FOOTHILL HOLIDAY CLASSIC: Skunderik shoots Crusaders past Falcons

Foothill’s boys basketball team is known for its shooters.

On Saturday, the last man off the bench for Faith Baptist Christian Academy (Ga.) shot the Falcons out of the game.

Milon Skunderik hit three 3-pointers and scored 15 points in the first half to help the Crusaders take control on the way to a 61-40 win in the Gold Division championship game at the Foothill Holiday Classic.

“We got into foul trouble, so I thought we had to go zone a little bit,” Foothill coach Kevin Soares said. “And we lost track of where he was and he got hot. And that was the difference. That blew it open for them.”

Foothill led 18-12 early before Skunderik got hot. The 6-foot-6-inch wing, who didn’t even play in the team’s tournament opener, hit his third 3-pointer with 4:22 left in the half to put Faith Baptist up 23-21. The Crusaders wouldn’t trail again.

Foothill cut the lead to 41-31 on a rebound bucket by Torrance Littles with 10:36 to play, but Faith Baptist went on a 16-4 run to put the game away.

“We want to be different in the sense that we want kids that are kind of old school and battle until the end,” Soares said. “And we didn’t do that tonight. But we won’t play like that again the rest of the season.”

Littles led Foothill with 10 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots.

Skunderik finished with 19 points and eight rebounds for Faith Baptist, which got 12 points from Rashaan Benson and 11 points from Gold Division Most Valuable Player Jahman Dalancy.

Centennial 65, Valhalla (Calif.) 52 — Eddie Davis had 23 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs over the Norsemen in the White Division championship game.

White Division MVP Troy Brown had 19 points, eight rebounds and three steals for the Bulldogs. Garrett Scheer had 10 points, six rebounds and three assists for Centennial.

Cole Henderson led Valhalla with 17 points, including five 3-pointers.

Las Vegas 83, Army-Navy (Calif.) 76 — Re’Kwon Smith had 29 points and seven rebounds to lead the Wildcats to the win in the Gold Division third-place game.

Patrick Savoy added 17 points, and Tyler Bey had 12 points and seven rebounds for the Wildcats.

Army-Navy’s Caleb Morris scored 38 points, including 29 in the first half.

Shadow Ridge 75, Bonanza 56 — The Mustangs scored 19 points off 14 first-half Bonanza turnovers on the way to third place in the White Division.

Jordin Williams had 17 points and six rebounds, and Serph Decker added 16 points and four assists for Shadow Ridge, which led 32-25 at the half.

Preston Echols had 15 points and six rebounds for the Mustangs.

Jamal Logan paced Bonanza with 22 points, and teammate DeAndre Hicks scored 19.

Desert Pines 68, Canyon Springs 65 — The Jaguars used a six-point possession late in the second half to take control, and they held on to defeat the Pioneers to take fourth place in the Gold Division.

Kevin Butler was fouled with 1:11 to play and the score tied at 59. Canyon Springs’ bench was whistled for a technical foul when the coaches objected to the call.

Butler drained all four free throws, and Re’Meake Keith scored on the ensuing possession to give Desert Pines a 65-59 lead.

Canyon Springs had a chance to tie the game when Gerad Davis made a basket and was fouled with 16.6 seconds. But he missed the free throw, leaving the Jaguars with a 66-65 advantage.

Desert Pines hit 2 of 4 free throws on its next two possessions, leaving the door open for the Pioneers. But Shaquile Carr missed a pair of 3-pointers on the game’s final possession.

Keith had 19 points to lead Desert Pines. Butler scored 12, Coby Myles 11 and Timothy Jeffries 10 for the Jaguars.

Carr led Canyon Springs with 28 points, and Davis scored 18.

Del Sol 64, Granite Hills (Calif.) 58 — Kyle Collins had 20 points to lift the Dragons to the win for fourth place in the White Division.

Jonross Juhas added 14 points, and Brian Greer scored 13 for Del Sol.

Andrew Manning led Granite Hills with 16 points.

Valley 80, Basic 66 — Cameron Burton had 26 points, seven rebounds and three assists to help the Vikings beat the Wolves for fifth place in the Gold Division.

Shea Garland added 18 points and seven rebounds, Nick Brannon had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Gerard Harden had 10 points, nine rebounds and six assists for Valley. The Vikings played without leading scorer Spencer Mathis, who sat out after receiving two technical fouls on Friday.

Antraye Johnson had 25 points to lead Basic. Chandler Kamai added 15 points for the Wolves, who were outrebounded 48-31.

Palo Verde 73, Liberty 70 — Travis Gondrezick had 22 points as the Panthers edged the Patriots in a consolation game.

Kyler Hack added 12 points, and Braxton Richard scored 11 for Palo Verde.

Elijah Graves led Liberty with 23 points. Noah Jefferson scored 16, Ryan Taggert 12 and Tyler Newman 11 for the Patriots.

Eldorado 73, NFL Yet Academy (Ariz.) 67 — Jayveon Brown scored 32 points to lead the Sundevils to the consolation win.

D’Quan Crockett added 17 points for Eldorado, which led 49-26 at the half.

Damien Buchan scored 20 points to lead NFL Yet.

Green Valley 52, Faith Lutheran 50 — Troy Cropper scored 22 points as the Gators edged the Crusaders in a consolation game.

Romello Jones added 10 points for Green Valley.

Clayton Holthaus led Faith Lutheran with 20 points, and teammate Mitch Fulfer scored 15.

Rancho 60, Spring Valley 50 — Jaylin Gaston scored 13 points as the Rams beat the Grizzlies in a consolation game.

Demitri Duckworth added 12 points for Rancho.

Lincoln (Colo.) 77, Chaparral 55 — Michael Sparks hit five 3-pointers and scored 27 points to lead the Lancers over the Cowboys in a consolation game.

Chaparral’s Tyree McNeal led all scorers with 31 points. Marc Silas added 15 points for the Cowboys.