Villa Park’s boys basketball team celebrates after winning the Grizzy Invitational.
Villa Park’s boys basketball team took its play to another level Saturday night in the championship game of the Grizzly Invitational at Godinez.
The Spartans raced to a 33-6 lead after one quarter and went on to defeat Yorba Linda 91-46 behind a 25-point performance by tournament MVP Julien Franklin, who is headed for Oregon State next year.
“It was a good start, I think it’s one of those law of averages things because we missed our first 12 shots last night,” said Villa Park Coach Kevin Reynolds. “So I figured as well as we shoot it, I didn’t think we would shoot it that poorly again tonight.
“We were ready to go; they were fired up to get a championship. I thought we played really well tonight. You only have the championship game that you’re playing in tonight. We don’t know if there are any more championships ahead of us, we hope so. But there may not be. So let’s just take the opportunity and seize the moment.”
Villa Park guard Cal Whitney, who had 15 points three 3-pointers and guard Maceo Reddick, who had 8 points, were named to the all-tournament team. The Spartans also got a strong performance from senior wing Riley Schroeder who had 15 points.
“Because they’re in our league so we had to really make a statement on how we’re going to rock this year,” Franklin said.
Yorba Linda (7-4) was led by its two all-tournament players Cory Knutson, who had 8 points and Omair Memon, who had six points. Chase Sandoval added 8 points for Yorba Linda.
Villa Park held a 51-22 lead at halftime and didn’t let up, outscoring Yorba Linda 29-12 in the third quarter. The game was played with a running clock in the fourth quarter and most of the Villa Park starters on the bench.
“We were out-manned and they were very good early on and we were very bad early on and then we could not get out of the hole,” said Yorba Linda Coach Jason Pietsch. “You can’t be behind 30 and try and play from behind. They’re good, they’re deep, their long and they’re athletic and they shot the ball well and we were probably a little nervous in the situation. It was a perfect storm for them and not for us, but hopefully we learn and we can make it a little more competitive the next time we play them, we hope.
“It was great week, we’re very excited with our progress and we’re looking forward to practice on Monday.”
Yorba Linda was without one of its starters guard Connor Platt, who suffered an ankle injury in Friday’s game.
-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
Photos from Friday’s semifinals and Saturday’s finals
Franklin named MVP of Grizzly Invitational all-tourney team
Two Yorba Linda players named to all-tourney team at Grizzly Invitational
Newport Harbor defeats CVC in overtime to take third place
Yorba Linda boys basketball team moves on to finals of Grizzly Invitational
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