ORANGE – While Myles and Julien Franklin proved to be the main attraction for the Villa Park boys basketball team Friday night, senior Caleb Banuelos provided the grunt work as the Spartans defeated El Modena, 78-52, in a North Hills League game at El Modena High.
Banuelos led Villa Park in scoring with 18 points, which included three 3-pointers, and made a series of passes that led to baskets for his teammates.
Myles Franklin poured in 16 points, made two 3-pointers and six free throws, and Julien Franklin contributed 15 points, including one 3-pointer.
“Everybody focuses so much on the Franklin brothers, and (Banuelos) just kind of gets a little bit of a free rein and he takes great advantage of that,” Villa Park coach Kevin Reynolds said. “He’s certainly an all-league player.”
El Modena (7-13, 1-1) fought hard behind a boisterous home crowd but could not keep pace with the fluid movement of Villa Park (14-4, 2-0), which often found open players trotting to the basket in one-on-one situations.
Villa Park, ranked No. 3 in CIF-SS Division 2AA and also on the elite Open Division “watch list” for the playoffs, seemed to be in the right place all night, cutting off El Modena passes that were targeted for players under the basket.
Late in the fourth quarter, Villa Park forward Daelyn Bams stuffed a layup attempt off the backboard by El Modena guard Issac Loera while his teammates secured the rebound, igniting the crowd.
Nick Real led El Modena in scoring with eight points and was 4-of-7 shooting.
