DIVISION II-A ROUNDUP : Trabuco Hills Scores Victory Over La Habra

Trabuco Hills raced to a 16-point first-quarter advantage and never looked back, easily defeating La Habra, 75-57, in a Southern Section Division II-A first-round game Friday at Trabuco Hills High School.

The top-seeded Mustangs (21-5) will play Alemany, a 74-67 winner over Redondo Union, in Tuesday’s second round. The Highlanders end the season at 4-20.

The Mustangs played well defensively in the first half, forcing 20 Highlander turnovers and limiting them to 28% shooting from the field. But Trabuco Hills played sloppily in the second half, allowing La Habra to whittle the lead to 62-50 early in the fourth quarter.

Two baskets by Pat Barnes and a three-pointer by Erik Manning extended the Mustangs’ lead to 19 points.

Gavin Vanderputten led Trabuco Hills with 20 points, and Corey Klinke grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds to go with his 14 points before fouling out. Barnes added 14 points and Brett Poulos 12. Rusty Volkert led La Habra with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

In other Division II-A games:

Troy 50, Chino Ayala 41--Senior Jim Falletta scored 14 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for Troy (16-10), which will meet Kennedy in the next round Tuesday.

Falletta was four for 10 from the field, six for nine from the free-throw line and had four assists. Guard Randy Abbott scored 13 points and added four assists for the Warriors.

Ayala had three players with double-figure scoring averages, but only Ryan Bradley made it to that level with 16 points. The Warriors held Eric Balich to four points and Johnny Holmes to eight. Ayala finished 14-12.

Troy will face Kennedy in Tuesday’s second round.