Omair Memon led Yorba Linda with 15 points Wednesday night. (Photos Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone)
Yorba Linda’s boys basketball team got a balanced scoring effort and a blitz to start the fourth quarter to defeat San Clemente 58-41 Wednesday night in the second round of the Gary Raya So Cal Elite Classic at Portola.
To see the slide show, please click on the first photo
The Mustangs (8-2) move into the semifinals of the 10-team tournament to face Tesoro Friday night at 5:30 at Northwood. Laguna Beach will meet Colony in the other semifinal Friday at 7 p.m. at El Dorado.
Omair Memon led the way for Yorba Linda with 15 points. He made five 3-pointers and grabbed five rebounds. Chance Sandoval added 10 points and three assists and Connor Platt and Alex Davis had nine points each for Yorba Linda. Platt also had eight rebounds.
“When shots fall, coaches look smarter than they are and teams look better than they are,” said Yorba Linda Coach Jason Pietsch. “We hit some shots there and obviously that’s the point of basketball but I think it obviously brings your energy level up on defense.
“They didn’t shoot it exceptionally well except for 23 (Jack Caroll) but we’re happy. I thought it was a good win for us. We thought it would be a tough game and it was a good one.”
San Clemente (6-4) was led by Carroll with 13 points and Berk Harris with eight points.
Yorba Linda led 29-17 at halftime and extended the margin to 45-32 after three quarters.
Then the Mustangs used an 11-0 run to start the fourth quarter to move out to a 56-32 lead. Memon hit a 3-pointer to end the third quarter and two more 3-pointers in the final quarter to help Yorba Linda seal the victory.
“Omair is usually a starter for us,” Pietsch said. “Last night, we brought him off the bench. He’s kind of had a slow start to the season. And he grabbed a school record 18 rebounds last night coming off the bench. He rebounds well and he’s got a little spring to his step.”
Memon said he didn’t mind coming off the bench, he was just happy to get the win.
“My 3-point (shot) was falling and my teammates were getting me open shots,” Memon said. “They were collapsing a lot on the zone so the kick was wide open and I was knocking my shots down. I got my rhythmn early and the rest were falling.”
Memon downplayed the rebounding record the night before.
“My teammates were all boxing out, we were all boxing out, the ball was just coming to me and I was putting an effort in to get the ball,” he said.
-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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