Prep Boys Basketball: Poway High beats CCA for first Palomar League win
Dalton Soffer missed a six-game stretch earlier this season due to an injury. That allowed some of the younger Poway High players to gain valuable experience.
It came in handy Friday night.
While Soffer spent a good portion of the game on the bench in foul trouble, the surrounding cast was able to help the Titans stay in contention and eventually pull out a 67-62 victory over host Canyon Crest Academy.
It was a much-needed win for Poway, who lost its Palomar League opener Wednesday to Mt. Carmel. Instead of entering next week’s games against defending champion Torrey Pines and rival Rancho Bernardo at 0-2, the Titans are 1-1 and right in the thick of things.
“Any win in league is important,” said Titans coach Scott Fisher, who gave an inspiring speech in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, telling his team to earn the win. “It helps build momentum and these types of wins on the road are big. You have to play well enough to deserve it and tonight we deserved it.”
Soffer, a senior wing signed to play at Seton Hall next year, missed most of the second quarter after picking up his second foul. But Matt Beeler picked up the slack with eight points and Austin Abhay and Dustin Marvin each hit big 3-pointers to help the Titans take a 26-22 lead into halftime.
It was more of the same in the third quarter. This time it was Gerrit Grissen pouring in five points and Derek Sit contributing four to help Poway take a 42-40 lead heading into the final quarter.
That’s when Soffer did his damage. He dominated the post, scoring 10 of his 14 points in the game’s final quarter. Seven of those came during the Titans’ 16-9 run that gave them a 58-49 lead with just under three minutes to go.
Poway was able to hold off the Ravens in the final three minutes, despite the hot hand of Hayden Helfrich. The CCA guard hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and finished with a game-high 30 points. The Ravens had 11 3s in the game in all.
Beeler finished with a team-high 16 points and Grissen added 14 for the Titans.