FOOTHILL CLASSIC: Foothill uses dominant second half to down Rancho

Whatever coach Kevin Soares said to the Foothill boys basketball team at halftime Saturday clearly worked.

After a lackluster first half, the re-energized Falcons came out and dominated Rancho in the second half and rolled to a 62-42 victory at the Foothill Holiday Classic.

“We woke up,” Soares said. “When you play hard good things happen. We ended up playing a lot harder than we did the first half.”

The first half did not go so well for the Falcons. The Rams were in control early, going on a 13-0 run midway through the first half to take a 25-18 lead, its biggest of the game. Rancho senior Justin Holiday got off to a hot start, scoring six points with four rebounds and three assists in the game’s first 10 minutes.

Then with 5:37 left in the first half, he went up for a contested layup and came down on his hand. He immediately signaled for the trainer and did not return to the game.

Without Holiday, the Rams were a different team. From the time he went down to when there was 8:55 remaining in the second half, almost 13 minutes of game time, Rancho managed 10 just points. In the second half it scored only 13 total.

Once the second half started, in was all Foothill. The Falcons started the half on an 18-2 run to erase their first-half deficit and put Rancho in the rear-view mirror. And just as Rancho tried to creep back into the game down 50-37 with six minutes left, Foothill sophomore Jace Roquemore had a key blocked shot on Rancho senior Chrys Jackson to shut the door.

“In my opinion it’s like a dunk,” Roquemore said of his block. “It’s like momentum. It can definitely change the game.”

From there the Falcons finished the game on a 15-5 run. Roquemore led the squad with 12 points, senior Kai Gamett scored 11 and junior Marvin Coleman and senior Mauricio Smith each supplied 10 points. Jackson led the Rams with 11 points.

With the win coupled with its 62-46 win later in the day against Tech, Foothill finished pool play undefeated and secured the top seed in the bracket, which begins Monday. That’s important to the Falcons.

“You always want to defend your home court,” Roquemore said. “This is where you practice every day and you should.”

Foothill 62, Tech 46 — Coleman’s 18 points led the Falcons over the Roadrunners.

Carl Fischer scored 12 for the Falcons, who led 47-31 at halftime.

Tyler Muwwakkil scored 16 to lead the Roadrunners. Justin Mixson added 11 points for Tech.

Rancho 48, Mount Miguel (Calif.) 47 — Dayshaw Robinson hit a field goal at the buzzer to give the Rams the victory over the Matadors.

Jackson led the Rams with 17 points, and Robinson finished with 14 points.

Darian Norwood led Mount Miguel with 18 points.

Arbor View 82, Montgomery (Calif.) 72 — Comillion Smith led the Aggies with 19 points as they took down the Aztecs.

Elijah Westall scored 13 for the Aggies, and teammate Sevonyea Smith had 10 points.

Timothy Crawford led Montgomery with 21 points, and Kyle Paranada scored 17.

Cimarron-Memorial 71, Army-Navy (Calif.) 41 — Demarco Alexander scored 18 to lead the Spartans in a rout of Army-Navy.

Keiron Hatchett had 14 points, and Brian Washington scored 11 for the Spartans, who outscored Army-Navy 34-14 in the second half.

Army-Navy’s Richard Polanco led all scorers with 24 points.

Chaparral 66, Army-Navy 61 — Samuel Porras and Jake Richter each scored 16 to lead the Cowboys over the Warriors.

Ronnie Hicks scored 15 for Chaparral, and teammate John Brooks had 12 points.

Polanco scored 31 to lead Army-Navy, and teammate J.C. Canahuate had 26 points.

Tech 73, Mount Miguel (Calif.) 57 — Jurelle Orbino scored 27 points to lead the Roadrunners to victory over the Matadors.

Miguel Pena and Gary Johnson each scored 12 for the Roadrunners.

James Allen led Mount Miguel with 13 points.

Jurupa Hills (Calif.) 66, Basic 64 — Geoff Faries scored 17 for the Wolves but it was not enough as they fell to Spartans.

Cris Dominguez had 15 points, and B.J. Wilson scored 13 for Basic.

Daniel Soto scored 23 for Jurupa Hills.

Del Sol 47, Jurupa Hills (Calif.) 45 — Jonathan Spearman had 17 points and the Dragons edged the Spartans.

Daniel Soto led all scorers with 35 points for Jurupa Hills.

Montgomery (Calif.) 47, Valley 45 — Josiah Newbern led the Vikings with 10 points but they came up short against the Aztecs.

Kyle Paranada had 16 points to lead Montgomery.