On an emotional senior night, head coach and father, Joe Wyatt, touted his team’s defensive prowess in securing a flawless 5-0 league record coming into tonight’s game with Verdugo Hills. However, recent offensive explosions—scoring 100, 91, and 86 points—revealed another undeniable fact: this team can score in bunches.

Verdugo Hills head coach Jared Gibson’s squad was still finding its rhythm after spending much of the season without senior guard William Gharabekyan. With Gharabekyan back in the lineup, Gibson was hopeful but remained wary of the Parrots’ senior backcourt that included JD Wyatt, Quian Khawaja and Jao Libunao. The vertically challenged Dons would rely on team speed, effort and an almost improvisational style of play.


Meanwhile, the Parrots’ tallest starter, 6’3” Wyatt, saw an opportunity—and seized it. A skilled and dynamic player, Wyatt attacked the paint relentlessly from the opening whistle, drawing multiple shooting fouls. He went to the line 10 times in the first quarter alone, converting seven. In contrast, the Dons attempted 11 free throws the entire game.

Gibson felt the officiating was unusually tight, noting, “Within the first quarter, four of my starters had three fouls. I haven’t had a game called that tight all year.” Still, credit Wyatt and the Parrots for dictating the tempo and capitalizing on their advantage.

Though the talent gap was evident early, the Dons refused to heel and continually pressured the Parrots with big 3-pointers and a couple of nice backdoor plays. Senior guard Paul Castro provided a spark with seven early points and assisted on three other buckets, while Gharabekyan added a 3-pointer then got to the charity stripe, making both and keeping Verdugo Hills within striking distance at 25-17 with 57 seconds left in the first quarter.

But then, the Parrots did what they do best—score fast and furiously. Khawaja, a defensive menace all night, swiped one of his seven steals and raced down the court for a crowd-igniting finish, helping Poly pulled ahead 32-19 to end the first quarter.

At the start of the second quarter, Verdugo Hills continued pressing Poly with junior shooting guard Jeffrey Moran catching fire from outside and scoring eight clutch points. The Dons matched the Parrots bucket-for-bucket, even managing to cut the deficit to single digits at 44-35 with 3:01 left in the half.

But JD Wyatt’s relentless scoring prevented them from making further inroads—he poured in 14 of Poly’s 22 second-quarter points, giving him 37 in the half and sending the Parrots into halftime up 54-37.

At the start of the 2nd half, Poly came out with the same energy they had in the first. Khawaja and the Parrots’ full-court press smothered the Dons, disrupting their offense and making it nearly impossible to find any comfortable rhythm.

As Poly extended its lead to 64-40 midway through the third, it became evident Verdugo Hills had no answer. Despite the mounting deficit, the Dons never stopped battling. They played with grit all four quarters but were overwhelmed down the stretch, getting outscored 18-4 to close the third, finishing down 82-44.

At the start of the fourth, the only questions remaining were whether Wyatt would reach 50 points and the Parrots would crack the century mark. They did both, closing out a commanding 102-56 victory that reinforced Poly as a team to watch this postseason. Coach Wyatt was pleased with his team’s effort, saying, “I like how the seniors played tonight. I think we can make a big run. I would like for this team to go to the Open Division (playoffs).”

Meanwhile Verdugo Hills showed flashes of potential, particularly in the first half. If they can sustain that rhytm and shot-making for a full game, they’ll be a tough matchup down the stretch. Moran led the Dons with 19 points, while Gharabekyan added 18. Despite the loss, Coach Gibson was proud of his team’s effort, saying, “We have a severe height disadvantage, so just the effort was what I was looking for and they gave me the effort, so I was proud of them”

While coach Wyatt was not overlooking Monday’s matchup with Arleta, he had his eyes on a key showdown with Grant next Friday. “It’s a rivalry game so it’s going to be close. We’re going to have to get some loose balls, we’re going to have to rebound. I think our seniors are pretty good. We’re seasoned. Khawaja gives us a punch that we didn’t have last year and he keeps other teams from double-teaming JD (Wyatt) this year. That helps us a lot.”

Wyatt finished the night with a staggering 52 points on an ultra-efficient 17-for-24 shooting from the field, while also going 15-for-19 from the free-throw line. Khawaja finished with 23 points, 7 steals and 5 assists.

Poly improves to 13-9 overall (6-0 in East Valley) and travels to Arleta on Monday at 5:30 P.M. Meanwhile, Verdugo Hills drops to 11-12 (3-4 in East Valley) and plays tomorrow @ North Hollywood then hosts Grant on Monday at 4:30 P.M. to make it 3 games in 4 days. No rest for the weary.