Boys Hoops: Rebels Crush Tranquillity in Round 1 Matchup

Two teams showed up at the Flintridge Prep gymnasium Tuesday night to open the CIF State Division V Boys Basketball Championships.

But it didn’t take very long to see which one would advance in the tournament, as the Rebels crushed visiting Tranquillity of Fresno County, 98-32 in the opening round.

“All the sections get automatic qualifiers, so we knew they weren’t going to be that strong,” Flintridge Prep coach Garrett Ohara said. “It’s good for us to get out and sweat and get ready for Thursday.”

Thursday the Rebels will host St. Bernard of Playa del Rey. St. Bernard defeated Redlands Adventist Academy 81-37. The game will be played at either Flintridge Prep or across the street at St. Francis, as La Cañada will be hosting its own first-round state playoff game.

“We’ll get back to work tomorrow and not let what happened tonight affect us,” said Rebels center Kenyatta Smith, who posed for pictures with the entire Tranquillity team after the game.

Tuesday’s game was the first for Flintridge Prep since defeating .

The Rebels (24-6) opened the game by scoring 21 unanswered points.

They went on to lead 32-7 at the end of the first quarter and built a 66-19 lead at halftime.

Ohara kept his starters in until the 4:31 mark of the third quarter with his team up 79-21.

But even the reserves for the Rebels were too much for the visiting Tigers, who finish the season at 7-21.

The entire fourth quarter was played with a running clock. That was the only thing that prevented the Rebels from hitting the century mark on the scoreboard.

“We moved up four junior varsity guys,” Ohara said. “In this atmosphere and environment it’s good for them to get up and see what it is like at the varsity level.”

Flintridge Prep was led by Smith, who had a game-high 18 points. Junior Kory Hamane finished with 16 points, and freshman point guard Robert Cartwright had 15. Sophomore Jedrick Eugenio and freshman Kyle Hamane each had nine points.

Ohara said he is aware of his next opponent.

”They are a strong team, ranked top five in the state,” Ohara said of St. Bernard.