WESTMINSTER – Tyler Burch had all aspects of his game on display Friday night.
The senior forward scored 35 points on 12-for-25 shooting from the field, made eight 3-point field goals as host Westminster (6-15, 5-0) took over sole possession of first place in the Golden West League with a 75-67 victory over Ocean View (11-10, 4-1).
“He’s like a once in a lifetime high school player,” Westminster coach Jesse Miramontez said of Burch. “You don’t get very many like that.”
Burch also grabbed eight rebounds, with six assists and blocked two shots.
“What I like about Tyler, he thinks the game like three plays before on offense,” Miramontez said. “He sees the floor so well and he’s mature a lot.”
Burch and the Lions outscored the Seahawks, 26-12, in the third period to take a 62-49 lead into the fourth. He shot seven of 14 in the first half and four of six in the third quarter.
“He made difficult shots all night,” Ocean View coach Tim Walsh said. “He got to the basket, shot well from the perimeter and played very, very well. We did a lot of things to try and stop him, but we couldn’t stop him.”
Westminster stretched its lead to 14 early in the fourth on a 3-point field goal from Burch. Late in the game, Ocean View finally found a way to slow Burch down a bit. He only shot made one field in the fourth period.
Zamir Kelly scored 10 of his 21 points for Ocean View in the fourth period and picked up the assignment on Burch, helping the Seahawks trim the lead down to six, 69-63, but they couldn’t get any closer.
“They running like a box and one, so I was trying to find my guys,” Burch said. “All week we were working on our shooting because we knew what was going to happen.”
Buddy Alton added 20 for the Lions and Nick Trieu added 14. Trieu made several key free throws late in the game, as did Alton who was able to penetrate and get to the basket.
“They both came up big,” Burch said of Alton and Trieu.
Christian Anderson added 18 points for the Seahawks. Bryson Betti added 10.
“We had some opportunities inside, but if you look at our numbers and our shot chart, we missed a lot of stuff at the rim and a lot of stuff at the 3-point line,” Walsh said. “And combined with them getting it done on the offensive end, it makes it real tough to win.”
Ocean View led 24-14 early in the second period. Westminster would take its first lead, 32-31 on a 3-point field from Burch. Ocean View led 37-36 at halftime.
The teams will meet again Feb. 11 at Ocean View.
Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com