Minutemen

PASADENA - Thirty-two minutes wasn't enough, so the Hoover High and Maranatha boys' basketball teams wound up playing an extra four minutes to settle the outcome. For Maranatha, it proved to be a boon. The same couldn't be said for Hoover. Maranatha got just enough offense in overtime as its defense held Hoover scoreless in overtime to earn a 60-57 home victory Wednesday night in a quarterfinal contest of the La Salle/Temple City Holiday Classic. “It was quite a game,” said Maranatha Coach Tim Godley, whose team won its fourth game in a row to improve to 10-2 and will next meet Muir or Cantwell Sacred Heart in a semifinal contest at 6 p.m. today at La Salle following a stellar effort from junior point guard Jeremy Major, who had a game-high 26 points.

PASADENA - With the Maranatha High boys' tennis team potentially in position to play two playoff matches in as many days, it embraced the challenge. The Minutemen entered the CIF Southern Section Division V playoffs fresh off finishing second in the Olympic League and with several players performing well in the league tournament last week. More importantly, they appeared to be well conditioned. Maranatha used its physical preparation as an advantage en route to a convincing 13-5 win against visiting Nogales in a wild-card match at Muir High.

PASADENA - After matching Flintridge Prep bucket for bucket for most of the second half, the Maranatha High boys' basketball team seemed just a few stops away from possibly making Thursday night's nonleague meeting a close finish. Instead, the key stops down the stretch were made by the Rebels, who made sure their double-digit lead stayed secure by holding the Minutemen scoreless for a key three-minute span late in the fourth quarter and held on for a comfortable 70-59 win. “The key to that stretch, or part of it, is when our offense executes it doesn't allow some of those transition things and we get able to set our defense,” said Prep Coach Garrett Ohara, whose team was led by 18 points and five assists from point guard Robert Cartwright.

PASADENA - it certainly didn't come easy for Will Dixon on Friday afternoon. The junior Flintridge Prep boys' tennis player is normally slotted in doubles, but an illness to the Rebels' top singles player forced the team to rearrange the lineup accordingly. PHOTOS: Flintridge Prep vs. Maranatha nonleague boys' tennis In stepped the versatile Dixon, who displayed patience and the ability to overcome a huge deficit to record a sweep and help Flintridge Prep register a 12-6 nonleague victory against Maranatha at Muir High.

Madison Witt couldn't help but look up to Annika Lenz, but by the end of the CIF Southern Section Division III Diving Finals Tuesday their roles were reversed. A year after just being edged by Pasadena Poly's Lenz in her freshman season, Flintridge Prep's Witt came back and kept the standout Panther from ending her high school career with a fourth CIF championship. Witt jumped out to a slim lead after the sixth round and didn't give up any ground en route to capturing the Division III crown with 538 points, while Olivia Rosendahl of Immaculate Heart finished runner-up with 523.85 at Riverside City College.

Peter Samore LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE -- Maranatha High got off to a quick start in Game 1 of its doubleheader against Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, and the Tologs were playing catch-up the rest of the way. Flintridge Sacred Heart caught up once with Maranatha, but couldn't do so a second time. The Tologs came up one run short in the bottom of the eighth inning to lose, 5-4, in a nonleague softball game. The Tologs (4-3) brought home their first two runners in the International tiebreaker and had the tying run at second base with one out. That was as close as they came Saturday morning at Flintridge Sacred Heart, as the last two batters grounded out. The Minutemen (6-2)

I would like to suggest that the News-Press consider publishing letters only originating from Glendale. I do not believe that residents and businesses in this city need opinions regarding such things as traffic circles from those not living here. I also do not see a need for letters like those of Mr. Harvey Pearson from Los Feliz, who seek to incite hatred in our city with inflammatory rhetoric. No matter how eloquent the prose, I see little value in reading veiled threats to "arms" for the sake of his bigotry.

BOYS? BASKETBALL Pasadena 84, Glendale 79: Senior guard Greg Gasparian finished with a team-high 33 points on Wednesday for the visiting Nitros in a Pacific League loss. Gasparian made a school-record nine three-pointers, but the Nitros (8-9, 3-2 in league) couldn?t get past the Bulldogs. David Mansuryan added 16 points for Glendale, which got 13 from Derenik Kaloosi. Glendale will next face cross-town rival Hoover in another league road game at 7 p.m. Friday.

At 7 tonight when the Flintridge Prep football team travels to Temple City High to play host Maranatha, it will have a chance to equal last season's win total in the first two games of this season. Granted, it's not the greatest of accomplishments, but for a team that went 2-6 a year ago, a 2-0 start under first-year Coach Brad Miller would be a welcomed sign. For the Rebels to do that, they must contend with a 2-0 Maranatha squad that has beaten its previous two opponents by a 66-12 score.

SOUTH PASADENA - What was supposed to be a measuring stick for the progress of both the Mayfield Senior School and Maranatha High girls' tennis teams instead resembled a middle-of-the-season league match Tuesday afternoon. The mild Crown City rivals opened the regular season with a back-and-forth affair secured over the final two sets by the Cubs in a 10-8 nonleague victory at the Arroyo Seco Racquet Club. “This win felt really good. Definitely, the girls stayed focus throughout the entire match,” Mayfield first-year Coach Silvana Stans said.