FAST BREAK

By Ben Bolch

Jan. 7, 2002 12 AM PT

FEATS OF THE WEEK

* Joey Saavedra scored 19 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter as Wilmington Banning rallied from a 14-point third-quarter deficit for an 81-78 victory over Los Angeles University in round-robin play at the Hamilton tournament. University’s Ruben Boykin, who had 28 points, missed a three-pointer at the buzzer that would have sent the game into overtime. Banning went on to take the tournament title.

* Gino Riney scored 45 points and handed out a school-record 15 assists to lead Grant to a 95-87 overtime victory over Granada Hills. Grant’s Jeremy Scharf tied a school record with eight three-point baskets.

CLUTCH

* Greg Geier’s layup with three seconds to play lifted Manhattan Beach Mira Costa to a 43-42 Bay League victory over Inglewood Morningside.

* Nate Patterson’s basket with five seconds left gave Hesperia Christian a 60-59 nonleague victory over Silver Valley.

UPSETS

* North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake defeated then-No. 16 Loyola, 94-87.

TEAMS ON THE RISE

* Oxnard. The Yellowjackets (13-4) defeated Rio Mesa, 71-38, to win their 25th consecutive Pacific View League game.

* Westlake Village Oaks Christian. The Lions (12-0) defeated Cypress Brethren Christian, 61-41, to remain among the handful of undefeated teams in the Southern Section.

* La Puente Bassett. The Olympians, led by Ivan Velasko’s 23 points, defeated South El Monte, 58-51, to notch their first victory of the season after opening with 13 consecutive losses.

LOOKING AHEAD

* No. 4 Fairfax tries to avenge a two-point loss to No. 1 Westchester at 7 p.m. Tuesday when it plays host to the Comets.

* No. 3 Santa Margarita plays No. 9 Santa Ana Mater Dei at 9 p.m. Friday at the Long Beach Pyramid.

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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.