MLK Day Showdown at Providence High School

Games 3 & 4: Tournament Recap

The third matchup at the MLK Showdown at Providence featured the La Verne Lutheran Trojans against the View Park Knights.

Lutheran entered the contest 17-6 while View Park came in with a 15-9 mark.

The Trojans jumped out to a big first quarter lead with strong play from Jay Miller, McKay Anderson, Skyler WIlliams and Joseph Rushing. Lutheran built a 26-12 advantage at the end of a quarter.

View Park's twin tower duo of Chance Comanche and Brodricks Jones did well to keep the Knights within striking distance but Southern Utah commit McKay Anderson's sharpshooting extended the Lutheran lead to 36-17 with under five minutes to go in the first half.

Lutheran's Skyler and Tey Williams continued their hot perimeter shooting and the Trojans built a commanding 47-28 lead at the break.

The Trojans picked up right where they left off in the first half, knocking down jumpers left and right to extend their lead to 56-32 with four minutes left in the third. Lutheran's balanced offensive attack has proved too strong for View Park.

Lutheran totally dominated the second half and put the game away with a 22-7 run to take a 69-35 advantage into the final frame.

In the fourth, Lutheran's McKay Anderson put the exclamation point on an impressive performance with a sweet jam along the baseline to propel the Trojans to 87-48 victory.

With 20 points, McKay Anderson was named CLA and Further Player of the Game.

Game 4: West Ranch vs Pacific Hills

The fourth game featured an exciting matchup between the West Ranch Wildcats from Valencia and the Pacific Hills Bruins of Los Angeles.

Pacific Hills rolls into the contest with a 15-2 record while West Ranch sports a 14-4 mark.

The first quarter was highly competitive with West Ranch holding a slim 17-15 advantage into the second quarter.

Pacific Hills took the lead 20-17 on a three-pointer by Jahmel Taylor and assisted by Marcus Jackson. The 6-3 Jackson followed up his dime with a breakaway jam to put Pacific Hills up 22-21.

West Ranch big man and Northern Arizona commit Ako Kaluna presence on the interior kept the Wildcats right in the thick of it. A three-pointer from Zac Nuttall gave the Wildcats a 27-25 lead before Pacific Hills Namon Wright went coast to coast for a three-point play to put the Bruins ahead by 1.

Both teams closed out the half strong receiving quality buckets from Zac Nuttall and Jahmel Taylor respectively. At the break, West Ranch led 33-32.

Pacific Hills, led by Taylor and Jackson went on a run in the third to build a 54-42 advantage but West Ranch's Nuttall had a big three-point play to close out the quarter and cut the deficit to 54-45.

The Bruins dynamic backcourt of Marcus Jackson and Jahmel Taylor controlled the fourth quarter and did not allow West Ranch to rally. Both Jackson and Taylor will undoubtedly play at the collegiate level. Jackson is committed to Rice and Taylor has drawn interest from several major programs.

Washington coach Lorenzo Romar was on hand to observe Jahmel Taylor in action and the senior guard officially committed to the University of Washington following the game.

In the end, Pacific Hills defeated West Ranch 77-59 as Marcus Jackson and Jahmel Taylor were named CLA and Further Co-Players of the Game.