ARCADIA — Wound Tight, bet down from 5-1 on the morning line to the 3-1 third choice in the wagering, took the eight-horse field gate to wire, easily winning the $200,000 Unusual Heat Turf Classic by 3 1/2 lengths on a Saturday afternoon when Santa Anita carded five stakes restricted to California-breds.

The 5-year-old gelding by Coil, one of only two horses in the field to have won at the race’s 1 1/8-mile distance, finished in 1:48.24 after carving out easy fractions of 23.39, 48.62 and 1:13.

Coming in off a nose victory in a $40,000 optional claimer at Del Mar on Dec. 1, Wound Tight, ridden by Abel Cedillo and trained by Bob Hess Jr., won for the fourth time in 10 starts.

Ward ‘n Jerry, the 2-1 favorite, finished second, a half-length in front of 34-1 longshot Cono. Ashleyluvssugar, a 9-year-old gelding whose career is winding down, finished fourth at 7-2 in the eight-horse field.

“This horse is very strong on the lead,” Cedillo said. “There was no pace, so he was tough on the lead. He never got tired. We came back in front of the grandstand and he still wanted to run.”

The 58-year-old Gerardo Morales, Hess’ assistant who’s been with the barn for 35 years, said he was a bit concerned about the distance.

“But he definitely got the job done. I’m really happy with him,” said Morales, who saddled the winner because Hess was in Florida. “When I saw the fractions, I said, ‘We have a big chance.’ When they turned for home I knew it was all over.”

Fatality in opener 

Uncontainable, a 5-year-old daughter of Acclamation who made 11 starts in her career, broke her right front ankle in the stretch of Saturday’s first race and had to be euthanized, the second fatality in two days at Santa Anita and third racing death of the meeting.

Trained by Peter Miller, Uncontainable won three of her 11 races for earnings of $24,390.On Friday, the Val Brinkerhoff-trained Harliss, seventh in the eight-horse field in the final race of the day, was unsaddled and vanned off. He later had to be euthanized.

A necropsy will be performed on the two horses, as required by the California Horse Racing Board.

Veteran rider delivers 

Agapito Delgadillo, a 53-year-old native of Mexico City, doesn’t get many chances to ride in $150,000 stakes races, but he was aboard the winner of the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Sprint.

Stealthediamonds, the 3-1 second choice, broke on top in the six-horse field and never looked back, holding off 1-2 favorite Just Grazed Me to win by a half-length in 1:01.61 for the 5 1/2 furlongs over a firm grass course.

Win streak continues 

Fashionably Fast made it five consecutive victories by winning the $150,000 California Cup Sprint by a neck over Lieutenant Dan, running the 6 furlongs in 1:09.60 over a fast main track as the 2-1 second choice.

Ridden by Tiago Pereira, the Dean Pederson-trained Fashionably Fast, a 5-year-old gelding by Lucky Pulpit, won for the sixth time in 15 races. Demonstrating his gameness, he’s won four of the six by three-quarters of a length or less.

It’s Showtime 

Warren’s Showtime came charging home from fifth to win the $200,000 California Cup Oaks by 3 1/2 lengths under Jorge Velez for trainer Craig Lewis.

Sent postward at 4-1, the 3-year-old daughter of Clubhouse Ride ran the 1 mile on the turf in 1:36.50. The 3-1 favorite, Been Studying Her, finished 11th in the 12-horse field.

PHILADELPHIA — After a lackluster home effort the last time out, Flyers coach Alain Vigneault shifted his top line and it paid huge dividends.

Travis Konecny scored a pair of goals and James van Riemsdyk added a goal and two assists to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.

Joel Farabee also scored and Brian Elliott made 34 saves for the Flyers, who improved to 16-4-4 at home. Philadelphia is right on the playoff cut line with 33 games remaining.

Claude Giroux, who centered the line with Konecny and van Riemsdyk, had a pair of assists.

“I was looking for something else,” Vigneault said after the Flyers’ 4-1 home defeat to Montreal on Thursday. “Putting (Giroux) back in the middle as an option we had and it worked out tonight.”

Giroux previously was a winger on the top line before taking Kevin Hayes’ place in the middle, with Hayes moving to that spot on the third line and van Riemsdyk coming up to the No. 1 unit.

“Yeah they’re good players,” Giroux said. “It’s fun to play with them. They both know how to score goals. I know it’s only one game, but you can see we have chemistry. We need to build off this.”

Konecny notched his second of the game and 17th of the season early in the second period when he fired a hard wrist shot from the front of the crease past Jack Campbell’s glove side. Van Riemsdyk put a perfect pass on Konecny’s stick from behind the net.

Earlier, Konecny put the Flyers on the board 3:48 into the contest when he finished a 2-on-1 with a one-timer from the slot after being set up nicely by van Riemsdyk.

“It felt good,” Konecny said. “It’s nice when you get some opportunities early in the game. It kind of gets your feet going. Our line was moving pretty good tonight.”

Elliott, the Flyers’ backup, is playing after No. 1 netminder Carter Hart was injured in practice Tuesday. Hart missed his third game and is expected to be out for two to three weeks with an abdominal injury. Elliott said the Flyers played a more complete game overall than Thursday.

“Blocking shots and allowing me to see pucks, that was a big difference,” he said. “It allows you to swallow up some of the rebounds that normally would be there, regroup and win the next faceoff. We did a good job of that and we buried our chances. Guys had some hot sticks tonight.”

Dustin Brown scored for Los Angeles, which enters a much-needed 10-day break after losing its fourth in a row and seventh in eight games. The Kings entered in the cellar in the Western Conference and tied for the third-fewest points in the league with 41. They ended a five-game road trip 1-3-1.

“We’ve played some really good teams and we’re learning how to be a really good team,” Brown said. “We have to take lessons from every game. It’s frustrating, but it’s important we figure out how to get better.”

The Flyers went ahead 3-0 with a pair of second-period tallies.

In addition to Konecny’s goal, Farabee recorded his fifth of the season, getting some good fortune when Matt Niskanen’s slap shot from the point deflected off his skate and past Campbell for a power-play goal with 7:52 left in the period.

Philadelphia also had a goal disallowed in the period when officials ruled that van Riemsdyk interfered with Campbell before Sean Couturier’s shot crossed the goal line. The officials’ call was upheld after a coach’s challenge.

The teams traded goals in the third period, with van Riemsdyk scoring on a deflection with 11:41 remaining. It was van Riemsdyk’s first goal in 13 games and second three-point game of the season.

Three minutes earlier, Brown put the Kings on the board by going high over Elliott’s blocker side after beating Niskanen down the wing. Brown, who has spent his entire career with the Kings, now has scored against every team in the NHL.

