Samohi Boys Hoops Beats Culver City

Jordan Mathews scored 22 points and the Santa Monica High School boys varsity basketball team used a big first quarter to beat host Culver City, 67-61, in a key Ocean league contest Friday night.

The victory was the third in a row for the Vikings (11-5 overall, 2-0 in league), who began the week ranked fifth in the CIF Southern Section Division 1AA poll. 

"We'll take it," Samohi Coach James Hecht said. "Culver City is a very athletic team, they gave us some problems inside. They got some good guys and we're fortunate to come out of here with the victory."

Adamassu Williams and Jordan Walker each added 12 points for Samohi, which led 15-7 after one quarter and 27-21 at halftime. Trailing by eight points going into the fourth quarter, the Centaurs made several late rallies, but the Vikings held them off.

"It wasn't a thing of beauty, but we were fortunate to be up six [at halftime]," Hecht said. "A lot of fouls were called so we had to adjust and stay aggressive."

Keilan Horton scored 26 points and Aamahd Walker added 20 points, six assists and five steals for Culver City (8-9, 0-2), which committed 14 turnovers. Santa Monica won its league opener, 76-68, on Wednesday against visiting Inglewood.

The teams split their two league meetings last season, each winning on the road. Samohi lost the first game at home 62-54 but prevailed 59-58 in the rematch at Culver City. Each finished league play at 6-4 and tied for second place behind 9-1 Inglewood.

"We allowed them penetration too easily and had too many fouls, which put us in free throw trouble," Culver City Coach Jon Chapman said of Friday's game. "They figure if it's a close game they can still handle it and we're not at that stage yet."

On Monday, Samohi will play Gardena Serra in a nonleague game at Price High. The Vikings resume league action Wednesday at Beverly Hills, then return home to play Morningside at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Culver City carried a 10-point lead into halftime and withstood several Santa Monica rallies in the second half to win by eight points and deal the Vikings their first league loss. Samohi had won its opener, 61-51, against defending champion Inglewood.

Santa Monica (6-9 overall, 1-1 in league) won 23 games last season, losing to Santa Ana Mater Dei in the CIF Southern Section Division 1AA semifinals and again in the second round of the state playoffs. Culver City, however, beat the Vikings 62-56 on their home floor in the teams' first league meeting. Of course, this Samo squad is entirely different, having lost six players, including Moriah Faulk, Kristina Johnson and Bianka Balthazar, to graduation.

"I gotta credit Culver City," Samohi Coach Marty Verdugo said. "I thought every time we cut it close they came down and make a big shot. They shot lights out. Jade [Neal] was unbelievable. We played good defense on her at times and she just rose up above. We got good looks but we didn't make the shots we needed down the stretch. We played them even in the second half. They held court and hopefully we can get them at our place."

Santa Monica plays Orange Lutheran in the Tony Matson Memorial Classic this weekend before resuming league action at Beverly Hills on Wednesday and at home against Morningside next Friday.

"We played hard but they played a little bit harder, I guess," Vikings senior forward Emily Duran said. "There were just some plays we took off that we shouldn't have."