TARKANIAN CLASSIC: Balanced Gorman boys cruise in tourney

But that might be little solace for the Gaels’ opponents.

Gorman used its depth Thursday, placing three scorers in double figures, on the way to an 82-50 home win over Narbonne (Calif.) in the Tarkanian Classic.

“It’s a blessing to be so deep,” said Gorman coach Grant Rice, who had seven players score six or more points. “But it’s awfully tough as well. It’s a gift and a curse, because a lot of our guys deserve to play. We’re just trying to mix and match and go with guys that are hot at times.”

Without Muhammad, who is playing at UCLA, the Gaels (8-0) probably won’t lean on one scorer this year. Junior point guard Noah Robotham, who averaged 19 points in leading the Gaels to the title at the Wild West Shootout in Reno last weekend, had one basket Thursday.

But others stepped up, especially Muhammad’s brother, Rashad, who had 21 points, six rebounds and four assists.

The Gauchos were hanging around when Muhammad scored eight points in a span of 1 minute, 12 seconds to push the Gaels’ lead to 52-35 with 11:19 to play.

“Rashad’s going to score in bunches,” Rice said.

Muhammad was just 3-for-10 from the field, including 0-for-3 on 3-pointers, in the first half. But he was 7-for-8 from the field in the second half.

“He got out to a tough start in the first half,” Rice said. “He got some really good looks but just didn’t knock them down, so we talked to him about getting a little closer to the basket and getting some 10-footers and some floaters.”

Stephen Zimmerman, a 7-foot sophomore, added 13 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks, and senior guard Trey Kennedy had 10 points and five rebounds.

Robotham had only two points but did a good job of running the offense and pressuring the ball on defense. He had seven assists and three steals.

“Noah is having a fantastic season,” Rice said. “He didn’t score tonight, but he still impacted the game. He’s just doing such a good job out there. He’s definitely having a really great season so far.”
Dominique Street led Narbonne with 18 points, 15 coming in the first half.

“The end of the first half wasn’t great,” Rice said. “We relaxed a little bit, and they made a little comeback.”

Sheldon (Calif.) 68, Durango 50 — At Gorman, the Huskies closed the first half on a 13-4 run and rolled to the win.

Ryan Manning had 24 points and six rebounds, and Dakarai Allen added 20 points and five rebounds to lead Sheldon, which led 35-25 at the half.

Da’Jon Streeter had 14 points, an Tyler Watts scored 12 for Durango, which got eight rebounds and two blocked shots from Dartangan Rollins.

Mater Dei (Calif.) 71, Cheyenne 30 — At Gorman, Elijah Brown scored all 24 of his points in the first half as the Monarchs routed the Desert Shields.

Brown was 9-for-11 from the field in the half to help Mater Dei to a 41-11 lead.

Stanley Johnson added 17 points and five rebounds for the Monarchs.

Jas Coulson paced Cheyenne with 12 points.

Faith Lutheran 44, Southern Australia 32 — At Faith Lutheran, Clayton Holthus tallied 10 points, and the Crusaders outscored Southern Australia, 31-19 in the second half to earn the win.

St. Anthony (Calif.) 70, Spring Valley 56 — At Faith Lutheran, Justin Frazier and Joinnaty Spears each scored 14 points to help St. Anthony top the Grizzlies.

Drew Reid added 10 points for St. Anthony.

Dionte Humphrey had 20 points, and Travis Walton scored 10 for Spring Valley.

Ribet Academy (Calif.) 82, Shadow Ridge 64 — At Faith Lutheran, Bono Zekan had 24 points, and Amir Kamgan scored 17 to lead the Fightin’ Frogs past the Mustangs.

Brandon Robinson added 13 points, and Ricky Cors scored 10 for Ribet.

Terrell Bowden paced Shadow Ridge with 17 points. Serph Decker had 15 points, and Kealyn Butler scored 14 for the Mustangs.