The Kings dropped to 0-19-1 when trailing after the first period, remaining the only team in the NHL not to have come back from a first-period deficit.

Philadelphia was playing its seventh game in 12 days. The Flyers will host the Penguins on Tuesday before a nine-day break.

NOTES: Flyers D Justin Braun (lower body) returned after missing six straight contests. … Los Angeles C Blake Lizotte (lower body) sat for the fifth consecutive game. … The teams split the two-game season series. Los Angeles won at home 5-3 on Dec. 31. Elliott was pulled after the first period in that contest after allowing four goals on 15 shots.

ARCADIA — Three horses have died in three days at Santa Anita Park while animal rights activists continue to push for a nationwide ban on racing.

Santa Anita officials confirmed the death of the horse, which had been in an off-track training exercise Sunday morning.

Tikkun Olam, a 4-year-old gelding trained by Eric Kuljac, was euthanized because of his undisclosed injuries sustained in a collision with another horse, The Associated Press reported.

California Horse Racing Board spokesperson Mike Martin said Tikkun Olam suffered catastrophic injuries, but riders and other horses were not injured.

Tikkun Olam had one win in nine career starts and earnings of $40,743.

On Saturday, a 4-year-old gelding named Uncontainable was entered in the first race of the day, but suffered a “fractured right front ankle,” according to a post on Santa Anita’s website. “Per recommendation from the attending veterinarian, the horse was humanely euthanized.”

A day earlier, on Friday, a 6-year-old gelding named Harliss was euthanized after fracturing his right front ankle in a race at Santa Anita after finishing seventh in a field of eight in the seventh race. He was also euthanized under the recommendation from the attending veterinarian.

The three combined deaths in consecutive days brought the number of horse deaths at Santa Anita to at least 42 since December 2018. Five horses have died at Santa Anita since its winter/spring meeting began Dec. 28.

“Three dead horses in three days requires immediate action,” PETA spokeswoman Brooke Rossi said. “The California Horse Racing Board was recently given the authority, in legislation backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, to suspend racing, and now it must do exactly that. There is no sense in the board allowing racing and deaths to continue until it enacts all its own pending regulations and acts on the recommendations of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office. If it takes the closure of a track to stop the deaths, then close the track.”

Meanwhile, officials at Santa Anita released a statement Saturday reaffirming the track administration’s commitment to horse safety.

“Santa Anita remains committed to transparency,” it said. “Our safety statistics and incident reports are publicly available on our website at SantaAnita.com/safety. Home to 2,000 horses, Santa Anita Park is one of the largest equine training facilities in the United States. Horses raced or trained at Santa Anita Park more than 420,000 times over the last year with a 99.991% safety rate.”

Santa Anita — and the sport in general — have faced increasing pressure from animal-rights activists and elected officials since the deaths at Santa Anita started garnering media attention in early 2019.

The California Horse Racing Board is set to issue a report soon on the deaths.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office concluded Dec. 19 that there was no criminal wrongdoing connected to the deaths, but offered a series of recommendations aimed at improving safety at racetracks in California.

“Horse racing has inherent risks but is a legally sanctioned sport in California,” District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a statement. “Greater precautions are needed to enhance safety and protect both horses and their riders.”

The district attorney called on state regulators to develop safety enhancements to reduce horse deaths, including possible enhanced penalties for rules violations, establishment of a tip line for people to report violations or animal cruelty allegations and mandated inspections of racing and training facilities, and reviews of necropsy and veterinary records of horses that have died.

The report also made recommendations aimed at identifying pre-existing conditions in horses that could lead to breakdowns, establishing track- maintenance protocols — including special measures during rain or extreme weather conditions, and creation of “safety codes of conduct” for owners, trainers, jockeys, veterinarians and others who care for horses.

The report noted that officials at Santa Anita have implemented a series of safety-improvement measures that “have reduced the number of fatal racing and training incidents.”

Santa Anita recently debuted a PET Scan machine to provide imaging of the fetlock or ankle joint — the most common area for injuries to occur in thoroughbreds — without horses having to undergo anesthesia, and said it will help to diagnose pre-existing conditions.

“This state-of-the-art technology reflects a new standard of care within Thoroughbred racing — a standard that puts the health and safety of horses and riders first,” said Belinda Stronach, The Stronach Group’s chairman and president.

A family of three was pulled from the freezing waters of Big Bear Lake on Saturday after they fell through the ice, despite nearby signs warning them to stay away, sheriff’s officials said.

The father, mother and daughter walked out on to a frozen-over portion of the lake at around 2:33 p.m., according to a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman as well as several witnesses to the incident.

As they moved further out, the ice cracked and all three fell into the water.

“Three people fell through the ice right down there,” said one woman on Instagram with the username BeachSnowChick. “(We) just happened to be driving by … we came and grabbed our tow strap.”

View this post on Instagram

Remember when I posted a few weeks back STAY OFF LAKE ICE! Well it happened today. A family of three fell through the ice and we assisted in the rescue. We tried to throw out our tow strap but it was too short and heavy. The Big Bear sheriffs responded quickly and did an amazing job getting the family out. I decided to share this on my feed in hopes that this educates people to stay off the damn ice! @telemundo52 #stayoffice #stayofflakeice #icewaterrescue #icerescue #bigbear #bigbearlake #socalmountains #sbnf #cbsla #ktla #abceyewitness #winterconditions #winterwarnings #besafe

A post shared by Beachsnowchick (@beachsnowchick) on Jan 18, 2020 at 7:09pm PST

The Instagram user filmed sheriff’s deputies near the water’s edge, apparently just after the rescue. The video showed emergency vehicles crowding a street with traffic backed up behind them.

The woman in the video said she and her husband attempted to throw the tow strap out to the family, but it was too short.

Jodi Miller, the SBSD spokeswoman, said deputies arrived quickly and, after tossing a rope for the family to grab on to, got all of them out in about three minutes.

The family appeared to be OK — Miller said San Bernardino County firefighters were dispatched, but the family refused medical treatment.

Dan Cupido, a reporter who published photos of the family prone on the ice being pulled to safety, said on Facebook there were signs near the water warning to stay off the ice.

Miller also confirmed there were numerous signs posted around the lake. She said the father was cited for failing to heed the warnings.

In a Facebook post, the Big Bear Fire Department said the incident was an example of the “dangers of playing on lake ice.”

“Did you know that if you fall into water that is 35 degrees Fahrenheit or colder, that your hands and feet stop working in 2 minutes or less?” fire officials said. “If not rescued within 15 minutes, unconsciousness and/or death can occur. Please stay off the ice for yours and your (family’s) safety!”

Before the cookie dealers hit the streets of Orange County they gathered on Sunday, Jan. 19, to talk business goals and prepare their sales pitches.

