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Foothill’s Isaiah Bernard puts up a shot over the defense of La Mirada’s Christopher Cuevas Monday night. (Photos courtesy Jim McCormack, For OC Sports Zone).
Foothill High School’s boys basketball team had its 15-game winning streak snapped as the Knights fell to La Mirada 53-50 Monday night at the MLK Dream Classic at St. John Bosco High School.
Sophomore guard Julien Gomez scored 30 points to lead the Matadores (16-7). Foothill (20-2) lost for only the second time this season and for the first time since Dec. 5 against San Clemente.
“Honestly, I think it’s because of our conditioning; we’re a third-quarter team,” said Gomez, who scored 19 second-half points, including 10 in the final quarter. “This is a big win for us; we just beat an Open Division team and this win will give us momentum.”
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Knights Coach Yousof Etemadi said his team didn’t execute down the stretch.
“They started making three’s and that gave them momentum in the second-half,” said Etemadi. “Their offensive rebounding hurt us and they got to loose balls and we just didn’t execute in the second-half.”
Foothill led 40-34 as the fourth-quarter began, but La Mirada took a 46-45 lead on Gomez’s basket with 3:18 to play. Zach Stead’s dunk with 2:57 left gave the Knights a brief 47-46 lead.
Athan Sierra drilled a 3-pointer allowing La Mirada to retake the lead at 49-47 with 2:31 remaining. Danny Kennard hit a free throw and Carlo Billings’ bucket gave the Knights a 50-49 lead with 1:34 left, but Foothill didn’t score the rest of the way.
Gomez then hit two clutch baskets, the second one with 44 seconds remaining to give the Matadores a 53-50 lead. The Knights had a final chance to tie the score in the final seconds but their 3-point attempt fell short and La Mirada held on to win.
“We’ve been a second-half team all year,” said La Mirada Coach Randy Oronoz. “Julien’s scoring has been impressive and his leadership has been a key for us. We beat a quality team and this will help us move forward to obtaining our goals, to win league and CIF.”
Billings said his team let down late in the game.
“We’ve been inconsistent in the second-half this season by letting our foot off the gas pedal,” said Billings, who scored 12 points. “We also stopped rebounding in the second-half.”
Early in the second-quarter Foothill held a 23-10 lead and had a 30-21 halftime advantage.
Kennard scored 10 points in the opening quarter and led the Knights with 15 points in the game. Sean Cervantes also added nine points for the Matadores.
—Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone
