrey Pines advanced to the CIF Semi-final round for the 14th consecutive season.
Poway entered the contest having won 11 in a row after slicing
through Palomar League play this season. The Titans hadn’t been held to under
50 points since a loss to Capistrano Valley on December 14th.
THE SEMIFINALS ARE SET
Torrey Pines, the three-seed, will make the trip to St. Augustine to take on the second-seeded Saints on Wednesday night with the winner advancing to Saturday night’s Open Division Championship at UCSD’s Rimac Arena. The Saints and Falcons squared off back on December 28th with the Saints winning 64-56.
Top-seeded Cathedral Catholic revenged their previous loss
to eight-seed Christian on Friday on the other side of the bracket to advance
to Wednesday’s semi-final.
Francis Parker traveled to Foothills Christian to take on
the Knights for the second time in the past week. Francis Parker took an early
lead and held on late to eliminate the Knights, 70-63. The Lancers and Knights
played three times this season with the road team winning all three. Francis
Parker will take on Cathedral Catholic, who they played in their season opener,
losing 64-60.