Held at the Girl Scouts of Orange County’s Irvine headquarters, the Cookie Kick Off attracted more than 500 Girl Scouts, troop leaders and volunteers as they prepare for the 2020 selling season that opens Jan. 26.

The scouts practiced with money, honed their people skills, learned about safety and set their goals for sales. They also got to know their product during blind taste tests.

While a cookie fix for the rest of us, the annual sales of Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Patties and Caramel deLites is a fundraiser for the organization and an experience for the scouts that helps build confidence, foster teamwork and encourage entrepreneurs, the organization says.

Older scouts on Sunday talked with women investors about finances and good money habits as well as career paths and college plans.

Cookie sales run this year through March 8; check under the Cookies tab at girlscoutsoc.org to find cookie booths by ZIP code.

LA QUINTA — It is the risk taken by anyone putting opinions or predictions on social media for all to see. There are times when, well, you just misjudge the distance.

This Space put such a misjudgment on Twitter on Sunday afternoon, right after Andrew Landry had knocked in another birdie putt and appeared to have The American Express firmly under control.

“Another birdie for Landry on 12, his sixth of the day,” I wrote. “He’s now at -27, six shots ahead, and I think it’s safe to say @theamexgolf is now a boat race.”

Another birdie for Landry on 12, his sixth of the day. He's now at -27, six shots ahead, and I think it's safe to say @theamexgolf is now a boat race.

— Jim Alexander (@Jim_Alexander) January 19, 2020

The boat sprung a leak, obviously.

An hour and a half after that tweet, Landry did in fact win this tournament, holing a 3-foot birdie putt on 18 to complete a final round of 67 and finish four days in the desert 26-under-par. But it wasn’t without stress, because Abraham Ancer strung together nine birdies and put himself in position to capitalize if Landry were to hit a rough patch.

Which he did. Landry missed a 10-footer for par on the par-13 13th, a 13-footer for par on the par-4 14th, and a 15-footer for par on the par-4 15th. After that grisly stretch, and following Ancer’s 25-foot birdie putt on the renowned and fearsome 17, with its island green, the two were tied at 24-under.

“At the beginning of the round, I just said I just need to make as many birdies as I can and try and see what happens, so I wasn’t paying much attention to the leaderboard,” said Ancer, saying he first noticed on the 17th tee that there were possibilities here. “I was like, ‘Well, we got to make two other birdies.’ I made the putt there on 17, which was big, and then just couldn’t make it happen on 18 (a 30-footer for a birdie slid wide left). But I played good, man. I’m proud of how I played.”

Landry, meanwhile, recovered after reminding himself of his capabilities. That pep talk and a slight swing correction helped him par 16, and he birdied 17 (a 7-foot putt) to re-take the lead and 18 (a 6-footer) to finish the job.

And part of the experience helping him recover was the memory of this tournament in 2018, and a loss to Jon Rahm on the fourth playoff hole.

“Losing in a playoff after missing a 6-footer downhill is not something you want to do,” he said. “That helped me to where I could go win Valero (his first tour victory that April in San Antonio). All those experiences helped. I learned to control my emotions. I learned to control my pace. All those things helped me become successful.”

There have been a number of hard moments along the way that Landry has used as fuel, or motivation, or education. There was the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont, his first major, when he was in the final group on the last day but shot himself out of contention with a 78. There was the dejection here in 2018, and the elation three months later in San Antonio, and the frustration at the start of this season when he missed seven cuts in eight events, the most recent a week ago in Honolulu.

The Tournament Formerly Known As The Bob Hope was his ninth this season. But the more you play and the more situations you find yourself in, the more you learn. Eventually, if you’re good enough, you win.

“You look at the top players in the world, and they’ve got a lot of experience being up there and a lot of experience being in the final group and a lot of experience winning,” Landry said. “So every single time, you take this day and you just build from it. You go think back on what you did and what you should have done differently, and that all goes into an arsenal in the back of your mind, how to win.

“I struggled really, really bad in college golf with winning. I broke a school record at Arkansas for most top-10 finishes, and that’s not a good stat to have. I wanted to win. And so I think going to the Korn Ferry (developmental) tour really helped me to learn how to win … It’s been done, but if you can’t win out there, it’s going to be tough to win out here.”

He applied some of those things he’d learned Sunday. Meanwhile, the process continues for Ancer, 28, in his third PGA Tour season and looking for his first victory, and for Scottie Scheffler, 23, a tour rookie also looking for his first triumph. Scheffler entered the day tied for the lead, had three bogeys on the front nine to slip back into the pack, then eagled 16 and was one putt away from forcing a three-way tie on 17, and finally finished 2 shots back.

“You got to stay patient,” Scheffler said. “It’s not that easy to win out here, and there’s a reason that the winning percentage isn’t very high.”

Many other players out here would nod their heads in agreement.

BELLFLOWER — The Sheriff’s Department and the California Highway Patrol circulated a photo of a diabetic 75-year-old man suffering from Alzheimer’s disease who went missing Sunday morning in Bellflower.

Jose Fausto Rivas was last seen about 1 a.m. at his home in the 9300 block of Cedar Street, the Sheriff’s Information Bureau reported. The CHP issued a Silver Alert for help in finding him.

Rivas was described as a 5-foot, 10-inch tall Latino man weighing 175 pounds with gray hair, brown eyes and a mustache.

Anyone with any information regarding his whereabouts was asked to call the sheriff’s Missing Persons Unit at 323-890-5500. Anyone seeing him should call 911, the CHP said.

SANTA CLARA — From No. 2 pick in the draft to one of the last two teams standing.

It has been a remarkable turnaround for the Super Bowl-bound San Francisco 49ers.

Raheem Mostert rushed for 220 yards and four touchdowns to make quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo mostly a spectator, Nick Bosa harassed Aaron Rodgers from the start and the 49ers beat the Green Bay Packers 37-20 for the NFC championship on Sunday.

The 49ers (15-3) advanced to their first Super Bowl in seven years and will play the Kansas City Chiefs in two weeks in Miami for the championship. The Chiefs advanced with a 35-24 victory over the Tennessee Titans in Sunday’s AFC title game.

“Our team, it’s incredible to be a part of,” Garoppolo said. “We can win so many different ways. Raheem, those guys up front, the tight ends obviously were just dominating tonight. It was fun.”

The Niners won just 10 games in the first two seasons under coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch, going 4-12 last season after Garoppolo went down with a season-ending knee injury in Week 3.

Now, San Francisco is one of two teams remaining after delivering a second thorough beating of the season to Rodgers and the Packers (14-4). The 49ers are the third team to make it to the Super Bowl a year after winning four or fewer games, joining Cincinnati (1988) and the Rams (1999).

