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Yorba Linda players head back to the bench following a timeout. (PHOTO: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Yorba Linda High School’s boys basketball team used a balanced scoring attack to defeat Santa Ana 72-41 Thursday in a consolation round game of the Luis Macias Tournament at Santa Ana.
The Mustangs (1-2) were led by Rocco Gaffoglio, who had 13 points. Zen Bhayani had 12 points, Elyas Hasseem 11 points and Kobe Pietsch 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Yorba Linda jumped out to a 19-10 lead after one quarter, then outscored Santa Ana 26-5 in the second quarter to move out to a 45-15 halftime lead.
The Mustangs were in control after that.
“It’s nice to get the first win, the last couple of nights we’ve played some good opponents and it’s been tough,” said Yorba Linda Coach Jason Pietsch.
“A lot of guys played well. Kobe (Pietsch) does a good job of rebounding every night on both ends of the court and our other bigs Phillip (Hawkins) and Elyas (Hasseem) did a nice job as well. We have a lot of new players to the varsity level and the varsity atmosphere. All this experience is going to be good for them later down the season.”
Yorba Linda is still without two football players, Jordan Laws and Holden Nagin, who are on the Mustangs team that will play in the semifinal round of the CIF playoffs Friday night.
Santa Ana (0-3) was led by Jayden Carter who had 14 points. Aaron Rivera added seven points and Issac Alvarez six points.
The Saints will wrap up the tournament on Saturday.
“In this tournament, we want to end on a good note,” said first-year coach Rick Mares. “We fell short the last three games, but we’ve played great opponents, we just need to challenge ourselves and be a better team overall.
“I feel with the challenges we have early, it’s going to make us a better team.”
Former Santa Ana head coach Fareed ElMasry has rejoined the program as an assistant coach and has helped Mares running the tournament.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
