Aside from a few two-handed tomahawk slam dunks, it was an even contest for much of the night in Laguna Blanca’s 67-54 loss to top-ranked Besant Hill at Merovick Gym on Wednesday.
The Coyotes are at the top of the CIF Division VI-A poll for three main reasons —6-5 sophomore Tchoyi Francois, 6-3 junior Ivan Matip and 6-9 junior Yannick Atanga. The three stars from Cameroon combined to score nearly 80 percent of their team’s points and at times were just too big and athletic to hang with.
The feisty Owls, however, had a pair of standout performances from Connor Murphy and Luther Tarver-Burks, as each guard chipped in 18 points and kept things close until midway through the fourth quarter. Jake Longstreth — the Owls’ tallest player at 5-11 — grabbed 10 points and was a solid physical presence in the paint.
Tarver-Burks was in overdrive throughout the game, throwing himself around to grab offensive rebounds and draw fouls down low against the likes of Atanga, who has about a foot on the Laguna junior.
“Luther’s an animal. He can rebound, he’s getting better with his handles and he can score. No one can guard him once he decides to go to the basket hard,” said assistant coach Shantay Legans, a Dos Pueblos grad considered one of the better guards to ever come through Santa Barbara.
The Owls were down only six points at 47-41 with 7:47 to go, but three straight turnovers stretched the Coyotes’ lead to 12 and the air-show began, as Yatanga threw down a pair of rim-shakers to cap fast breaks.
“It’s hard to be happy when you lose, but it happens. I thought we should have won that game, but we’re confident heading into the end of the season,” said Tarver-Burks.
The Owls control their own destiny, needing home wins against Condor-League rivals Cate and Thacher to make the playoffs.
“They know what they need to do. We’ve already talked about it, and it’s going to be fun for our guys,” said Legans. “The seniors have been stepping up and doing a great job leading this team.”
Besant Hill improved to 15-1 overall and 7-0 in league play, while Laguna is now 5-12, 1-5.
PHOTO GALLERY
BESANT HILL 67, LAGUNA BLANCA 54
BESANT HILL — Matip 19, Atanga 16, Francois 16, Von Burg 8, Grosbach 2, KChen 4, PChen 2. Totals 31 3-8 67.
LAGUNA BLANCA — Mikles 2, Murphy 18, Gray 2, Tarver-Burks 18, Bichett 2, Longstreth 10, Shend 2. Totals 21 8-14 54.
Besant Hill…..12 16 19 20 — 67
Laguna Blanca….10 8 21 15 — 54
3-point goals — BH 2 (Von Burg 2), LB 4 (Murphy 2, Tarver-Burks 2).
Total fouls — BH 16, LB 10.