Bosa, the prize for last year’s rough season as the No. 2 overall pick, helped set the tone when he ended Green Bay’s second drive of the game with a 13-yard sack of Rodgers.

Mostert, a former special teams standout, did much of the rest in a remarkable redemption story for a former surfer who was cut seven times and carried the ball only eight times in his first three seasons in the NFL.

But he has become a key part of the NFC’s top team this year, leading the Niners with 772 yards rushing in the regular season and delivering a performance for the ages in the NFC title game.

He had the second-most yards rushing in a playoff game to Eric Dickerson’s 248 for the Rams on Jan. 4, 1986, and was the first player to rush for at least four TDs and 200 yards in a playoff game.

“You know, honestly, I just woke up like it was any other game,” Mostert said. “It was one of those things where hey, once we all get in a groove, we’re just going to keep it riding, keep it going and that’s what we did.”

He got started when he burst 36 yards on a third-and-8 trap play to open the scoring on San Francisco’s second drive and kept ripping off long runs behind impressive blocking.

He added TD runs of 9 and 18 yards in the second quarter and had 160 yards rushing at the half, becoming the only player in NFL history to rush for at least 150 yards and three TDs in the first half of a playoff game.

Mostert added a 22-yard TD run in the third quarter.

“It was working,” Shanahan said of the run-heavy approach. “If it’s working, you stay with it. Our guys are running so hard, our O-line coming off the ball, our backs, all 11 of our guys, as they’ve been all year. The guys fought hard as heck, we were going to put it all in their hands.”

Rodgers and the Packers were unable to match that performance as they got overwhelmed by San Francisco’s dominant front for a second time this season.

Rodgers had a career-low 3.15 yards per attempt in a 37-8 loss here back in November and wasn’t much better in the first half of the rematch.

He lost a snap from center to end Green Bay’s only promising drive of the half, threw an interception to Emmanuel Moseley late in the half and didn’t convert his first third down of the season against the Niners until connecting on a 6-yard pass to Aaron Jones on the opening drive of the second quarter for his first third-down conversion in 18 attempts this season against the Niners.

Rodgers capped that drive with a 9-yard TD pass to Jones, but the game was too far out of hand by that point.

He led Green Bay to two more TDs and finished with 326 yards passing, but it wasn’t nearly enough as the Packers lost the NFC title game for the third time since their last Super Bowl trip following the 2010 season.

QUIET DAY

The Niners asked very little of Garoppolo, who threw only eight passes thanks to the big-play running game and lopsided score. He went 24 minutes of game time between his sixth and seventh passes and finished with six completions for 77 yards.

PASSING FAVRE

Rodgers’ two TD passes gave him 40 in his playoff career, breaking Brett Favre’s franchise record of 39. Rodgers also has seven straight playoff games with at least two TD throws, one shy of Joe Flacco’s record.

INJURIES

Packers: S Adrian Amos left after injuring his pectoral muscle in the first half. … CB Jaire Alexander left in the second half with a thumb injury.

49ers: RB Tevin Coleman left in the first half with a shoulder injury.

FINAL: The @49ers are going to the @SuperBowl! #NFLPlayoffs #GoNiners

(by @lexus) pic.twitter.com/SPiAW8Ndhk

— NFL (@NFL) January 20, 2020

Raheem Mostert.
That's it. That's the tweet.#BeLegendary pic.twitter.com/xirNLEvbBF

— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) January 20, 2020

LOS ANGELES — For the first time in 42 days, the crowd at Pauley Pavilion could smile and celebrate. There was cheering and praising instead of frustrated groaning in built-up disappointment.

Despite playing its best effort in sustaining a full 40-minute game, UCLA understands that while it can finally celebrate a home win, it can’t take the victory for granted as the team it defeated is not only as young as they are, but is also one struggling just as much.

“In fairness to Mark [Fox], they got a young team,” UCLA head coach Mick Cronin said. “Same thing I’m dealing with. They missed some open shots, just like we did. You watch these games, and when the ball goes in it changes a lot.”

In their only meeting in this year’s regular season schedule, UCLA (9-9 overall, 2-3 Pac-12) defeated California, 50-40, for the Bruins first home win since Dec. 8. The victory halts the Bruins’ second three-game losing streak of the season and marks UCLA’s fewest-point win since 2006.

“I know we’ve been falling apart in past games, so today we just came out and we wanted to stop that,” freshman guard Jaime Jaquez Jr. said. “We wanted to play the full 40 minutes and end the game on a high note. Make plays, make smart decisions and once you do that, you’re going to win games and that’s what we did tonight.”

For the first time in three games, UCLA controlled the second half of a game. Sparked by a three-point play from Chris Smith, the Bruins went on a 14-0 run highlighted by 3-pointers from Tyger Campbell and Smith to lead 38-25 over the Golden Bears (8-10, 2-3).

But it wasn’t just the Bruins’ offense running the show. According to Cronin, UCLA imposed 12 straight stops over Cal to force the Bears to an 11-minute scoring drought.

“In the first half I didn’t really think people were helping each other on the drive or backside helping off of passes or anything,” junior guard Chris Smith said. “In the second half, we came out and made sure we brought more energy on the defensive end and we talked. Communication is what really helped us get stops in the second half.”

After giving up 41 points to Stanford in the second half of Wednesday’s game, UCLA limited Cal to 19 points in the final 20 minutes of Sunday’s game.

Despite being UCLA’s lowest-scoring win in over 15 years, the team is hoping Sunday’s win will give it a needed boost of confidence.

“[It’s] what we needed,” Smith said. “With a young group like this, you know, it’s really hard to take it a game at a time, struggle and keep pushing and just playing.”

UCLA opened the game with an 11-3 run and forced California to shoot just 3-of-15 in the game’s first 10 minutes. The Bears didn’t reach double-digit points until the 7:45-minute mark of the first half, but once they did they outscored the Bruins 10-6 to conclude the half down by one at 22-21.

Smith led UCLA with 17 points and eight rebounds, followed by Jaquez and Jalen Hill with 11 points each. California was led by San Bernardino native and sophomore guard Matt Bradley, who finished with 17 points as its only player in double-digits. The Bruins were out-rebounded for the second time this season as the Bears recorded 35 to UCLA’s 33.

The Bruins will go on their second road trip of Pac-12 play this week when they visit the Oregon schools. UCLA will face Oregon State (12-6, 2-4) in Corvallis on Thursday at 8 p.m. before playing No. 8 Oregon (15-4, 4-2) Sunday at 2 p.m. in Eugene.

Notable:

Prince Ali did not play Sunday. A UCLA spokesperson confirmed before the game that Ali rolled his ankle during practice on Friday and did not practice on Saturday.

