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Mason Hodges (left) and Adam Aziz led San Juan Hills to a tournament victory Thursday. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
San Juan Hills High School’s boys basketball team fell behind early by 11 points to Chino Hills Thursday in a championship semifinal game at the Luis Macias Tournament at Santa Ana.
But after a quick timeout, the Stallions responded to move ahead by two points and went on to capture a 74-60 victory over Chino Hills to advance into the championship game of the tournament.
The Stallions turned the tide with a 20-13 lead after one quarter.
Trabuco Hills and Laguna Hills play Friday at 5:50 p.m. at Santa Ana in the other semifinal. The championship is Saturday at 2 p.m. at Santa Ana. San Juan Hills won the tournament title in 2022 and took third place last year.
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“I’m happy with how we responded, we started the game; I don’t know what it was, they had a nice start, and we were a little loose with the basketball, and all of a sudden we’re down 11-0 but I liked our response, I felt everyone stayed composed, no one over-reacted and no one panicked and we showed why we have capability,” said San Juan Hills Coach Jason Efstathiou.
Mason Hodges, a 6-7 senior, led the way with 30 points, 19 in the first half to help San Juan Hills (3-0) jump to a 45-25 halftime lead. Senior guards Adam Aziz (15 points) and Trey Webb (12 points, four 3-pointers) also had solid games.
“Seeing the boys do it together is important, it didn’t just become about Mason, or just Adam, Trey hit shots, Garrett (Brehmer) was hustling, Cameron (Goltara) was making shots, it’s nice to see how these guys are really committed to playing together,” Efstathiou said.
“It’s awesome as a coach because it’s what we preach. It’s not always perfect but a lot of times we say we wish our teams play like teams and I feel like these guys have bought into playing like a team.”
Hodges, who has been a standout with the program, said the Stallions weren’t too concerned after falling behind early.
“We came out a little slow and made some turnovers,” Hodges said. “We went down 11-0, but we weren’t worried, we got it back together. After the timeout I think we went on a 20-2 run and we took it away from there, played our own game at our pace and ended up getting the job done.”
San Juan Hills came out firing in the third quarter and moved out to a 60-31 lead on a 3-pointer by Hodges midway through the stanza. The Stallions had a commanding 62-43 advantage moving into the final quarter before Chino Hills (2-1) began cutting the lead down late.
Chino Hills was led by Joaquin Rivera, who had 19 points, seven coming in the first quarter.
San Juan Hills gets a day off before going for the title on Saturday.
“I think we play either Trabuco Hills or Laguna Hills, I hope we get a good match-up,” Hodges said. “If it’s Trabuco, that’s going to be a fun one because they’re in our league this year.”
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
