Chargers open tourney with 70-47 triumph

Mike Sciacca

The South Huntington Beach Chargers opened the All-Net Division

Sectional Tournament with a victory and kept their season record perfect

in the process as they defeated Covina Valley, 70-47, in a qualifying

round game.

The Chargers jumped out to a big lead early and held a 45-26 advantage

at the half.

Taylor King topped South Huntington Beach with 27 points and two of

his teammates, T.J. Lipold and Casey Becker, also scored in doubled

figures with 17 and 11 points, respectively.

The Chargers, now 14-0, begin play in the National Reebok Tournament

Saturday with an 11:45 a.m. game against Yorba Linda at Chapman

University in Orange.

The tournament championship game is scheduled for 4 p.m. Sunday at

Century High in Santa Ana.

In Fifth-Grade Sectional Tournament action:

HB South 60, El Modena 39

Huntington Beach South got its fast break in gear from the opening tip

and ran away with the easy win in All-Star action. Scott Marcin paced the

winners with 12 points and Connor Hughes added 10 while dominating the

boards. Austin Prather and Colton Larson each contributed eight points.

Irvine 54, HB South 39

The season came to an end for Huntington Beach South in the setback to

Irvine. The aggressive play of Dean Wall, Colton Larson and Connor Hughes

allowed Huntington Beach South to keep things close in the opening half

before Irvine’s height advantage took over in the second half. Wall and

Hughes each scored 10 points, Larson had eight and Dough Hansen and Kekai

Kamai also reached the scoring column. The win advanced Irvine to the

upcoming State tournament.