The news that self-help guru Marianne Williamson was dropping out of the presidential came as no shock. In fact, it likely shocked more people to learn she had still been in the race. Her campaign never caught on. Her biggest moment came during an early debate when she said she would “harness love for political purposes,” as if advised by the Plastic Ono Band.

But as strange as it all seemed, I appreciated her call for values and morality. Her themes of unity, of people’s inherent goodness and her belief that “love will prevail” is something of which we are in short supply.

I recognize that calling for unity in a competitive election is a contradiction. Every candidate wants unity as long as that unity coalesces around them. Even so, the populism consuming both parties forces us into tribes and makes us see enemies in each other. Our primary purpose is no longer the common good, it’s supremacy over other tribes.

Our Founding Fathers believed in compromise especially, which is why they made the government a complicated mess.

There are just some candidates I could never support. But at the same time, there are people in my life I love unconditionally who support some of those candidates and occasionally we argue. Actually, if you were to ask my closest friends and family (and my former employers), they would say I argue with everyone all the time just because I like to argue. For once, I agree.

My Uber driver the other day was a 26-year-old Latino who proudly displayed a Bernie Sanders sticker in his car. I asked him why he was feeling the Bern. He said Republicans just wanted to deport his mother, he thought single-payer healthcare was a good idea and he valued Bernie’s authenticity.

I agree that Bernie hasn’t changed in decades and that could be called authentic, but I disagreed with his other points. Single-payer is a terrible idea and I can’t believe anyone thinks putting the government in charge of anything would eliminate inefficiencies and lower the costs.

While I don’t support illegal immigration as a concept (we don’t get to pick and choose which laws we want to follow; believe me, there are plenty I disagree with), I understand where he is coming from, I wouldn’t want my mother deported either (she’s lived in Florida too long to survive Manitoba’s winter). And honestly, I don’t know what is the right policy remedy for the 11 million undocumented people living in the United States. You can’t deport them all and I don’t know that I want to. Like many things, it’s complicated.  After listening to his experience and how it shaped his beliefs, I have no right to tell him he’s wrong, even if we have very different views on policy.

This past week in the Los Angeles Times, there was an op-ed by a Canadian psychiatrist named Joanna Cheek, who says she lives in a progressive bubble in British Columbia and on a recent trip to UCLA had a negative reaction to seeing a red MAGA hat for the first time in real life. “Triggered,” she said.

She conceded that her view was limited and that the person she saw wearing the hat likely had the same human fears and wants as her. “As we become more divided, the more we attack each other, the more we are left unable to truly see each other as complex human beings and have empathy for each other’s needs and struggles,” Cheek wrote.

I agree. We are too quick to attack each other’s value and experiences. We don’t listen to each other; we don’t even bother to ask.

Williamson had many flaws as a candidate. But she was at least talking about loving each other and that’s something I’ll miss.

Matt Fleming is a communications professional and a former legislative staffer, California Republican Party staffer and journalist.

It is time for the OCGOP to rescind their endorsement of Assemblyman Tyler Diep for the simple reason that we haven’t given up on California.

By now you have heard of Assembly Bill 5, a bill that purports to convert independent contractors into employees.  What it actually does is cost hundreds of thousands of jobs like Uber drivers, musicians, little league umpires, and freelancers such as working moms who prize flexibility.  This bill has been deemed by this paper as one of the worst business bills out of the California legislature.  AB5 was passed by the Democratically controlled legislature with the help of one Republican – Tyler Diep from Orange County.

Virtually all Republicans are outraged by Diep’s vote.  Some, like Matt Fleming think we should overlook this vote and let Diep keep the OCGOP endorsement, while conceding that the bill is a catastrophe.  The problem with Diep’s defenders is two-fold.

First, Diep’s support of AB5 wasn’t a mistake.  He was warned by constituents, Republican colleagues in Sacramento, and party leadership in Orange County not to support AB5 because it would destroy jobs and hurt the economy.

Second, AB5 is not Diep’s only bad vote.  His ignominious record includes voting to impose prevailing wages on charter school projects and projects that receive public funding (AB 1613 and AB 520), he voted for and supported anti-competitive project labor agreements in Anaheim and San Diego (AB 1290), he voted to unionize family childcare providers (AB 378), and he voted for new lawsuits against employers (AB 1478).

His record on public safety is worse as he was the only Republican to support SB136 that removes judicial discretion in adding sentence enhancements for recidivist criminals. In what is perhaps his most naïve or cynical move, Diep co-authored ACA8, which is a constitutional amendment to lower the voting age to 17 in California, a move that is supported by Bernie Sanders and universally rejected by sensible people everywhere.

Diep campaigned as a conservative but once he arrived in Sacramento he was like a moth to the flame of the progressive agenda being imposed on Californian by this legislature. Elected officials who behave like this should not be able to deceitfully wrap themselves in the responsible reputation of the Republican Party.

What does it mean to have an endorsement from the Republican Party? It means that we trust the person we’re endorsing to deliver for the people.  If we endorse someone that we know cannot be trusted then we as a party are not to be trusted.  Casting a bad vote isn’t unusual but ignoring it for political expediency is a new degree of cynicism we shouldn’t endorse either.

Fleming seems to think that there is no long-term consequence for endorsing people who vote as Diep. He seems to imagine that a united front is more important than a principled or competent one. Let us be clear, it matters how our elected officials vote. These policies have a dreadful impact on millions of people. If we cannot rescind an endorsement for supporting a grab-bag of policy disasters then our endorsement doesn’t mean anything worth preserving.

Luckily, that is not the case.  California isn’t as radically leftist as the current government. Californians are witnessing decades of bad policy bear their poisonous fruit.  The voters will figure out who is responsible for this condition and restore sanity to Sacramento. It is the duty of the Republican Party to ensure that we have competent, honest, and trustworthy people in office so that we can participate in the restoration of California to its rightful place.

Mr. Diep has proven himself to be untrustworthy and the Republican Party should rescind his endorsement accordingly.

Scott Baugh is former chairman of the Orange County Republican Party.

Martin Luther King Jr. never held public office, though he considered running for president briefly in 1967. Yet he may have been responsible for more profound change in institutions and attitudes in the United States than any American of the 20th century. His life is a testament to the capacity of determined nonviolent protest and resistance rather than violence and bitterness to bring about change; indeed, such methods may be the only ones that can effect change that really matters.

It is not surprising that the legacy of this man who was so controversial during his lifetime is still understood only incompletely, and people even today, almost 52 years after he was assassinated on the balcony of a motel in Memphis, Tennessee, disagree about its significance. Like most humans who contemplate the implications of faith and justice, he was more complicated than his admirers or detractors fully understood.

