GORMAN TOURNEY: Gaels surprise selves, move into title game

At the start of the Bishop Gorman Holiday Classic, the host Gaels were not exactly the trendy pick to make the championship game.

Even Gorman coach Grant Rice said as much.

“We knew coming in there were some really good teams in here,” Rice said.

Yet thanks to Friday’s night’s 75-60 win over Foothill, another surprise semifinalist, the Gaels are headed to the finals of their tournament for the second straight year. Gorman plays the winner of the Denver East at 6 tonight, while Foothill meets Reno in the third-place game at 4:30 p.m.

“The kids are playing hard,” Rice said. “We had two tough losses earlier in the year. We’re trying to give guys confidence. We know we have guys who know how to play the game.”

Gorman knocked off Santa Margarita (Calif.) in the quarterfinals and caught a break on Thursday when Foothill upset St. John’s of Washington D.C. The Falcons beat Marin Catholic (Calif.) in the quarterfinals to earn their spot in the semifinals alongside Gorman.

Senior guard Kylel Coleman led the way for the Gaels against Foothill with 21 points and made the two biggest plays of the game. Junior John Loyd added 16 points and freshman Shabazz Muhammad finished with 13 points.

Early in the second half, the 6-foot Coleman showed off his leaping ability by rising up to block Kadeem Minor’s dunk attempt. That play helped spark an 18-2 run by the Gaels, which turned a 44-44 game into a 62-46 Gorman advantage.

“I think that gave us some momentum,” Rice said. “Kylel can jump. The guy went up and tested him, which was great. It was a great play both ways.”

Loyd had eight points during the spurt and dished out an assist to Coleman for an alley-oop dunk with 7:45 left to put Gorman on top 55-46.

The Gaels led 67-50 before a 15-foot jumper by Minor with 4:25 remaining broke a drought of more than seven minutes without a field goal by Foothill.

“We missed some shots, but a lot of that was us not aggressively going to the basket,” Foothill coach Kevin Soares said. “We kind of got a little frustrated because a couple calls didn’t go our way. We’ve got to play through that.

“It’s not always going to be easy. We’ve got to learn to play through adversity."

The Falcons were able to get as close as 68-59 after two free throws by Aaron Shepard with 1:16 to play, before Gorman closed the game on a 7-1 run.

Foothill’s Evan Roquemore had a team-high 15 points and four rebounds. Minor had 13 points and Shepard 10 for the Falcons, who were 17-for-49 from the field.

The Gaels finished 30-for-41 from the free-throw line, while Foothill went 24-for-33 .

“Up until tonight, I thought we played some of our best basketball,” Soares said. “But we competed to the end.”

Foothill used a big run of its own in the first half to take control. After the Gaels went up 15-11 on a fast-break basket by Muhammad, Foothill went on a 16-5 stretch as Minor’s baseline floater put the Falcons on top 27-20.

Gorman rallied as Coleman had his team’s final seven points of the half, including a breakaway dunk, to give the Gaels a 31-30 advantage at the break.

“The first half was OK,” Rice said. “I think the constant pressure throughout the game turned the momentum.”

Dixie (Utah) 60, Faith Lutheran 59 — Senior Chase Saunders scored 16 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Crusaders lost a late lead in regulation and then fell in overtime to the Flyers in the consolation bracket.

Dixie, of St. George, Utah, took the place of defending California Division I state champion McClymonds, which was stranded in Oakland after Wednesday’s snow.

Faith Lutheran led 54-50 after Brett Lubbe’s drive with 28 seconds left to set up a wild finish. Dixie got two free throws and a late steal to set up J.C. Lay’s game-tying free throws with no time remaining on the clock.

Dixie then scored the first six points of overtime to go up 60-54. Saunders drained a 3-pointer with 1:13 to go and Greg Thomas made two free throws to cut the Dixie lead to 60-59 with 47.3 seconds to play.

The Crusaders came up with a steal with 20 seconds left before Dixie stole it back. After the Flyers missed two free throws, Saunders’ final shot at the buzzer didn’t fall.

Lubbe had 13 points, senior Taylor Jantz finished with 11 and Thomas had 10 for the Crusaders.

Spring Valley 89, Servite (Calif.) 76 — Junior Justin Omogun poured in 20 points as the Grizzlies beat the Friars in the consolation bracket.

Jesse Chippoletti added 19 points for Spring Valley, and hit five of his team’s seven 3-pointers. Tyler Lewis (16 points) and Esteban Gonzalez (12 points) also reached double figures for the Grizzlies.

Chippoletti had 10 of his points in the first half as the Grizzlies took a 47-32 advantage. Omogun came alive after the break with 12 points and Lewis had 11 second-half points as Spring Valley overcame a 16-for-41 effort from the free throw line.

Richard Supan led Servite with 20 points.

Desert Pines 80, Granite Hills (Calif.) 66 — Pierre Jackson scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half as the Jaguars pulled away from the Eagles in the consolation bracket.

Reggie Shaw added 21 points and Chris Perry 14 for Desert Pines.

Jackson was outstanding from the foul line as he made 11 of 14 shots, all in the second half. Shaw had 14 points in the final 16 minutes as Desert Pines outscored the Eagles 43-30.

Dean Miller led Granite Hills with 27 points, including seven 3-pointers.

Bishop Gorman 69, Santa Margarita (Calif.) 67 — Loyd scored 12 of his 22 points in the second half as Gorman rallied from a 13-point deficit to down Santa Margarita.

Coleman added 18 points — 11 in the second half — for the Gaels. Coleman had a pair of steals and dunks in the second half. Muhammad added 13 points, and Czar Robotham scored 10 for Gorman.

David Munoz led Santa Margarita with 23 points.

Foothill 56, Marin Catholic (Calif.) 33 — Roquemore scored 14 points, and the Falcons steadily pulled away from Marin Catholic.

Micah Shepard added 12 points for Foothill, which had 11 players score at least two points each.

Desert Pines 86, Servite (Calif.) 56 — Jackson poured in 24 points as Desert Pines bounced back from a 22-point loss to Reno on Thursday and thumped Servite.

Shaw added 16 points for the Jaguars. Perry scored 15, and Cliff Harrell had 13.

Desert Pines made 28 of 33 free throws.

Thunder Ridge (Colo.) 46, Faith Lutheran 37 — Dave Arnold had 28 points as Thunder Ridge downed the Crusaders.

Lubbe led Faith Lutheran with 14 points, and Saunders scored 11.