Sophomore strong

Prep boys hoops: Saugus, West Ranch, Valencia come out on top on Tuesday night

At a summer tournament in Santa Barbara, Saugus coach Alfredo Manzano sat down his plethora of talented sophomores, outlining their importance in sending out the team’s senior class on a positive note.

Those sophomores powered Saugus to an 86-74 lead at Hart on Tuesday night, headlined by a team-high 18 points from Adrian McIntyre and 17 points from Tyler Mehl.

“We just knew it was going to be our seniors’ last time playing here, so we wanted to get them that win because it meant so much to them,” McIntyre said.

While McIntyre was the Cents’ leading scorer, it was Mehl who helped them jump out to a 42-21 lead at intermission, including a 17-0 run to close out the final four minutes of the half.

Mehl had 14 of his points in the first half while hitting four 3s as he battled foul trouble for most of the second half.

“Some days, I can’t buy a single shot,” Mehl said. “Then some days like today, I can shoot from anywhere and it feels like it’s going to go in.”

To close out the game, Saugus (156, 3-2 Foothill League) yet again relied on a sophomore. Cameron Nale went 8 of 10 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter and finished with 16 points.

Hart (15-7, 3-2) crept within eight points in the fourth quarter but that’s as close as it would get. Senior Whitten Dominguez was out with a hip injury.

“We quit in the first half,” said Hart

coach Tom Kelly. “We didn’t come out and compete. We didn’t play until late in the third quarter. That’s not what championship teams do.”

Luca Robinson led Hart with 18 points and 10 rebounds and Carson Weiss finished with 15 points.

A 3-pointer and fourpoint play from Caleb Waldeck gave Hart life early in the fourth quarter. But the Indians still trailed by double digits for most of the second half.

“We knew the game was far from over at the half, especially when you have only two seniors getting a lot of minutes,” said Manzano. “The seniors did a nice job letting the younger guys know how tough Hart is when it’s playing at home.”

Saugus senior Dylan Spring led the team with eight rebounds while chipping in 13 points. Fellow

senior Luke Bodeau had 12 points to go with seven rebounds and five assists.

Saugus hosts Valencia on Friday while Hart hosts Golden Valley.

West Ranch 62, Golden Valley 51

West Ranch finished out the first round of league play with its second straight win as Austin Galuppo and Andrew Austin each tallied 20 points. Galuppo grabbed a team-high seven rebounds while Austin picked up six rebounds.

Alex Grant added six points and six rebounds for the Wildcats.

West Ranch (13-6, 3-2) will hit the road to play Canyon (4-16, 0-5) on Friday.

Valencia 77, Canyon 42

Josh Assiff led Valencia (8-12, 4-1) with 15 points as it finished the first round of league play alone atop the standings.

Zach Hawkins had 12 points and C.J. Finley added 10 points.