Prep Roundup: Atascadero has three wrestlers place in Fountain Valley

The Atascadero High wrestling team had three wrestlers place at the Five Counties Tournament in Fountain Valley on Saturday. Elijah Jackson was the team’s highest finisher, taking fifth place at 145 pounds.

The Greyhounds finished 16th out of nearly 100 teams competing at a tournament that includes some of the West region’s best teams and individual wrestlers.

“Sometimes it’s a mixed bag on whether you bring your team to this tournament,” Atascadero coach Jeff Spiller said. “Do you bring your team to this tournament to get beat up?

“But these kids needed to have some tough matches, and we’re very happy with how it turned out.”

Michael Clemmensen, who beat the bracket’s No. 1 seed Friday, finished sixth at 103 pounds while Brandon Armstrong was seventh at 171 pounds.

“To be seeded in this tournament you pretty much have to be a state qualifier,” Spiller said. “Some state qualifiers lost in the quarterfinals here and didn’t even place. So we were happy to see our guys perform like they did.”

Atascadero also sent wrestlers to a tournament in Santa Ynez where the Greyhounds finished sixth out of 16 teams.

Josh Osorio (112 pounds), Matt Weir (119), Garrett Rose (125), Dylan Reid (152) and Matt Duccasse (189) all finished third.

Also at the Santa Ynez tournament, Morro Bay placed seven wrestlers, including Kent Beecham (125 pounds) and Frank Martinez (171) finishing second.

The Pirates were missing 16 wrestlers because of illness or injury.

Zac Haworth (103) and Bronson Gonzalez (171) finished fourth for Morro Bay.

Also placing for the Pirates were Nate Edwards (seventh at 130), Cristian DeLeon (seventh at 140) and Robert Garcia (7th at 145).

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Fresno Christian 45, Mission Prep 44

The Royals rallied from a 12-point deficit to take a three-point lead with 30 seconds remaining.

Fresno Christian banked in a 3-pointers to tie the score and made one free throw on its next trip down court to seal the victory.

Mission Prep (6-9) got a game-high 17 points from Jenna Dunbar, and Bri Harvey scored all 16 of her points in the second half. “(Harvey) was definitely what allowed us to get back into the game,” Royals coach John Krossa said. “She hit some huge buckets for us.”

The Royals had an opportunity at a layup to win the game, but time expired just before the shot went up.

Kingsburg 60, Coast Union 29

Ashley Lorenz had a game-high 15 points and 11 rebounds for Coast Union.

“(Lorenz) was a force to be reckoned with under the basket,” Broncos coach Jerry Gibson said.

Kingsburg hit seven 3-pointers in the first quarter alone to jump out to a 23-6 lead.

Katelyn Lorenz added six points for the Broncos (4-12).

“They were a well-coached, talented and athletic team that made things difficult for us all game,” Gibson said.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Paso Robles 48, San Luis Obispo 47

The Bearcats (10-7, 2-2 PAC 7) edged the Tigers (5-12, 1-4) for a thrilling PAC 7 league win Friday night at Gil Asa Gym.

With just under 30 seconds remaining, guard Josh James sank a 3-pointer to put visiting San Luis Obispo up 47-46. The Bearcats then patiently worked the ball inside to forward Cheyne Hayes, who made a game-winning turnaround jumper in the post with 3.9 seconds left. An ensuing Tigers 3-point attempt missed.

“It was quite the finish,” Paso Robles coach Scott Larson said.

Lonnie Watson had a game-best 18 points for Paso Robles, while Hayes finished with 16.

“They’ve really been consistent,” Larson said of his team of late. “And guys have gotten better sharing the ball within the offense.”

Sean Mullen had 11 points in defeat, while Steve Sainsbury added eight for the Tigers.