TEMECULA – The Rancho Christian boys’ basketball program hosted a showcase tournament Saturday, Jan. 14, which featured 12 teams in six games. The event kicked off with a JV game between Rancho Christian and Temecula Valley, which was then followed by varsity games between Woodcrest Christian and Temecula Prep, Chaparral and Foothill, Redondo and Fairmont Prep, Rancho Christian and Linfield Christian and Balboa Prep and Veritas Prep.
The marquee matchup was of course the game between the Linfield Christian Lions (19-3) and the Rancho Christian Eagles (12-7). According to Valley News photojournalist David Canales, the game lived up to the hype as Linfield Christian held a 20-11 lead after one quarter of play.
“Rancho Christian outscored Linfield 20-9 in the second quarter to take a 31-29 lead into the locker room at the half,” Canales said.
The Eagles then dominated the third quarter by going up by 10 points on the Lions, and never looked back, winning 75-65. Kevin Patton Jr. was the leading scorer for Rancho Christian with 27 points, Linfield Christian’s Mike McNair was the game’s high scorer with 34 points. The other highlight game with a local team in the showcase was Chaparral (8-11) taking on Foothill (20-1), where the Pumas would ultimately be defeated by a score of 62-53.
Rancho Christian gets back into action this week in a league matchup against J.W. North (11-10), Linfield takes on Woodcrest Christian (15-4), and Chaparral has two games this week in the Southwestern league against Great Oak (12-9) and away at Murrieta Valley (9-12).
JP Raineri can be reached by email at sports@reedemedia.com.
