Acromite Leads San Juan Hills to 56-37 Playoff Victory Over Irvine

Senior Wil Acromite scored 20 points before a packed house on hand at San Juan Hills High Wednesday night and led the Stallions past Irvine, 56-37, in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 3A boys basketball playoffs.

Turning Point:  Acromite scored San Juan Hills first 11 points as the Stallions raced to a 13-2 first-quarter advantage and never looked back. Kent Hyodo scored 19 for Irvine, which hung around for the second and third quarters before San Juan Hills put the game away in the fourth.

It was over when:  Andrew Walton and Acromite hit back-to-back three-pointers midway through the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 20 at 55-35.

Game ball:  Acromite hit a trio of three-pointers and scored from all over the floor as the Stallions' offense flowed through the sweet-shooting swingman.

Unsung heroes:  Walton scored 15 and handed out five assists as the senior point guard ran the offense smoothly and avoided turnovers all evening. Senior Michael Perryman was outstanding as well, leading the way for San Juan Hills with eight rebounds, eight points and three assists.

What they had to say: "We feel great, it was a really good win," Acromite said. "It felt really good with the home crowd behind us. It was a really fun game; it was one we're going to remember.

"It got a little bumpy in the second quarter. We started to be a little sloppy on offense and we were fouling too much on defense, but, in the end, we really executed and wore them down."

Said San Juan Hills coach Kelly Hambrick: "We got good crowd support; the school's really out supporting us. This first senior class, they're finally at a point where it's one-and-done, you know, their careers are over [with a loss], so I'm happy.

"I don't think we played particularly great, but we held them to 37 points, and that little point guard [Hyodo] is pretty good over there. If we would've made a few more shots, we would've busted it open a little earlier, but I liked our guys' defensive effort."

Up Next: The Stallions (14-13), who finished the regular season tied for second in the Sea View League, play fourth-seeded Inglewood (21-5) in second round of the playoffs, Friday night at San Juan Hills High.

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Irvine  --                 8  12    9   8  --  37
San Juan Hills -- 13  15  13  15  --  56

Irvine (12-15) -- Kent Hyodo 19, Chris Abutom 6, Mahesh Kumar 5, Paul Roh 3, Daniel Moussa-zahab 2, Ahsan Afzal 2.

San Juan Hills (14-13) -- Wil Acromite 20, Andrew Walton 15, Michael Perryman 8, Cody Schmitz 5, Sam Worley 4, Payton Reisman 2, Elliott Bragg 2.

Video to follow. Stay tuned!