Lee Vining boys advance with 56-52 victory
The Lee Vining Tigers, who began the season 0-6, won their tenth straight game on Wednesday njight, defeating the 16th-seeded Eastside Christian Eagles in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 6 playoffs.
Lee Vining was led by 6’5” sophomore Ian Clemons, who scored 22 points. Senior Alexis Romero chipped in 20.
Though Lee Vining is unseeded in the tourney bracket, it was accorded home court due to an 8-0 league record.
The Eagles started strong, winning the tip-off, and #24 Daniel Acosta-Cruz dropped a 3-pointer right away, but the Tigers quickly responded as #45 Ian Clemons, their big power center, put in a 6-foot jumper, and Romero followed with 2 consecutive field goals. Lee Vining led at the end of the first quarter 12-9.
The second quarter was mostly good for the Tigers, who at one point led 22-11, but the Eagles came back with a flurry of offense near the end of the half led by the Eagles’ #35 Rudy Cessna, and the halftime score was 25-24 Tigers. For Lee Vining, Conner Yost had a couple of big swatdowns that helped to limit the damage, and Jorge Murguia played solid defense with help from Jim Thomas.
The home crowd got a bit nervous in the final quarter when the visitors opened a three-point lead with just a few minutes to play Lee Vining coach Roger Yost called a time-out, and the Tigers put on their big-boy pants.
Senior Tylor Pemberton, who was scoreless through three quarters, then made two consecutive buckets to give the Tigers the lead. He finished with 7 points. Then Romero was fouled and made one free throw with less than a minute remaining for a 2 point lead at 53-51. Romero made the front half of a one-on-one, and with time winding down, Clemons was fouled and made one of his two shots in double bonus for a 55-52 lead. The victory was sealed as Romero was fouled with 3.1 seconds remaining, and made one of his two shots to put the score at 56-52 Lee Vining, which was the final
Lee Vining ended the game on an 8-1 run.
Lee Vining won the Thursday coin toss, and will host the second round playoff game in Lee Vining on Friday, February 21 at 7 pm against #1 playoff seed Trinity Classical Academy.
