BOYS' HOOOPS: POLY RUN OUT OF PLAYOFFS GAY FINISHES WITH 14 POINTS IN LOSS PASADENA 79, POLY 57.

Byline: JACOB H. POLLON

Special to the Daily News

PASADENA -- The DJ Gay show came to a screeching halt Thursday in the Division I Southern regional quarterfinals of the state playoffs at Pasadena High.

After thrilling the area with huge scoring bursts and dominating performances all season, Gay finished with only 14 points on 4-of-24 shooting in a 79-57 loss to Pasadena.

"It was one of those nights," Gay said. "We weren't expecting those guys to come out and jump on us like they did. We gave it everything we had and it was a fun ride this year."

Poly head coach Brad Katz said, "DJ is our horse. He gave it his best. He carried us all year."

Poly was outscored 15-5 to start the game and had trouble catching up from there. A glimmer of hope came in the second quarter when the Parrots (24-6) got to within nine points.

However, the Div. II-A Bulldogs (32-2) ended the first half on a 17-5 run and led by 21 points at the intermission.

It only got worse in the third quarter as a series of miscues pushed the lead to 30 points.

In one stretch of play, Pasadena's Armond Binns made a steal and a layup, Gay missed two free throws, Poly reserve guard Ben Hernandez was issued a technical foul and Mike Rojas dropped a post entry pass out of bounds for a turnover.

"The defense was no different than what we've seen all year," Katz said. "The difference was they had second and third chances all night. They killed us on the glass. They are very athletic and far greater than we are. We're just not that big."

Mauricio Gonzalez finished with 14 points including 11 in the second half for Poly. Rojas finished with eight points and 6-foot-6 senior center Santiago Moreno had seven points for Poly.

Senior Nigel Ajere, a transfer from Arcadia High, led Pasadena with 24 points. Trevon Harmon finished with 16 points, including 12 in the first half, and sophomore forward Joseph Henson chipped in 10 points for the Bulldogs.

Pasadena moves onto the regional semifinals Saturday night at top-seeded Fairfax of Los Angeles.