Montgomery tops Mission Hills in bruising Open Division quarterfinals

After a 40-point beating at the hands of Montgomery High School in December, Mission Hills boys basketball coach Cutrtis Hofmeister urged his team to start strong in Saturday’s CIF San Diego Section Open Division quarterfinal game.

Hofmeister’s Grizzlies turned the ball over 10 times in the first quarter, yet trailed by just two points.

Third-seeded Montgomery took control in the second quarter, and went on to a 49-41 win in as physical a game as either team had played all season.

There were 43 fouls called — 22 on Mission Hills, 21 on Montgomery. Two Mission Hills players fouled out and five players finished the game with four fouls.

The Aztecs (27-2) advance to face the winner of the La Costa Canyon-St. Augustine on Wednesday. Mission Hills (21-8) will play in the Southern California Regionals despite the loss; all eight Open Division teams in San Diego advance.

“Survive and advance,” said Aztecs coach Ed Martin. “It was ugly, but credit Mission Hills. They played hard. I don’t think we overlooked them, but our guys have to realize every single game is different.”

Montgomery led 25-17 at the half and pushed the advantage to 12 points early in the third quarter. But Mission Hills finished the quarter on a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to six.

The Grizzlies got as close as five with 1:43 to play and had the ball, but turned the ball over.

“That was huge,” Martin said.

Montgomery’s JJ Sanchez, who averages 20.5 points per game and had 30 in the first game against Mission Hills, led the Aztecs with 12 points. He didn’t score his first field goal until the game’s dying seconds.

Zair Mendez and Devin Hamilton added 11 points apiece. Hamilton’s last basket was a breakaway dunk to end the game.

Jacob Bishop paced Mission Hills with 13 points. He was the only Grizzlies player in double figures. Bradley McGlothlin of Mission Hills led all rebounders with eight.

Mission Hills turned the ball over 20 times. Montgomery had 13 turnovers, but only three in the second half.

“We average 6 1/2 turnovers a game, so to have six in a quarter tells you what kind of game it was,” Martin said.