
TORRANCE TRIBUNE January 18, 2018 Page 3
Up and Adam
West Dominating Against North
By Adam Serrao
For boys basketball teams in the Pioneer
League, it has become that time of year again
-- the time of year when every game begins
to mean just a little bit more and inner-city,
divisional rivals roll in one after another
looking to take advantage of any and every
weakness possible. For the West High Warriors,
those weaknesses may be few and far
between this season, but that hasn’t stopped
their rivals from trying to steal a win in any
way possible. Last Wednesday night at North
High, it was the Saxons who were looking
for a victory over their rivals from West High
in what was the first game of league play
this season. North wound up learning very
quickly that the Warriors weren’t a team that
would simply roll over. With a 79-46 loss,
West recorded a demonstrative divisional win
while sending a message to the rest of the
Pioneer League in the process.
The Warriors and the Saxons have been
involved in two very distinctly different
seasons so far this year. For head coach Neal
Perlmutter and the rest of West, they wanted
to make that fact known and make it known
fast. The Warriors succeeded in doing so last
week against North by coming out in the first
quarter of play and making quick work of
the Saxons. By the end of the quarter, West
held a 20-point lead at 32-12. Alex Mishaw
led the way in the quarter with 12 points,
while Ken Asai also provided a nice period
with seven points of his own.
Things would only get worse from there
for the Saxons. Though the team put up
its best quarter of the game in the second
quarter with 16 points, it was still outscored
by the Warriors who put up 18 of their own.
By the third quarter of play, the game was
well out of reach for North and continued
to spiral more and more out of control. West
outscored the Saxons 24-9 in the quarter to
take a 74-37 lead into the fourth. At that
point, there was nothing more that North
could have done except accept defeat in what
turned out to be a 33-point loss.
Mishaw finished the game with 22 points
for the Warriors, while his teammates
Asai and Nick Snyder finished with 15
and 11 respectively. For the Saxons, point
guard Yusei Shigeta led the way and tied
Mishaw for game-high in scoring with 22
points. North has surprisingly only won
two games all season long. With the most
recent loss, its losing-streak moves to four in a
row. West, on the other hand, is sitting pretty
at the top of the Pioneer League standings
and is currently on a three-game winning
streak. Up next for the Warriors (13-3, 1-0)
will be a Pioneer League matchup against
the South High Spartans. The Saxons (2-12,
0-1) will look to turn their season around
with divisional play against the Centennial
Apaches.
South High
The South High Spartans painstakingly
made it through the first half of the season
by attaining just five victories in what was
mostly tournament play to begin the year.
The schedule hasn’t done the Spartans many
favors either, as the team was forced to take
on one of the best rosters in the Pioneer
League last week in the opening game of
league play with a matchup against the
Leuzinger Olympians. The Olympians have
been playing above-average ball to start the
season, and last Wednesday night at home
against South wasted no time in showing
that they were clearly the better team on the
basketball court.
Going into the game, the mission for South
was to stop Leuzinger and leading scorer on
offense Amound Anderson. The good news
for the Spartans was that Anderson didn’t
finish the game as his team’s leading scorer.
The bad news was that he finished with 16
points to Devon Brown’s 17 in what became
a game that quickly got out of hand leading
into the second half.
Leuzinger’s offensive firepower was simply
too much for a South team that is allowing
close to 57 points per game on average.
For perspective, the Spartans had only
scored 57 points or more in six different
games this season out of the 16 that they had
played dating back to last week. In the end,
South’s 68-41 loss to the Olympians didn’t
come as much of a surprise. The Spartans
(5-11, 0-1) will look to rebound this week
with a matchup at home against the West
High Warriors.
Torrance High
The Torrance Tartars boys basketball team
managed to come away with a nice victory
in the first game of Pioneer League play
when it took to the road and defeated the
Centennial Apaches by a final score of 56-
52 last Wednesday night. The Tartars have
been streaking lately, and under head coach
Paul Nitake have now won two games in a
row and five out of their last six. The victory
vaulted the team to within striking distance
of first place in the standings. With games
against Leuzinger and North High coming
up this week, the Tartars (8-9, 1-0) could
very well make some noise in the Pioneer
League this season if they are able to keep
their hot streak alive.
– Aserrao6@yahoo.com •
Police Briefs
Torrance Police Department
Welcomes Newest K9
Torrance Police Department has a new K9
and his name is Kido. He is a 3-year-old German
Shepherd from Germany. Kido and his
partner will soon begin Basic Handler School.
Thanks to the support of the Torrance Police
Foundation, the City of Torrance will now have
three K9 teams for the first time in 30 years.
– Photo/Content Courtesy of Torrance PD
“See Something Say Something”
Helps Reunite Dog with Family
On Jan. 11 during the early afternoon,
a responsible resident reported suspicious
activity in the 2900 block of Carson Street.
Patrol Officers arrived and contacted Erik
Ruiz Serratos inside a parked vehicle. The
preliminary investigation revealed the vehicle
had been stolen in Carson the day prior.
Serratos was arrested for grand theft auto.
The following day, crimes property detectives
began their investigation by first calling
the owner of the stolen vehicle. The owner
was grateful his vehicle had been recovered,
but was distraught because the family dog
was inside the vehicle when it was taken. The
owner explained that he was checking on his
family at a local restaurant in Carson when
both his dog and his vehicle were stolen.
With this new information, investigators then
interviewed Serratos, a 22-year-old Santa Fe
Springs resident, and discovered the victim’s
dog had been left in a transient camp in the
area of Main Street and Sepulveda Boulevard
near the railroad tracks. Investigators searched
until they located the victim’s dog, a 5-yearold
German Shepherd named Holly.
The Torrance Police Department is grateful
for the alert resident that reported the activity.
This equipped officers and investigators
with the necessary tools to reunite Holly
with her family.
This case is being investigated by the
Torrance Police Department’s Detective
Division under the command of Captain
Martin Vukotic, Commander of the Special
Operations Bureau.
– Source: Torrance PD
Torrance Police Detectives
Arrest Dog Thief
Torrance crimes property detectives
completed a month-long investigation that
reunited a breeder with his 2-month-old
Cane Corso Italian Mastiff. The breeder was
scammed on Dec. 2 when a potential buyer
used counterfeit money to pay the $800 asking
price. Upon checking the currency, the
suspect fled on foot with the puppy. Detectives
spent hours conducting surveillance and
reviewing phone records until they identified
the suspect, 28-year-old Alexander Myers of
Redondo Beach, whom they arrested last
week at the latter’s residence while at the
same time locating the stolen puppy (who is
not yet named). A follow-up search warrant
of the residence revealed evidentiary items
to include counterfeit money and a loaded
handgun. Investigators believe this weapon
was concealed on Myers during the crime.
Torrance officers, investigators and Animal
Control officers all played vital roles in the
recovery of this puppy.
This case is being investigated by the
Torrance Police Department’s Detective
Division under the command of Captain
Martin Vukotic, Commander of the Special
Operations Bureau.
– Source: Torrance PD •
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