Arcadia Falls Again to La Cañada Despite Koneru's Dominant Effort

Arcadia had something to prove. Just four days ago, the Apaches were blown out by La Cañada in a 33-point romp.

They put up a better effort in the rematch, but still fell short, losing 55-52 in the La Cañada Holiday Classic.

The game was close the entire second half, partly because La Cañada's leading scorer, Michael McGlashan, had an off shooting night, and partly because Arcadia's Kiran Koneru scored a game-high 20 points.

McGlashan came into Tuesday's clash averaging almost 22 points per game, but was limited to eight on 3 of 12 shooting.

Arcadia coach Jay Ryan said his team played with a different attitude this time around against La Cañada. That was the main key to keeping the game close.

"We actually came to play today," Ryan said. "We played with a lot more intensity, we defended better and we ran our offense better. I looked at the film from the last game and we played really passive."

Ryan praised Koneru's defense on McGlashan. In the last meeting between the two squads, McGlashan torched the Apaches to the tune of 29 points. Koneru also made the Spartans' defense work, driving to the basket and finishing strong or drawing fouls. 

"(McGlashan) struggled tonight and that's going to happen," Spartans coach Tom Hofman said. "He made some good passes, he defended and he rebounded. One of the biggest things was he got many offensive rebounds."

The entire Spartans team pounded the boards, especially down the stretch. McGlashan led the charge with 10 rebounds. La Cañada struggled with its free throws in crunch time, but seemingly every miss became an offensive rebound.

With less than 2 minutes to play, the Apaches trailed by two, but McGlashan and Mason Holle missed free throws that would have extended the lead. The Spartans nabbed offensive rebounds, Holle got a layup and La Cañada held on for the win. Koneru missed a three-pointer at the buzzer that would have tied the game.

"Kiran Koneru did a great job," Ryan said. "We talked about adjustments and how to play McGlashan. We saw some stuff in film. He really came to play defense.

"He had double duty. He handled the ball, he initiated things offensively. He defended their best player. He came to play, he's a trooper and he did a great job."

Koneru shot 7-for-17, but got to the free throw line six times. C.J. Perez was the only other Arcadia player in double figures with 11 points. He also grabbed four rebounds. Brandon Lum chipped in with six points and four boards.

With McGlashan struggling for the Spartans, Dario CiVon picked up the scoring slack. The 6-foot-2 senior scored 18 points on 7 of 13 shooting. CiVon also nailed four 3-pointers.

Arcadia led at the end of the first quarter, 16-7. In the second quarter, however, the Spartans' defense was tough and limited the Apaches to just six points. It was back and forth from that point as the teams were tied at the half and at the end of the third quarter. 

The Apaches are now 3-2 on the season while La Cañada improved to 5-0. Arcadia can't seem to get past the Spartans, but they made it much more competitive than the blowout from last week.

"We knew it was going to be a close one," Hofman said. "I warned these kids. They had something to prove and they did it. We took them a little lightly early and got down and made it a ball game because of our lack of intensity."

Both teams will be in action on Wednesday in the La Cañada Holiday Classic. La Cañada plays Muir, while Arcadia takes on Village Christian.