LV PREP CHAMPIONSHIP: Woodbridge thwarts Wildcats’ defensive plans in semifinal

Woodbridge (Calif.) put on a clinic on ball movement against Las Vegas High's zone defense in the second half on Monday.

And when the Wildcats went man-to-man, the Warriors figured out how to attack that, too.

Mitchell Rausch scored 16 points, and Woodbridge topped host Las Vegas 57-48 in the semifinals of the Las Vegas Prep Championship.

"They run their stuff very well," Las Vegas coach Jason Wilson said. "They spaced the floor on us in the second half. They ran their high picks and got their looks at the basket."

On one particular sequence, the Warriors broke Las Vegas' press without a dribble, then zipped five passes against the Wildcats' zone to get a layup.

Once Las Vegas came out of the zone, Woodbridge was able to isolate players for drives to the basket.

"We're trying to get in passing lanes, trying to get tips and run outs, because that makes basketball pretty easy," Wilson said. "But they did a good job of taking care of the ball, and their kids ran their stuff well and ended up getting good looks."

Woodbridge had only five turnovers in the game and was 22-for-48 (45.8 percent) from the field.

Rausch wasn't announced as a starter, but took the floor to begin the game because one of his teammates' undershirt was the wrong color.

That turned out to be fortunate for Woodbridge, as Rausch scored eight of the team's first 11 points.

The Warriors led by 10 midway through the second quarter after a 3-pointer by C.J. Lomboy, but Las Vegas closed the half on a 9-2 run to make it 28-25 at the half.

Marquise Raybon led Las Vegas with 17 points, and Donovan Joyner added 11 points and six rebounds for the Wildcats. Eric Hill scored 10 for Las Vegas.

Both teams had played a quarterfinal earlier in the day, but Las Vegas' had finished its game just 90 minutes before the semifinal tip.

"We lost this game, but I was proud of our guys," Wilson said. "They played about as hard as they could considering we had just played an hour-and-a-half earlier. Fatigue was definitely some of it, but Woodbridge was definitely better down the stretch."

The Warriors play El Toro (Calif.) in the championship game at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Las Vegas takes on Rancho for third place at 5:30 p.m.

El Toro (Calif.) 77, Rancho 47 — Dawit Wilson had 24 points and four assists to lead the Chargers past the Rams in the other semifinal.

Demetrius Jackson had 15 points, and Patric Schoen scored 12 for El Toro, which was 10-for-21 on 3-pointers.

Chrys Jackson led Rancho with 14 points and six assists, and teammate Lamont Traylor had 10 points, nine rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots.

Las Vegas 53, Eagle Rock (Calif.) 50 — Joyner had 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists to help the Wildcats hold off the Eagles in a quarterfinal.

Hill added 13 points and seven rebounds for Las Vegas, which outscored Eagle Rock 14-6 in the third quarter to take a 40-35 lead.

Hill had eight points in the third quarter, and Eagle Rock struggled against the Wildcats' box-and-one defense.

Daniel Sebetich had 15 points on five 3-pointers in the first half, but was scoreless after halftime as Las Vegas changed defenses with Ronald Daniels and DiQuan Brown alternating guarding Sebetich while the rest of the team played zone.

Las Vegas led by as much as 12 in the fourth quarter, but struggled down the stretch from the free-throw line. Las Vegas was 5-for-9 from the line in the fourth quarter, and just 1-for-4 in the final minute as the Eagles made it close.

Ross Tiglao's rebound bucket with two seconds to play made it 53-50. Tiglao then got a steal and got the ball to Sebetich, whose 3-pointer at the buzzer went off the front of the rim.

Rancho 39, Agape Christian (Fla.) 33 — Traylor had 14 points and the Rams topped the Saints in a quarterfinal.

Jackson added 12 points for Rancho, which made 8 of 11 free throws in the fourth quarter to hang on.

Woodbridge (Calif.) 58, Foothill 54 — The Falcons pulled within two points in the final minute, but couldn't knock off the Warriors in a quarterfinal game.

Mauricio Smith had back-to-back buckets to cut the Woodbridge lead to 54-51 with 45 seconds to play.

After the Warriors missed two free throws, Smith pulled down an offensive rebound and was fouled with 26.8 seconds. He hit 1 of 2 free throws to pull within two at 54-52, but the Falcons couldn't complete the comeback.

Smith had 27 points and 19 rebounds to power Foothill, which trailed 48-39 after three quarters.

Vik Ghadi had 13 points to lead a balanced Woodbridge offense.

Ty Calhoun had 12 points, Anthony Coloma had 11 points and Lomboy scored 10.

El Toro (Calif.) 58, Basic 48 — Wilson scored 14 points to lead the Chargers over the Wolves in a quarterfinal game.

Tyler Collins had 11 points, and Ohmeed Kargozar scored 10 for the Chargers.

Kerry Keyes scored 17 to pace Basic.

Chaparral 53, Valley 47 — Marc Silas had 20 points as the Cowboys edged the Vikings in a consolation bracket semifinal.

Samuel Porras added 10 points for Chaparral, which led 18-8 after one quarter. The Cowboys play Liberty in the consolation championship at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday

Roell King led Valley with 12 points, and Zach Nichols scored 11 for the Vikings.

Liberty 55, Cimarron-Memorial 47 — Dyllan Robinson had 17 points and the Patriots held off the Spartans in a consolation bracket semifinal.

Cameron Burist added 15 points for Liberty, which was 5-for-7 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.

KeAnte Huddleston led Cimarron with 11 points.

Liberty 51, Legacy 35 — Robinson had 16 points to lead the Patriots over the Longhorns in the consolation bracket.

Kyle Thaxton added 11 points for Liberty, which held Legacy to six points in the fourth quarter.

Tim Jeffries scored 20 for the Longhorns.

Chaparral 69, Hanford (Calif.) 62 — Silas poured in 28 points to lead the Cowboys over the Bulldogs in the consolation bracket.

Ronnie Hicks added 15 points for Chaparral, which outscored Hanford 17-9 in the third quarter to take control.

Jayshaun Collins led the Bullpups with 14 points.

Cimarron-Memorial 72, Western 51 — Ja'Don Brown hit seven 3-pointers and scored 25 points to power the Spartans over the Warriors in the consolation bracket.

Keiron Hatchett added 13 points, and Maliek Branch scored 10 for Cimarron.

Kwan Carter and Muhrad McCluney each had 16 points for Western, which had just four points in the second quarter.

Valley 63, Las Vegas JV 30 — King scored 19 points to lead the Vikings to victory over the Wildcats' junior varsity in a consolation bracket game.

Nichols added 13 points, and Brelin Lacy scored 11 for Valley.