Although some denominations recognize him as a saint, he was not the plaster saint of comfortable veneration. He got angry and he made mistakes. It is likely that he plagiarized some of his doctoral dissertation, and there is likely truth to rumors that he was a womanizer. His political attitudes were far from tightly consistent. Yet through the temptations and vicissitudes of becoming the most emblematic leader of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, he maintained confidence in the effectiveness of non-violent methods to bring about change.

It is Martin Luther King Jr.’s eloquence that we remember most these days, his way with words, the biblical cadences he employed to plead that his children be judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin, to offer his vision of the promised land of equal treatment and human dignity. His eloquence was complemented by personal courage and organizational ability, and the willingness to accept responsibility for the consequences of his actions. Protesting through civil disobedience against laws one considers unjust means accepting arrest and punishment that highlights further the injustice involved.

Dr. King went to jail at least 20 times for his convictions, using those occasions to think and write, emerging with more dignity than ever.

Martin Luther King’s life is a testament to the power of ideas and words over injustice and oppression. If we want to change society in ways that further justice and freedom, it is important to learn, to think, to consider the possible consequences of our actions, to operate in accordance with the principles we develop and embrace.

Revolutions occur in peoples’ minds before they happen in the world. That reminder may be the most important aspect of Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy.

This editorial first appeared in January, 2008 in the Orange County Register.

Twenty-seven states have right-to-work laws that limit the power of labor unions. California isn’t among them, and that seems unlikely to change anytime soon.

However, the political landscape may unexpectedly be shifting now that Assembly Bill 5, authored by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year, has gone into effect.

The aim of the bill was to push companies to put workers on the payroll and provide them with all the benefits and protections required by state employment laws, such as overtime, paid sick days and workers’ compensation benefits. AB5 was backed by big labor as a path to unionizing the gig-economy workforce. Only employees may join a union; independent contractors cannot be organized to bargain collectively.

But it’s more expensive, and for some businesses cost-prohibitive, to hire freelance workers as employees. Many companies sent letters to freelancers in California explaining that their services would no longer be required. Some businesses said they will continue to use freelancers, but no Californians need apply.

Enraged freelancers have rightly excoriated Gonzalez for destroying their livelihoods. Initially, Gonzalez responded to critics with profanity on Twitter, but recently she agreed to meet with freelancers and hear their concerns.

The political power of unions in Sacramento distorted the legislative process for AB5, resulting in a law that has seemingly random exemptions for some groups and industries, while others are left out in the cold.

The pain is real, and the unions are responsible for it. When union-sponsored legislation is wiping out the income of people who choose the flexibility and freedom of working as independent contractors, those people might be willing to look at right-to-work laws that make it difficult for unions to stop non-union workers from earning a living.

Right-to-work laws prohibit “closed shops” and make union membership voluntary. This tends to reduce union revenues, union political contributions and union political power.

Makridis wrote that the data suggest the improvements in sentiment are “concentrated among union workers” and may be the result of “an increase of competition among unions” that leads to higher-quality representation.

Not surprisingly, labor unions disagree with this view. The AFL-CIO says on its website, “The real purpose of right-to-work laws is to tilt the balance toward big corporations and further rig the system at the expense of working families. These laws make it harder for working people to form unions and collectively bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions.”

Assembly Bill 5 was supposed to make it easier for working people to form unions and collectively bargain. Unfortunately for many Californians who are now without an income because of the law, the operation was a success, but the patient died.

The historic red-tile roofed sewer digester building has been a quirky sentinel at the entrance to Laguna Beach along Laguna Canyon Road for close to 90 years.

Constructed as a New Deal project in 1935, the building is a remnant of the city’s first improvement district — a comprehensive sewer system created to protect the beaches from contamination.

The sewage plant operated until 1983, after which Laguna Beach sewage was piped to the treatment plant in Aliso Canyon. Since 1989, the plant has been idle. Despite being on the city’s historic register, most of it was demolished. In September 1989, locals persuaded the City Council to preserve the remaining iconic tower and attached office, along with the vent pipe on the hillside above.

Now, operating as a storage facility for the Laguna Beach Police Department, the remainder of the digester is expected to meet its demise as the Laguna Beach City Council, on Tuesday, Jan. 21, considers spending about $90,000 to pay for an environmental impact report for what would be its final demolition.

“They put it on the agenda and that really surprised us,” said Johanna Felder, president of Village Laguna, a group that works to preserve the town’s history. “It’s unbelievable they want to demolish the building. Some people on staff see it as a gain of parking. Spending the money to do that doesn’t make sense. It’s an icon. They are spending (the money) to learn the loss can be justified.”

The digester’s fate has been the subject of previous council discussions surrounding plans to beautify the town’s Village Entrance now coming together along the canyon road.

In September, the council considered painting and patching the exterior, fixing the roof to make it a better storage facility, or completing a full restoration so it could be available for public use. The restoration — in which it might have been converted into a visitor’s center or art gallery — could have cost the city $1.8 million.

The fourth option was tearing down the tower and office. The council voted 3-2 to begin that process, a decision that surprised many locals.

Bob Borthwick, a local landscape architect, has pushed to save the digester for years. As an alternative to its destruction, he suggested making it available for private use. The council decided to allow until Feb. 1 for a private party to agree to a long-term lease for the building, with the intent of restoring it.

“It’s an iconic building,” Borthwick said. “It’s stood at the entrance to our town since 1935. It’s there all by itself. It represents the beginning of Laguna Beach. It’s nationally publicized as a New Deal structure. Others recognize what an interesting and quirky building it is — Laguna likes to consider itself interesting and quirky.”

Borthwick said he is still hopeful the building can be preserved and said plans are in the works for a local family to save it. That announcement could happen Tuesday, he said.

“If a private party took it over, a logical use could be a coffee shop or an interesting low-profile food venue,” he said. “It would enliven the space and create interest. I think everybody would appreciate and enjoy it.”

BOSTON — Monday was the final day of fan All-Star voting. For Alex Caruso, it was greeted with an exhale.

The 25-year-old guard has enjoyed riding the wave of a surge of fan voting, clocking in a No. 4 among Western Conference guards last Thursday ahead of such esteemed players as Russell Westbrook, Donovan Mitchell and Devin Booker.

But fun is fun. Even Caruso isn’t stumping for himself at this point.

“I don’t want to say it’s a ‘travesty,’ but …” he said, with a wince.

Caruso is undoubtedly a valuable rotation player for the Lakers, but he was also averaging 5.7 points and 2.0 rebounds entering Monday’s game in Boston. It’s not exactly All-Star-level production.

But owing to his status as a social media cult hero for the league’s most popular franchise, he’s gotten a boost among fan voting. And, yes, he gets a kick out of it.

“Obviously I enjoy it. I love fans, and the fact that I have fans is an amazing thing in general,” he said. “But yeah, kind of ready for it to move along, give the guys who deserve it their attention and getting back to regular games.”

