Ajon Efferson puts on show as Pasadena beats Loyola at Fairfax

There was no Parker Jackson-Cartwright on Monday night at the Fairfax tournament. The heavily recruited junior point guard from Los Angeles Loyola sat in a chair resting his ankles after playing at a camp in Chicago over the weekend.

In Jackson-Cartwright’s absence, another promising junior point guard, Ajon Efferson, put on a first-half show for Pasadena, scoring 16 points. In the second half, it was Burbank transfer Andre Spight making major contributions.

Efferson finished with 18 points and Spight had 21 points in Pasadena’s 66-57 victory over Loyola. The Bulldogs will face Fairfax in Wednesday’s quarterfinals at 7 p.m.

Efferson got a City Section championship ring playing as a freshman at Woodland Hills Taft. He returned to his neighborhood school, Pasadena, last season, and Coach Tim Tucker is going to have far fewer nights of frustration just knowing Efferson will be running things on the court. He has a 4.0 grade-point average.

“He’s still learning,” Tucker said. “He’s come a long ways. We need him to be more a quarterback.”

Pasadena has been winning games this summer in impressive fashion. On Sunday, the Bulldogs won the War on the Floor tournament, defeating Alemany in the championship game. They have been winning without one of their top players, Brandon Jolley.

Spight has been given the green light to shoot, and he sure isn’t afraid to put up shots. Sophomore guard Jeffrey McClendon also contributed offensively in the second half.

Max Hazzard finished with 13 points for Loyola.

Fairfax defeated La Canada, 69-41.

The biggest surprise of the opening day was West Hills Chaminade knocking off Bellflower St. John Bosco, 73-65. The Braves didn’t have Isaac Hamilton, who was attending a camp, but they had brother Daniel Hamilton, who scored 24 points, and 6-9 junior Devin Burleson, who had 17.

Chaminade was too scrappy and too persistent for the Braves. Jaron Martin scored 26 points and Jack Williams scored 21 points.

Martin averaged 19.7 points as a junior and 21.6 points as a sophomore.

“Jaron is the most known unknown guy in the world,” Chaminade Coach Todd Wolfson said. “No one respects him because he’s 5-8, but when you’re one of the top scorers in the last two years in the best league in Southern California, maybe people will notice.”

Hamilton is overshadowed at times by brother Isaac, but his talent level continues to soar to an elite level.

“He’s as good as anybody regardless of grade,” St. John Bosco Coach Derrick Taylor said. “That’s why I like my team. I have arguably the two best players in Southern California.”

Harvard-Westlake is 11-1 this summer after defeating Santa Monica, 95-88. Derick Newton, a 6-6 junior, scored 31 points, and junior point guard Michael Sheng had 24 points, making 15 of 16 from the free-throw line.

Trevis Jackson scored 33 points for Santa Monica, which played without Jordan Mathews, who was attending a camp.

The two Mission League rivals, Chaminade and Harvard-Westlake, play in Wednesday’s quarterfinals at 8:30 p.m.

Tuesday’s first-round schedule includes Crespi vs. El Camino Real, 4 p.m.; Alemany vs. Orange Lutheran, 5:30 p.m.; Long Beach Poly vs. Oaks Christian, 7 p.m., and Mater Dei vs. Campbell Hall, 8:30 p.m.

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