FOOTHILL CLASSIC: Johnson’s big second half propels Vikings into semifinals

Ryan Johnson only had two points in Valley’s first game on Monday at the Foothill Holiday Classic.

But the junior guard more than made up for it with big shots in the team’s second game.

Johnson had 20 of his game-high 28 points in the second half to spark the Vikings to a 73-70 win over Green Valley in the Gold Division quarterfinals.

“Ryan’s a big energy guy,” Valley coach Brian Farnsworth said. “He plays hard, likes to dive on the floor and be physical. He kind of sparked us with his emotions.”

And plenty of big shots. He hit four shots in the second half to give Valley the lead, and twice made a basket to tie the game.

Valley took the lead for good on Tyrone Prewitt’s only basket of the game with 59 seconds left that made it 71-70.

Johnson added a bucket with 18 seconds for the final margin.

Caleb Carter, a 6-foot-6-inch senior forward, also had a big second half for the Vikings.

Carter had 10 points and 10 rebounds in the second half, and finished with 14 points and 13 boards. He also blocked two shots and had two steals.

“Caleb stepped up as a senior leader and had some big rebounds and some good put-backs, and his senior leadership really came through in the second half,” Farnsworth said.

“The kids look up to him, so if we can get him going, the rest of the guys feed off him. He finally played to his potential in the second half, and we’ve been waiting for that for a while.”

Green Valley led by 15 in the first half, but saw the halftime advantage cut to 37-30 when Spencer Mathis banked home a 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer.

“We got outplayed in the first half,” Farnsworth said. “To only be down seven points, there was a sense of hope because we knew we hadn’t played our best basketball.”

Durrell McDonald and Ikaika Pladera each had 16 points to lead the Gators. Lorenzo Jarvis and Devan Kohn each added 11 points.

It was another in a long line of narrow losses for Green Valley. All six of the team’s losses have come by eight points or fewer, and two of those games went to overtime.

Palo Verde 85, Eldorado 73 — Michael Buchanan had 27 points and 11 rebounds as the Panthers knocked off the Sundevils to move into the semifinals.

Eldorado got as close as five points at 68-63 on a basket by Dwayne Tillman with 4:18 to play, but could get no closer.

Jordyn Martin added 14 points and 12 rebounds for Palo Verde. Eris Winder (13 points) and Nahjee Matlock (12 points) also scored in double figures for the Panthers.

Markeith Floyd led Eldorado with 22 points, including five second-half 3-pointers.

Da’Quon Thrower had 21 points, and D.J. Billingsley scored 17 for Eldorado.

Foothill 75, Arbor View 56 — The Falcons hit 11 3-pointers en route to the quarterfinal win.

Greg Cox had 16 points to lead a balanced attack for Foothill. Darren Buckles added 15 points and seven rebounds, Brannon Cresanto had 14 points and seven rebounds, and Austin Starr scored 12 points for the Falcons.

Brandon Hill and Justin Burks each scored 14 points for Arbor View.

Eldorado 73, Galena 52 — Jayveon Brown was 4-for-6 on 3-pointes and had 19 points to lead the Sundevils over the Grizzlies.

Thrower added 18 points and eight rebounds, and Billingsley had 13 points for Eldorado, which forced 21 turnovers while turning the ball over just seven times.

Jacob Hollingsworth scored 10 for the Sundevils.

Caleb Wood led Galena with 13 points.

Palo Verde 62, Redemption (N.Y.) 58 — Matlock had 16 points, and Winder scored 14 as the Panthers held off Redemption.

Buchanan added nine rebounds for Palo Verde.

Ricardo Ayuso scored 21, and teammate Charles Chol had 18 points and 11 rebounds for Redemption.

Valley 67, Victorian (Australia) 47 — Spencer Mathis and Keanu Peters each had 11 point as the Vikings rolled.

Carter had 10 rebounds, and Mathis grabbed nine boards for Valley.

Zac Dunfee and Jason Freshwater each scored 10 for Victorian.

Green Valley 66, Chaparral (Colo.) 53 — McDonald had 28 points, seven rebounds and three assists to lead the Gators over the Wolves.

Kohn added 19 points and seven rebounds for Green Valley, which led 32-17 at the half.

Josh Adams led Chaparral with 16 points.

Foothill 58, ThunderRidge (Colo.) 56 — Cresanto’s three-point play with 1:38 to play broke a 51-51 tie, and the Falcons held on for the win.

Buckles led Foothill with 20 points, and Cox scored 13 for the Falcons, who led 32-21 at the half.

Zach Rusk paced ThunderRidge with 18 points.

Arbor View 68, Lynwood (Calif.) 66 — Burks had 30 points and nine rebounds as the Aggies edged the Knights.

Blake Claxton added 14 points for Arbor View, which held on despite 29 turnovers.

Joseph Rodriguez led Lynwood with 27 points.

Coronado 72, Las Vegas 65 — Michael Louder had 17 points to lead the Cougars over the Wildcats to move into the losers’ bracket semifinals.

