GORMAN TOURNEY: Gaels put game in Loyd’s hands, advance to Holiday Classic final

Bishop Gorman’s boys basketball team had seen a 12-point halftime lead disappear against LaVerne (Calif.)  Lutheran.

Then Johnathan Loyd took over.

The senior point guard scored 11 points in the final 2:18 to carry the Gaels to a 74-66 victory in the semifinals of the Bishop Gorman Holiday Classic on Friday.

“We want to get the ball in John Loyd’s hands,” Gorman coach Grant Rice said. “He’s fearless. We’d go to war with him anytime. We love the kid.”

Gorman will play Bishop McNamara (Md.) for the title at 6:20 p.m. today at Gorman. The Gaels are gunning for their second consecutive tournament title.

Loyd hit 9 of 11 free throws down the stretch and had a team-high 27 points.

LaVerne Lutheran had tied the game at 59 on Grant Jerrett’s two free throws with 2:30 to play. But Loyd made two free throws, then had a steal and layup and Gorman was able to hold on.

Senior Anson Winder, who has signed to play at Brigham Young, carried the Gaels early, scoring 15 of his 25 points in the first half.

“We ran some set plays for (Winder) and he did a really good job of attacking the basket,” Rice said. “We talked about not settling for the jump shots, and Anson did a good job of getting to the basket and finishing with his athleticism.”

Winder had four alley-oop dunks, all on passes from Loyd.

“Those are our big two guys right now, the guys with the most experience, so we put the ball in their hands in the second half and they both produced,” Rice said.

Loyd and Winder helped offset a terrific game by Jerrett. The 6-foot-8-inch post player had 31 points and 13 rebounds. He shot 19-for-20 at the free-throw line, part of LaVerne Lutheran’s 31-for-32 foul shooting as a team.

Gorman capitalized on the Trojans’ 17 turnovers, turning them into 19 points.

Bishop Gorman 109, Torrance North (Calif.) 69 — At Gorman, Winder had 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists to lead the Gaels to the easy win in the quarterfinals of the Gold Bracket.

Taylor Spencer and Ryan Parks added 15 points apiece for Gorman, which placed eight players in double figures in the victory.

Johnny Brown had 14 points, Alex Turner added 13, Loyd chipped in 12, and Dezi Allazetta and Xavier Grimble each scored 10 for the Gaels.

Turner had nine rebounds, and Loyd had five assists.

Gorman made 39 of 71 field goals (54.9 percent) and won easily despite turning the ball over 30 times.

Hoover (Calif.) 69, Foothill 68 — At Gorman, O.C. Basey hit a free throw with 0.5 seconds left to give Hoover the victory.

Foothill took a 68-66 lead on an Evan Roquemore drive with 1:15 to play.

Hoover tied the game on a pair of free throws by Angelo Chol with 1:04 to go.

Foothill missed a potential go-ahead shot, and Hoover rebounded. Basey was fouled about 15 feet from the basket. He missed his first attempt, but hit the second and Roquemore’s 75-foot desperation heave was no good.

Roquemore had 21 points, six rebounds and four assists to lead the Falcons. Ty Copeland scored 13 points, and Zac Ginter added 12 points and 11 rebounds for Foothill.

Chol had 23 points, 12 rebounds and two blocked shots to pace Hoover.

Christian Life (Texas) 82, Foothill 70 — At Gorman, Deividas Pukis scored 25 points as Christian Life downed the Falcons in the Gold quarterfinals.

Roquemore scored 21 to lead Foothill, which trailed 41-31 at the half.

Copeland added 15 points for the Falcons.

Faith Lutheran 58, Mullen (Colo.) 56 — At Faith Lutheran, Brett Lubbe scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and the Crusaders went 10-for-12 from the free-throw line in the second half to hold off Mullen in the Silver Bracket.

Sam Done added 11 points for Faith Lutheran, which withstood a last-second shot to tie the game by Mullen.

Spring Valley 89, Melbourne 2 (Australia) 62 — At Faith Lutheran, Justin Omogun had 22 points as the Grizzlies pulled away from Melbourne in a Silver Bracket game.

Malcolm Scott added 15 points, and Anton Stallworth scored 11 for Spring Valley.

Granite Hills (Calif.) 74, Silverado 71 — At Faith Lutheran, the Skyhhawks rallied from a 37-27 halftime deficit to force overtime, but came up short against Granite Hills in a Silver Bracket game.

Ruben Jackson paced Silverado with 24 points. Dave Ware added 13 points for the Skyhawks.

Desert Pines 58, Valhalla (Calif.) 52 — At Faith Lutheran, Tyler Larson poured in 19 points to help the Jaguars outlast Valhalla in a Silver Bracket game.

Caleb Myles added 10 points for Desert Pines.