Elias Munoz scored 11 points on Saturday and earned all-tourney honors at the Pasadena Poly Tournament, but Bishop Diego fell to the hosts 59-57 after a furious fourth-quarter comeback came up just short.
Junior Hayden Slaught had a chance to win the game with an open last-second three-point shot off a pre-designed inbounds play but the shot didn’t fall.
“We were down 11 with two minutes to go,” recalled head coach Ray Vazquez, whose young team falls to 5-3 on the season and went 1-2 in the three-day event. “To give them credit we kept fighting.”
Freshman Sam Kwock knocked down a pair of 3-pointers late to help put the Cardinals in a position to win and had 11 points overall. Slaught led the team with 14 points and made four 3-point shots. Bishop hit 10 3-balls as a team.
Coach Vazquez commended 6-foot-2 sophomore Noah Tack, who had the responsibility of defending Poly’s big man and leading scorer in Justin Worland. The 6-foot-6 junior managed to score 23 points but had to work for most of them.
The Cardinals are slated to play in next week’s Tournament of Champions. Oak Park visits for a 7 p.m. Monday warmup.
PASADENA POLY 59, BISHOP DIEGO 57
Bishop Diego – Munoz 11, Garcia 8. Slaught 14, Tack 4, Nevarez 2, MacGillivray 2, Kwock 11, Fling 2, Kohler 3, Total 29, FT 9-14
Poly – Larrimore 2, Sideris 3, Gephardht 3, Leung 16, Justin Worland 23, Merryman 13. 18, 17-25.
3-Pointers – BD 10 (Munoz , Garcia, Slaught 4, Kwock 3, Kohler 1) P 6 (Gephardt, Liung 4, Merryman). Total Fouls – BD 21, Poly 10. Foul Out – MacGillivray
Bishop Diego 14 15 10 18 – 57
Pasadena Poly 13 14 12 20 – 59