Dominique Muhammad added 16 points, Jordan Willis had 12 points, and Lamar Walker had 11 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots for Coronado.

Phil Dunigan led Las Vegas with 17 points, and Hasaan Henderson scored 16 for the Wildcats.

Melbourne (Australia) 97, Las Vegas 96 — Michael Dow had 26 points and nine rebounds as Melbourne edged the Wildcats in overtime.

Dunigan led Las Vegas with 27 points and nine rebounds. Henderson added 24 points and eight rebounds, and Juwan Major had 18 points and nine boards for the Wildcats.

Traven Yancey contributed 16 points for Las Vegas.

Denver East 58, Coronado 39 — Dominique Collier had 25 points and seven rebounds to lead the Angels over the Cougars.

Walker led Coronado with eight points, and Louder had seven points and nine rebounds for the Cougars.

SILVER DIVISION

Rhandy Tomlinson and Elijah Graves each scored nine points as Liberty held off Faith Lutheran, 49-48, in a Silver Division quarterfinal at Del Sol.

Kyle Kaleb added seven points for Liberty, which scored in the game’s final 10 seconds.

D.J. Manning scored 13 points, and D’Khari Hicks added 10 points for the Crusaders, who saw a potential game-winning shot sail wide at the buzzer.

Mount Miguel (Calif.) 60, Cimarron-Memorial 57 — At Del Sol, Marcus Booker scored 18 points to help the Matadors race to a 31-23 halftime lead and edge the Spartans in a quarterfinal.

Arin Henderson led Cimarron with 19 points, and Erik Brewer contributed 17 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two blocks for the Spartans.

Shadow Ridge 58, Lincoln (Colo.) 54 — At Del Sol, Nick Flowers tallied 12 points as the Mustangs held off the Lancers in a quarterfinal.

David Everage and Malcolm Davis each scored 11 points for Shadow Ridge. 

Del Sol 60, Western 48 — At Del Sol, Nate Kirschbaum scored 18 points to help the Dragons pull away from the Warriors in to move into the Silver semifinals.

Kyle Collins supplied 13 points, and Tyrone Rouse had 10 points for Del Sol, which led 27-20 at halftime.

Nathan Johnson paced the Warriors with 13 points, and U.L. Jamerson supplied 10 points.

Desert Pines 77, Sierra Vista 43 — At Del Sol, Julian Jacobs had 20 points to help the Jaguars roll past the Mountain Lions.

Najee McIver added 13 points for Desert Pines, which got 12 points from Donavin Wright.

Nino Flores had 14 points for Sierra Vista, and teammate Sean Williams scored 10.

Mojave 56, Western Academy (Australia) 54 — At Del Sol, Deon Walters and Jason Wallace each scored 15 points to help the Rattlers slip past Western Academy.

Marcus Hines added 10 points for Mojave.

Lucas Kelly scored 26 points to lead Western.

Mount Miguel (Calif.) 67, Sierra Vista 56 — At Del Sol, Thomas Butler had 23 points as the Matadores topped the Mountain Lions.

Sean Williams led Sierra Vista with 16 points, and Nino Flores added 15 points.

Shadow Ridge 69, Granite Hills (Calif.) 28 — At Del Sol, Davis scored 17 points to lead the Mustangs to a rout of the Eagles.

Will Martin added 10 points for Shadow Ridge, which raced to a 35-12 halftime lead and cruised to the win.

Liberty 77, Melbourne 2 (Australia) 53 — At Del Sol, Tomlinson racked up 24 points as the Patriots cruised.

Liberty had 10 players score.

Alex Burgess led Melbourne 2 with 17 points.

Western 62, Western Academy (Australia) 59 — At Del Sol, Johnson had 17 points to help the Warriors edge Western Academy.

Jamerson added 12 points for the Warriors, and teammate Lawrence Weekly supplied 11.

Lucas Kelly had in 21 points to lead Western Academy.

Del Sol 53, Mojave 45 — At Del Sol, Kirschbaum had 14 points, and Max Prescott added 13 points, to help the Dragons break a 27-27 halftime tie and down the Rattlers.

Chris Marshall supplied 11 points for Del Sol.

Kyle Edwards and Jason Wallace each scored 11 points for Mojave.

Faith Lutheran 52, Valhalla (Calif.) 43 — At Del Sol, Hicks had 18 points as the Crusaders downed the Norsemen.

Spencer Havird led Valhalla with 16 points.

Lincoln (Colo.) 62, Melbourne 3 48 — At Del Sol, Gabriel Vazquez had 21 points as the Lancers cruised past Melbourne 3.

Michael Sparks supplied 13 points for Lincoln. 

Cimarron-Memorial 79, Desert Pines 73 — At Del Sol, Brewer drained six 3-pointers en route to 40 points as the Spartans held off the Jaguars.

Henderson added 12 points for Cimarron, which rallied from a 40-38 halftime deficit.

Wright had 23 points for Desert Pines. Thomas Hooper supplied 17 points, and Jacobs had 14 points for the Jaguars.