PREP BASKETBALL : Garden Grove League Roundup : Campbell Scores 37 Points as La Quinta Holds Off Pacifica, 71-64

Scott Campbell scored 24 of his 37 points in the first half as La Quinta High School held off Pacifica’s late rally for a 71-64 Garden Grove League victory Friday at Pacifica.

Campbell, who also grabbed 8 rebounds, scored 17 points in the second quarter as La Quinta (12-4, 7-0) outscored Pacifica (10-5, 5-2), 21-11, to take a 39-27 halftime lead.

The Aztecs extended their lead to 49-31 with 4:24 left in the third quarter before Pacifica came back to outscore La Quinta, 14-5, to narrow the lead to 54-45 at the end of the quarter.

Dustin Bonham, who scored 8 points in the third quarter, got 9 more in the fourth as the Mariners outscored the Aztecs, 15-9, to reduce the lead to 65-60 with 2:28 left.

Campbell, however, made 2 free throws with 2:18 remaining and James Johnson’s shot from the corner with 1:33 left extended La Quinta’s lead to 69-62.

The Aztecs took a 71-62 lead with 36 seconds left on free throws by Scott Linck and Dave Posey.

Bonham finished with 28 points to lead Pacifica.

“We didn’t adjust very well to their pressure defense in the third quarter,” Pacifica Coach Jim Perry said. “It was the first time someone has pressed us in a long time, and we just didn’t handle it very well.”

“The kids showed a lot of character in the second half,” said Rhett Heckel, Pacifica’s coach. “We went into a man-to-man defense and put pressure on their guards (in the third quarter). Because of our pressure, Campbell wasn’t getting the ball and we were able to narrow their lead.”

Linck scored 9 of his 11 points in the first quarter as La Quinta took a 18-16 lead at the end of the quarter.

Bonham made 4 free throws in the first 2 minutes of the second quarter as Pacifica, which had trailed by 5 only seconds earlier, narrowed the lead to 23-21. The Aztecs then outscored the Mariners, 13-2, in a 4-minute span to take a 36-23 lead with 2 minutes before halftime.

Campbell, who made 3 3-point shots in the second period, scored 11 of his points during the run.

“He’s a man in a boys’ league,” Heckel said. “He can hurt you in so many different ways.”

Johnson finished up with 13 points and 6 rebounds for La Quinta, while Bill Snyder added 4 points and 12 assists. Todd Clendenon had 10 points for Pacifica.

Kennedy 83, Rancho Alamitos 40--Kennedy (12-7, 5-2), led by Jim Barker’s 3 3-point shots, outscored Rancho Alamitos, 21-10 in the first quarter. Eleven Kennedy players scored, led by Barker and Mike Pettingill with 16 each. Richard Pearce led Rancho Alamitos (6-7, 4-3) with 13.

Garden Grove 69, Santiago 52--Joe Squyres had 24 points and 13 rebounds to lead host Garden Grove (4-12, 3-4). Squyres made 8 of 10 shots as Garden Grove led, 31-18, at halftime. Chuck York scored 13 points for Garden Grove. Trung Van scored 15 points and Seng Lim 14 for Santiago (1-11, 1-6).