The Saratoga Falcons won the championship in the second annual Panther Invitational, beating the host Panthers in the finals 62-53 on Dec. 17.

Danny Wallace dominated inside the paint for Saratoga with 21 points and 24 rebounds. Ryan Matsuura was the second leading scorer for Saratoga with 12.

Kevin Haynes stood out for Prospect with 36 points on the night. Haynes scored double digits in both the third and fourth quarters for the Panthers. Haynes was hands down the most dominant player in the tournament, averaging 31 points a game in the three games Prospect participated in.

The next leading scorer for the Panthers was Danny Okazaki with six points.

Saratoga took an early lead, winning the tip and scoring immediately. Though the Panthers had some good runs, they never overtook the Falcons after that first bucket.

Saratoga led 12-8 at the end of the first quarter and then extended that lead to 27-21 at the half.

In the third quarter, the Falcons broke away a bit with a nine-point lead, but the Panthers wouldn't quit. Prospect scored six points to the Falcons' two to bring the score from 38-29 to 40-35. But Saratoga moved in front 43-37 by the end of the third period on a three-point play from Matsuura.

Matsuura drove inside the key for a short shot and managed to make the shot and draw the foul with 1.7 seconds left in the quarter. He hit the free throw for the third point, and the Falcons took a comfortable lead into the final quarter.

The Panthers battled in the fourth, but Saratoga's superior defense kept Prospect at bay, and the Falcons held on for a 62-53 win.

Nima Rad tossed in eight points for the Falcons. Chris Etterman added six, Bo Nielsen five, Ken Baba and Justin Kemp four apiece and David Orasin two.

Rounding out the scoring for Prospect were Kendall Hendon with four, Kenny Strickland with three, and Troy Holan and Jeff Sen with two each.

The previous games for Saratoga matched them up against the Willow Glen Rams in the first round and the Harker Eagles in the second.

Saratoga defeated Harker 81-42 with Etterman scoring 19, Kemp 11 and Rad 11.

Jonny Jeng was the only Harker player to score in double digits with 17 points.

The Falcons' first game proved more difficult with Rad being the only player to score in the double digits in a 63-43 win over Willow Glen. Rad scored 14 points in the game, which was enough to help Saratoga toward its first win. Wallace and Matsuura supported with nine points apiece in the game, Kia Agahdel had eight and Orasin and Scott Newberry each had four.

Will Robinson popped 16 points to lead the Willow Glen attack and Hienock Habte added 12. Lawrence Montepio had six points for the Rams.

The Rams rebounded from the opening loss to nail back-to-back wins over Monta Vista and Los Altos to take the consolation championship in the tourney. It marked the second straight week that Willow Glen had played for a consolation tourney title, losing the crown a week earlier to Live Oak in the Los Gatos Lions Wildcat Shootout.

Willow Glen, 4-5 for the year, whipped Los Altos 46-36 to win the consolation title game. Habte led the Rams with 15 points, including a pair of three-pointers, and Robinson drilled 14 points, including four threes. Kyle Schroeder chipped in with five points in the win and Steven Skavdahl had four.

Getting to that consol title was no easy task for the Rams, who pulled out a 49-48 second-round win over Monta Vista. Habte had the hot hand for Willow Glen with 19 points, including a pair of threes. Robinson had a three among his 13 points and Schroeder added six points. Skavdahl also hit a three in the win.

Prospect faced Del Mar in the first round and Mills in the second.

The Panthers, now 8-4 for the year, defeated the Mills Vikings 57-46 with Haynes scoring 27 points for the Panthers. Okazaki tossed in eight points in the win, Zach Stevenson had seven, Nate Taye six, Kendall Hendon five and Daniel Huskin-Jones four. Stevenson, Haynes and Hendon each hit three-point buckets.

Prospect opened its tourney with a thrilling 51-50 win over rival Del Mar. Haynes scored 30 points for the Panthers, including a pair of threes, and Taye canned three three-pointers to finish with nine points. Okazaki and Huskin-Jones added four points apiece and Stevenson and Eric Chang hit two each.

Randy Barnes and Tim Steeves both broke into double digits for the Dons. Barnes drilled 19 points, including a three, to lead Del Mar and Steeves had 10 in the game.

Billy Buxton tossed in eight points for the Dons, Johnny Daniels had six, Dyante Kirksey hit five and Bobby Danz added two.

The Dons lost another tough one--37-33 to Los Altos--to face an early exit from the tournament.

Steeves was the scoring leader for the Dons with 14 points, six of them coming at the charity stripe, and Barnes added nine points. Chris Skinner had four points and Daniels, Darren Wiegert and Naidu Aniel had two each.

Harker had opened the tournament with a 52-50 win over Monta Vista before losing to Saratoga in the second round. The Eagles then defeated Mills 56-55 in the third-place game.

Adhir Ravipati was the big scorer for Harker in the clash with Mills, pumping in 32 points. He had a couple of threes among his 11 field goals and he added eight points at the free-throw line.

Ben Shapiro had three threes among his 13 points in the win and Harish Venkatesan added nine points, including a three. Rohan Narayen and Lung Hao Yu rounded out the scoring with two each.

Harker had opened the tourney with the two-point win over Monta Vista. Ravipati was the big scorer with 19 points and Naushad Godrej finished with 13. Venkatesan added eight points, Shapiro seven, Kyle Kitasoe three and Yu two.