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Boys’ basketball: La Verne Lutheran holds on

Los Angeles Times staff writer Ben Bolch
By Ben Bolch
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BAKERSFIELD--La Verne Lutheran escaped with a 35-32 victory over Ross Branson in the Division V championship after the Bulls’ Josh Konstin missed a three-pointer and Carl Cooper grabbed the rebound and flung the ball in the air in celebration.

It is the first state title for the Trojans, who were in real trouble when they were trailing by a point and Ross Branson had the ball with a minute and a half left.

Bruce English scored 10 points and Grant Jerrett had nine for Lutheran (28-8).

Lutheran Coach Eric Cooper didn’t get the best out of his team until the fourth quarter. The Trojans trailed for most of the game, which seemed amazing considering their advantages in height, athleticism and talent.

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It was hard to watch the game as a disinterested observer and not pull for the upstart Bulls, who resembled a team from Mayberry taking on the big city boys.

--Ben Bolch

Varsity Times Insider
Ben Bolch

Ben Bolch has been a Los Angeles Times staff writer since 1999. He is serving his second stint as the UCLA beat writer, which seems fitting since he has covered almost every sports beat except hockey and horse racing. Bolch is also the author of the recently released book “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” He previously covered UCLA basketball from 2010-11 before going on to cover the NBA and the Clippers for five years. He happily traded in gobs of hotel points and airline miles to return to cover UCLA basketball and football in the summer of 2016. Bolch was once selected by NBA TV’s “The Starters” as the “Worst of the Week” after questioning their celebrity journalism-style questions at an NBA All-Star game and considers it one of his finer moments.

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