Among those who deserve it, Caruso’s teammates are near the top of the board: As of Thursday, both LeBron James and Anthony Davis had more than 4 million votes with James in the lead. Davis was fourth overall. Both figure to be easy starting selections for the Feb. 16 All-Star Game in Chicago.

Caruso is not a true threat to be chosen when adding player voting and media voting, which accounts for the other 50 percent of the selection criteria. Only starters, who will be announced on Jan. 23, are selected in that process – reserves will be decided by the leagues’ coaches.

He’s found himself on the other end of matchups from some of the players he’s leading in balloting lately, including Westbrook and Chris Paul. But he said he’s yet to hear the All-Star voting factor into any trash talk.

“Nobody on opposing teams has said anything about it – I think that just kind of goes to the way I carry myself,” Caruso said. “I don’t go around gloating like, ‘Yeah, I should be an All-Star.’ I’m a realist. I know my role and I know what I’m doing for the team. Obviously I’m not one of the best 30 players in the league.”

The run was fun, Caruso said. But he’s ready for it to be over.

“There are people who are very deserving who have had great years,” he said. “Fans do what fans do. Especially in the era of social media that we live in, once something catches fire, it just spreads. Like I said, I appreciate all the love. But the guys who deserve it, deserve it.”

STEVENS, VOGEL KEEP CLOSE

The first quality time Celtics coach Brad Stevens spent with Lakers coach Frank Vogel wasn’t in a gym, an arena or a film room. It was at a swingset in Carmel, Ind., a suburb north of Indianapolis, watching their children play.

The two coaches share Indiana roots: Stevens from his days at Butler, and Vogel from his time with the Pacers. But those ties have grown into a friendship that survives despite the divide the two men fans on opposing franchises of the NBA’s greatest historical rivalry.

That didn’t stop Stevens from taking a few good-natured shots at Vogel, once a mentor and now a peer in the NBA coaching ranks.

“I told him he looks terrible in purple but other than that, he’s a good friend,” he said at Monday morning’s shootaround. “I’ll like him tomorrow.”

The two coaches have long seen eye-to-eye on the game, but their relationship was bolstered last season when Vogel was out of the NBA and came up to Boston during his yearlong sabbatical. Stevens gave him access to coaches’ meetings and other inside mechanics of the Celtics, and Vogel has consistently spoken glowingly about his time there.

Vogel has his own history with the Celtics: He got his NBA start as a video assistant for Rick Pitino, coaching for seven years in Beantown. The Celtics posted a picture of Vogel outside of the Lakers’ locker room alongside Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley with the message “WELCOME BACK” – of course, the photo was from Vogel’s childhood appearance on David Letterman, balancing a basketball on a toothbrush with his mouth.

“I always felt warmth coming here because I got my start here,” he said. “I was here for seven years, I met my wife here, had my first daughter here in Boston. This organization will always be special to me.”

Stevens said he also used to repay the visits, grabbing coffee with Vogel when the Celtics came to Orlando. It’s unclear if the two men still have coffee meet-ups when Stevens visits L.A. these days, but the friendship remains.

“I really love Frank,” Stevens said. “When he moved on from Indiana and Orlando, it’s proof that there are really good coaches out there that if they find the right spot, everything’s gonna be great. And this is a great spot. He’s done a really good job.”

BOSTON — It felt like something special was about to happen.

Monday had slowly built to a crescendo for a megawatt game: Historic rivals, Lakers vs. Celtics on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. In the morning, Anthony Davis was cleared. In the evening, Rajon Rondo was deemed ready to play, too.

For 55 seconds, the Lakers delivered, dashing off to an 8-0 start that was capped by Davis, for the first time after a five-game absence, slamming down a lob dunk. It seemed like the Western Conference’s best team was primed for another thrilling night.

Then it fell apart in a heap, in a way the Lakers haven’t collapsed all season.

The 139-107 drubbing that followed was the worst loss of the season for a Lakers team (34-9) that hasn’t lost all that much to this point. LeBron James called it “a good ole fashioned butt-whooping,” plain and simple – a striking contrast to the way the team has approached nearly every game this season.

There was no comeback, no second effort, no rally to be found. They were bullied by their rival all over the court.

“We brought it to start the game: We was up 8-0,” James said. “We didn’t bring it after that.”

It was lost in the margins where hustle counts the most: on the glass, on sloppy passes, on ill-conceived shots. The Celtics, who had lost three in a row, were relentless, pounding the glass for 14 offensive rebounds (13 in the first half), and then pouring it on in the second half, finishing with 16 3-point baskets.

Muscling in the paint, Enes Kanter had all 18 of his points in the first half. Jayson Tatum finished things off in the second with a game-best 27 points, one of three Celtics to score at least 20.

The Celtics had 24 second-chance points, and 28 points off of the Lakers’ 15 turnovers. Coach Frank Vogel summed up the effort on the glass with the word “poor.” As much as size has been a strength for the Lakers, it didn’t count for much on Monday

“That’s one of the most disappointing things for me, because I feel like that’s a controllable thing, boxing out and hitting people,” Vogel said. “We didn’t really do it at all in the first half, so very disappointed in that, and really from the total performance.”

Davis, back following a five-game absence because of a bruised backside, was rusty, shooting just 3 for 7 and getting tagged with early foul trouble as he struggled to move with the same fluidity that he had prior to his hard fall two weeks before. Vogel said he wished he had left Davis in the game when he picked up his second foul, which might have allowed him to catch a rhythm. Davis was critical of himself, calling it “unacceptable” that he took so few shots in his 22-and-a-half minutes.

With Davis lacking as a credible offensive threat, the Celtics turned up the pressure on James, who dished out 13 assists but whose own shot was relatively off-target (5 for 12, 15 points).

The Lakers trailed by 31 points with about nine minutes left as both teams subbed out starters. After snipping at each other over miscommunications and miscues on both ends, the Lakers’ starters seemed happy enough to sit for the closing minutes of the blowout, which did not get any cosmetic improvements.

“Obviously I felt like we had a lot of tension,” said Kyle Kuzma, “but you’re getting your face drugged in by 30, it’s going to be frustrating out there.”

With the win, Kemba Walker finally caught a white whale he’d been chasing for his entire pro career: He beat James. Before joining the Celtics this summer, Walker had gone 0 for 28 against James head-to-head (as well as a loss to James’ team in the 2019 All-Star Game). He finished with 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting, flashing particularly lethal scoring during a 35-25 Celtics run in the third quarter that sealed the game’s result.

The fact that it was an outlier offered a sort of comfort for the Lakers, but also seemed disorienting. Some players seemed distant in the postgame locker room. Some seemed more openly frustrated. Getting whooped with a full roster is a feeling the Lakers haven’t dealt with in a long time.

