Beckman and Sunny Hills boys basketball teams meet in semifinals of Century Elks Tournament tonight

Beckman Coach John Goins will lead the Patriots into the semifinals tonight against Sunny Hills.

Beckman’s boys basketball team is moving on to the semifinals of the Century Elks Tournament tonight, Friday, Dec. 28, at 7:30 after defeating La Salle 76-58 Thursday night in the semifinals.

The Patriots were led by Dylan Thoerner and Aaman Soma, who had 21 points each.

Beckman (11-4) will face Sunny Hills with the winners moving on to the finals Saturday night. The other semifinal features Newport Harbor vs. El Toro at 6 p.m.

Sunny Hills (11-7) defeated California 64-50 on Thursday. Luke Hosozazawa had 26 points and 13 rebounds and Wilson Cal had 24 points and four rebounds to lead the Lancers.

Beckman was in a battle with La Salle for a half before breaking the game open in the second half.

“We were tied 30-30 at halftime, and it was a lot of work to keep it even,” said Beckman Coach John Goins. “La Salle’s athleticism and physicality took was challenging for us to handle and they have a heck of a player in Kenneth Franklin Jr, who I told my guys before the game could put up 30 plus up on us if we aren’t careful; he finished with 23 which I thought was a good job by our guys.

“We blew things open in the second half, outscoring them 25-17 in the third quarter, and kept it on with a 21-11 final quarter. I made some adjustments defensively to keep them out of the paint and offensively to relieve the ball pressure they were putting on us. The boys came out and executed well, with Soma scoring nine points in the third quarter along with some nice interior passes, and Thoerner added nine in the third too before picking up his fourth foul, which kept him out for about six minutes of game time between the third and fourth quarter.

“Then he came in with about five minutes left in the fourth and scored six quick points to extend the lead into the upper teens and put it away. That was a great second half for us against a superior physical team, but luckily our schedule this year has had us play a lot of very good teams, so we just adjusted and ended up finding what worked. The boys didn’t panic or get down, but knew they needed to do a better job and they did.”