Strong third quarter pushes Tesoro past Esperanza 57-44 and into championship semifinals of Gary Raya Classic

Noah Honetschlager (left) and Matt DeAngelo led Tesoro to a tournament victory Wednesday night.

Tesoro’s boys basketball team overcame a 3-point halftime deficit to defeat Esperanza 57-44 in the So Cal Elite Gary Raya Classic Wednesday night at Northwood.

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Tesoro (6-1) trailed 29-26 at halftime but came out strong in the third quarter. The Titans went on an 8-2 run to start the third quarter and outscored the Aztecs 21-4 to take command and move into the championship semifinals Friday night.

“It’s all defense, we started picking up our defense; we’re trying to work on that and set the tone with our defense,”  said Tesoro Coach Steve Garrett. “That leads into our offense. But it was great energy. It started up top with our guards pressuring a lot and our big fellow and the guys behind being loud and all talking. But it was all defense.”

Offensively, 6-8 senior center Noah Honetschlager led the way with 23 points. He also grabbed 11 rebounds. Junior guard Matt DeAngelo scored 18 points and senior guard Matt Jones had nine assists.

Senior guard Trevor Geiger scored 10 points and sophomore forward Cory Johnson added 9 points for Esperanza (5-8).

But the Aztecs had trouble containing Honetslager, who was a force inside and made all 14 free throw attempts.

Honetslager has been making about 85 percent of his free throws this year, Garrett said.

“It’s a fine line of feeding it into him and guys still playing their game,” Garrett said. “DeAngelo scoring (helped) and the guys who don’t get the credit (include) Matt Jones, who is on top harassing their point guard. I thought tonight Matt Jones and Kaden Garrett were setting up guys.”

Esperanza made a late run early in the fourth quarter as Isaiah Alvarez scored seven unanswered points to cut the lead to 40-33 with 5:40 remaining. But Tesoro was able to maintain order after that.

Tesoro will face JSerra Friday at 5:30 p.m. The winner of that game wins Pool C and moves on to the championship game of the tournament Saturday at 6:15 p.m. at Woodbridge.

JSerra defeated Northwood Wednesday night 65-55.

SCHEDULE FOR FRIDAY’S GARY RAYA CLASSIC

HIGHLIGHTS OF OTHER TOURNAMENT AND NON-LEAGUE GAMES

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com