Mustangs Continue to Roll, Defeats Murrieta Valley 57-43 at the Southern California Shootout

AZUSA – The Walnut High School boys’ basketball team continue to roll, as it picked up a non-conference victory over Murrieta Valley 57-43 Saturday afternoon at the Southern California Shootout at Azusa Pacific.  The victory makes it five wins in succession to improve to 13-5.

It was Murrieta Valley, however, who drew first blood, going on a 6-0 run early, before Walnut knew what hit them.

Walnut however would go on a 14-4 run to take a 14-10 lead forcing Murietta Valley coach Steve Tarabilda to take a timeout to hopefully slow down the Mustangs’ attack. 

Rob Harrelson led three Mustangs in double digits, dropping 18 points, including five in the initial run, three rebounds and a steal.  Richard Rycraw pitched in 14 points and six rebounds.   Jeff Huang led all scorers with 16 points and three rebounds.

The Nighthawks, however, would not going away, going on a run of 6-2 of its own, culminating on a Thomas Alexandre’s 3-pointer to take the 16-14 lead.   Walnut went into the second quarter leading 19-17, which was as close as Murietta Valley would get.

Alexandre led the way for Murieta Valley with 10 points, two rebounds and a steal.  Mitchell Lenhart and Jacob Forte each pitched in nine while Michael Ochner pitched in six points and two steals.

Walnut outscored Murietta Valley 18-5 in the second quarter to put the game out of reach as it would lead the game by as much as 22 points.

Walnut returns to Hacienda League action Wednesday as it hosts the 2-1 Los Altos Conquerors Wednesday night.  Tipoff is at 6:45.

BOX SCORES

WALNUT (57) – Rob Harrelson (18), Jeff Huang (16), Richard Rycraw (14), Albert Jelowicki (5), Zuri Williams (4)

MURIETTA VALLEY (43) – Thomas Alexandre (10), Mitchell Lenhart (9), Jacob Forte (9), Michael Ochner (4), Austin Bryant (4), Beau Paiva (4),  Kevin Lutynski (3)