“We haven’t moved on yet,” James said. “Tomorrow, we will. Still simmering right now, which it should.”

"Listen, it was just a good old-fashioned butt whooping, that's all." @KingJames shares his thoughts on tonight's 139-107 #Lakers loss. pic.twitter.com/TP61MKPod7

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) January 21, 2020

.@AntDavis23 with @LakersReporter on making his #Lakers return and how rebounding played a major role in tonight's loss. pic.twitter.com/eQdsf2bvqN

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) January 21, 2020

Frank Vogel talks with @LakersReporter about the Celtics' ability to maintain their aggression on both ends of the floor all night. #Lakers pic.twitter.com/Kvcqw3IRHM

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) January 21, 2020

Welcome back, @AntDavis23 #LakeShow pic.twitter.com/T5GObAxfCX

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) January 21, 2020

Kemba taps it up and in! @Lakers 26@celtics 24

: @NBAonTNT pic.twitter.com/AitYPMRruL

— NBA (@NBA) January 21, 2020

JAYLEN BROWN RISES UP

: @NBAonTNT pic.twitter.com/MtyAaBqExW

— NBA (@NBA) January 21, 2020

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Previews of the top boys basketball games on Tuesday, Jan. 21.

NO. 15 LA HABRA (15-7, 4-0) VS. NO. 7 SONORA (17-4, 4-0)

Where, when: Sonora, Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.

Outlook: Sonora is on track to win 20-plus games for the 11th time in 13 years, and it’s poised to make a deep playoff run. The Raiders have a nice blend of experienced and young players, led by junior guard Daniel Esparza and sophomore Marqui Worthy. Garrett Bell, a 6-foot-5 senior, is also a key contributor for Sonora.

La Habra is the defending Freeway League champion and has again blown through the rest of the league so far this season. The Highlanders have won three league games by 23 points or greater and has won eight of their last nine games.

La Habra seniors Dominic Pritchett and Dylan Damico have been dominant in league play and Erik Howlin is a constant threat to score.

These are the undisputed best two teams in the league and whoever wins Tuesday has a leg up toward the league championship.

BREA OLINDA (14-8, 1-0) VS. YORBA LINDA (12-10, 2-0)

Where, when: Yorba Linda, Tuesday, 7 p.m.

Outlook: Brea Olinda and Yorba Linda are the two best teams in the North Hills League and will play for this first time Tuesday.

Brea has won 10 of its last 12 games and the two losses came at the hands of No. 6 Villa Park and No. 13 Canyon. Ivin Rhaburn scored 16 points in Brea’s league win over El Modena on Jan. 10 and Garrett Brookman has also played well for the Wildcats this season.

Yorba Linda narrowly edged El Dorado in North Hills League play and routed El Modena on Jan. 17. Cory Knutson leads the Mustangs in scoring with 9.5 points per game and Connor Platt is scoring 9 points per game and grabbing a team-high 8.5 rebounds per game.

VALENCIA (16-6, 2-2) VS. NO. 22 CYPRESS (17-5, 4-0)

Where, when: Cypress, Tuesday, 6 p.m.

Outlook: Cypress has won 24 consecutive Empire League games dating back to 2018.

The Centurions took a break from league play last week and played West Torrance at Staples Center. Eddie Spencer scored 13 points and Elijah Vaielua had a double-double with 10 points and 20 rebounds for Cypress in the 46-45 win.

Valencia coach Dean Yoshimura got career win No. 400 on Jan. 7 in a win over Pacifica. The Tigers suffered blowout losses to Tustin and Crean Lutheran last week. Michael Palacios leads Valencia in scoring with 13 points per game and Andy Hon is scoring 9.7 points per game.

LOS AMIGOS (13-7, 4-0) VS. BOLSA GRANDE (7-15, 3-1)

Where, when: Bolsa Grande, Tuesday, 7 p.m.

Outlook: The top teams in the Garden Grove League are taking turns beating each other, but Los Amigos has managed to be unscathed thus far.

The Lobos are on a six-game winning streak and have blowout wins over playoff contenders Santiago and Rancho Alamitos. Football standout Brian Pacheco scored 17 points for Los Amigos in a win over Loara last Friday. Marco Vazquez and sophomore Ata Khalil are also key contributors for the Lobos.

Bolsa Grande had a four-game winning streak before suffering a loss to Rancho Alamitos last Friday. The Matadors were league champions in 2017 and are in the hunt for their first league title under coach Todd Halbreich.

Bolsa is led by seniors Musab Abdulhakim, Randy Do and Matthew Nguyen.

Los Amigos is the better team on paper, but Bolsa Grande has won 12 consecutive games against the Lobos, dating back to 2012.

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Another talented football player has left JSerra.

All-County safety New Zealand Williams, who emerged as a defensive force in 2019, has enrolled at St. Bernard High in Playa del Rey, the junior confirmed Monday night.

Williams (6-2, 175) earned third-team All-County honors last season and made second-team All-Trinity League. He arrived at JSerra after playing at Carson in 2018.

Williams has been offered in recent days by Nebraska and Georgia.

He is the third confirmed JSerra player to depart since the end of last season.

Williams joins sophomore wide receiver/tight end/defensive end Keyan Burnett (6-5, 200) and junior offensive lineman Ross Maseuli (6-3, 330), who wasn’t cleared by the CIF-SS to play last season. Burnett is now at Servite while Maseuli enrolled at Mater Dei.

St. Bernard (4-6) reached the CIF-SS Division 13 playoffs last season after finishing second to St. Pius X-St. Matthias of Downey in the Santa Fe League. The Vikings lost to Santa Monica 23-0 in the first round of the playoffs.

JSerra (6-5) qualified for the Division 1 playoffs last season after taking fourth in the Trinity League. The Lions lost to Centennial of Corona 56-0 in the first round of the playoffs.

Please send football news to Dan Albano at dalbano@scng.com or @ocvarsityguy on Twitter or Instagram

Southern California Girls Athlete of the Week

Athlete: Alyssa Munn

School: Redondo

Sport: Basketball

Noteworthy: Munn averaged 17.6 points in three games last week. The senior guard had 19 points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals in a 61-45 win over Leuzinger. She followed that with 20 points, nine assists, seven steals and five rebounds against Centennial.

Southern California Boys Athlete of the Week

Athlete: Anthony Bagby

School: Perris

Sport: Basketball

Noteworthy: Bagby averaged 22.7 points per game last week, helping the Panthers win games against Elsinore, Arlington and Corona. Bagby registered 16 points and 10 assists against Elsinore and followed that with a 25-point effort against Arlington. He closed the week with 25 points and seven 3-pointers against Corona. He is averaging 24 points and five assists per game this season.