Long Beach Poly athlete honored

It might seem like George Daily-Lyles had enough on his plate finishing high school, playing linebacker on the football team and picking a college.

Not quite.

The Long Beach Poly star was named today as the Play It Smart National Student-Athlete of the Month, honored by the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame for excelling at all of the above while devoting himself to a range of community activities.

Daily-Lyles has done volunteer work for groups such as Habitat for Humanity, the Long Beach Rescue Mission and Miller's Children's Hospital, as well as mentoring local schoolchildren.

"Volunteering at the soup kitchen was one of the most beneficial activities we did," Daily-Lyles said. "It really put life into perspective, it reminds you to be humble."

The Play It Smart program encourages high school athletes to be successful in class and become community leaders. After captaining his team to a 14-1 record and a CIF Southern Section title, Daily-Lyles has signed a letter of intent to play for Hawaii.

"George is one of these extraordinary student athletes," National Football Foundation Chairman Archie Manning said. "We look forward to following the bright future of this remarkable young man."

-- David Wharton

High school sports on Varsity Times Insider

Because the level of interest in high school sports and demand for prep sports information are so high, particularly during playoff season, we've decided to re-institute Varsity Times Insider as the home blog for all high school news.

High school information that has been posted on the Fabulous Forum has been moved back to Varsity Times, which can be found among the list of blogs on the main latimes.com Sports page and on the High School page.

-- Mike James

Boys' basketball: Wolfson is Doogie Howser of coaches

The first-year coach for West Hills Chaminade, Todd Wolfson, is 24 years old and has his team in the Southern Section Division IV-A championship game after a 59-47 victory over Oaks Christian on Friday night.

Chaminade (20-11) has come out of nowhere to advance to the final, and Wolfson finds himself in the spotlight as one of the youngest high school coaches -- if not the youngest -- still alive in the playoffs. There were some who questioned Chaminade promoting an inexperienced JV coach.

"I heard a lot," he said.

But what a job he has done. The former El Camino Real basketball player has molded the team around 6-foot-10 Jules Montgomery, and the Eagles will meet Los Angeles Price in next week's final.

There is one big concern. Montgomery injured his knee Friday night and was undergoing an MRI today.

"We need him," Wolfson said.

-- Eric Sondheimer

Boys' basketball: Friday's semifinal playoff scores

Here are Friday's CIF-Southern Section boys' basketball semifinal playoff scores. Keep checking back for updates.

DIVISION I-AA
Riverside King 76, Dominguez 70
Mater Dei 70, Etiwanda 60

DIVISION I-A
Tesoro 62, Santa Monica 58
Ventura 66, Chino Hills 59

DIVISION II-AA
Leuzinger 62, Glendora 37
Thousand Oaks 89, Marina 57

DIVISION II-A
Eisenhower 48, Damien 45
Loyola 80, La Mirada 60

Boys' basketball: King advances, will play Mater Dei

Riverside King held off a late charge by Compton Dominguez to pull out a 76-70 victory tonight in a Division I-AA semifinal at Rancho Verde High. The second-seeded Wolves advanced to play top-seeded Mater Dei a week from Saturday at the Honda Center.

San Diego State-bound forward Kawhi Leonard scored 31 points and Tony Snell had 22 for King (26-2), which led by 14 points early in the fourth quarter before Dominguez cut the lead to five points with 48 seconds left on a three-pointer by Myron Green.

But a pair of free throws and a putback by Snell put the game out of reach.

Keala King scored 21 points and Dominick Lacoste had 14 for Dominguez (25-6).

--Ben Bolch

Boys' basketball: Loyola advances to II-A final

Los Angeles Loyola has earned a trip to the Southern Section II-A championship game with an 80-60 victory over La Mirada in the semifinals.

Harvard-Westlake moves to the III-A championship game with a 67-55 victory over Sonora. Thousand Oaks routed Marina in its II-AA semifinal.

-- Eric Sondheimer

Photo: Coach Jamal Adams celebrates with his Loyola High School basketball team following the Cub's Southern Section Division II-A semifinals victory over La Mirada. Credit: Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times.

Boys' basketball: Mater Dei 70, Etiwanda 60

Mater Dei's guards, Gary Franklin Jr. and Tyler Lamb, contributed three consecutive baskets during a 90-second span in the fourth quarter to break a 58-58 tie and lift the Monarchs (30-0) to a 70-60 victory over Etiwanda Friday night in a Southern Section Division I-AA semifinal game at Fontana Miller.

Franklin finished with 21 points and Lamb had 19 points.

What a fantastic final five minutes of drama and basketball. It was tied at 54, tied at 56, tied at 58. There was a block by Perris Blackwell of Etiwanda, followed by a block by Lamb. Back and forth it went, neither team wanting to give in.

Mater Dei finally got a cushion on a basket by Lamb and a three-point shot by Franklin for a 63-58 lead with 2:05 left. Then Lamb connected again for a 65-58 lead.

-- Eric Sondheimer

Boys' basketball: King's lead dwindles to eight

Compton Dominguez closed the third quarter of its Division I-AA semifinal against Riverside King with a 5-2 run to pull within 58-50 entering the fourth. The Dons had trailed by as many as 16 points earlier in the third quarter.

--Ben Bolch

Boys' basketball: Wear twins come alive for Mater Dei

The North Carolina-bound Wear twins, David and Travis, woke up in the third quarter for Mater Dei, each scoring three baskets, to help the Monarchs take a 46-44 lead over Etiwanda after three quarters of their Southern Section Division I-AA semifinal game.

Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight had to use two timeouts in the quarter and switched to a zone defense in an effort to get his team to rally from a five-point deficit.

-- Eric Sondheimer

Boys' soccer: Friday's quarterfinal playoff results

Here are Friday's CIF-Southern Section boys' soccer quarterfinal results. I'll continue to post scores as they become available.

DIVISION I
El Toro 2, Newport Harbor 0
Loyola 4, Servite 1
Millikan 1, West Torrance 0
St. Francis 3, Long Beach Jordan 2 (OT)

DIVISION II
Bell Gardens 3, Sunny Hills 1
Santa Ana 1, La Habra 0
Santa Barbara 3, Montebello 2
Placentia Valencia 3, Troy 0

DIVISION III
Anaheim 1, Garey 1 (Anaheim advances on penalty kicks, 5-4)
Coachella Valley 3, Santa Ana Valley 2
Great Oak 4, Bloomington 0
Montclair 5, Redlands 0