St. Benedict 69, Taft 43

Both teams are doing their pre-game circle chants and we should be underway soon! Both teams come out tight, some ugly shots on both sides. St. Benedict gets on the board first with a bucket from Corey Stokes, answered with one for Taft by Carter. The Gray Bees big wide bodies are giving Taft some trouble early. Stokes with a couple of nice short jumpers and Benedict is up by eight. Zach Rosen's three puts Benedict up 13, 17-4. A four point first quarter is rough for Taft.

2nd quarter opens with a 11-0 run for Taft punctuated with Garrett Green, Larry Drew and Justin Hawkins back to back to back three-pointers. NBA three for Corey Stokes ends that Gray Bees scoring drought. Another three from Rosen and TWO back to back from Tamir Jackson, extending the Benedict lead to 15. Just tons of threes being shot - lots of misses too. Taft is struggling right now. Rosen steals a bad pass and lays it up. a 15-0 run for St. Benedict makes it 32-12 with 2:29 before halftime. Another three from Stokes and a huge slam by Samardo Samuels makes it a 20-0 run, 37-15. Rosen layup and Samuel layup, 24-0 run. Last possession Rosen takes the inbounds, runs down the clock and drains a leaner, 43-15 at the half. Stokes has 14, Rosen 12 and Samuels 10 at the half. Justin Hawkins leads Taft with five.

The game is a bit more even so far in the second half but at 50-24, Taft has dug themselves a huge hole. The dunk-fest has started for the Gray Bees with about four to go as the lead extends to 27.

Taft 4 11 14 14 -43
St. Benedict 17 26 14 12 - 69

Taft - T. Carter 10, J. Hawkins 10, L. Drew 9, B. Smith 6, G. Green 3, D. Brumfield 2, S. Fowler 2, B. Kamwa 1. Leading rebounders - T. Carter 8, J. Hawkins 5. Assist leaders - Drew 1.

St. Benedict - C. Stokes 16, S. Samuel 15, Z. Rosen 14, T. Jackson 13, G. Echenique 7, D. McMillan 4. Leading rebounders - C. Stokes 7, S. Samuel 7. Assist leaders - Z. Rosen 5.

Taft 57, Riverside 39

Taft's speed and reach is giving Riverside some trouble to start out. Larry Drew Jr again has been fun to watch. Riverside's Weslye Saunders has been a bright spot for the Pirates. At the half, Riverside has seven points from Saunders while Taft is led by Garrett Green with six.

Taftf leads by 11 at the end of three. Drew has made more dazzling passes in one game than we've seen all day and the Toreadors slowly edge further away, 50-28 with three to go. He isn't looking for his own shot but working to put everyone else on the scoreboard, be it Bryce Smith for threes in the corner or Green down the lane.

Taft pulls their starters and that's all she wrote. Green finished with 12, Toreador long distance shooter Bryce Smith with 13 points. Riverside got 13 from Justin Burton and Saunders with nine.

Riverside 8 6 11 14 - 39
Taft (CA) 15 9 12 21 - 57

Riverside - J. Burton 13, W. Saunders 9, S. Evans 8, H. Collins 3, C. Sanford 2, G. Hill 2, T. Ringer 2. Leading rebounders - W. Saunders 9. Assists leader - C. Byrd 2.

Taft - B. Smith 13, G. Green 11, B. Kamwa 10, J. Hawkins 9, L. Drew 8, T. Carter 4, E. Phelps 2. Leading rebounders - G. Green 7. Assists leader - L. Drew 4.

Taft 68, Apex 41

Taft from Woodland Hills California has the longest trip of the year honors and is facing Apex, who just drove about 10-15 minutes on over to the gym here at State. Larry Drew Jr opens the game with a three-pointer, quickly answered by Apex's Scott Bedoe. Back and forth, Taft hits three more threes and edges out to a 14-8 lead.

A 23-4 run by Taft opens up a twenty-three point lead as Larry Drew Jr is 5-5 from three-point land.

Yorel Hawkins won't let Apex doesn't give up but the Toreadors just have too many weapons and the points start piling up. About the six minute mark in the fourth, most of the starters for Taft head to the bench, up 24.

Apex 12 11 9 9 - 41
Taft 16 25 11 16 - 68

Apex - Y. Hawkins 29, S. Bedoe 5, T. Plummer 5, S. Murphy 2. Leading rebounders: Y. Hawkins 7. Leasing assists: three with one.

Taft - L. Drew 17, B. Smith 14, E. Phelps 8, G. Green 7, D. Brumfield 7, B. Kamwa 4, J. Hawkins 4, T. Carter 4, J. Boykins 3,. Leading rebounders - D. Brumfield 5. Leading assists: five with one.