SoCalHoops Tournament News
SoCalHoops Tournament News
Double Pump MLK Hoop Challenge:
Game Scores & Results--(Jan. 14, 2001)
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The Double Pump Hoop Challenge for 2001 took place at Long Beach City College on Saturday. Here's what happened. . . . or, in the case of one scheduled game, what didn't happen:
Game 1: 12:00 p.m. Eisenhower 73, Washington Union 38
The first game of the day in a long weekend showcase is sometimes likely not to be the best game, and that's especially true when the game is played on a Saturday early afternoon following a Friday night game, and involves two teams who have to travel great distances to get to the venue. And likewise, sometimes you have to wonder why these teams want to make the trip all that way on a Saturday anyway. . . most of their fans won't come, the kids are tired, and even 12:00 noon is sometimes too early even for some of the college coaches, many of whom had games themselves scheduled for later that day who thus couldn't attend. Sometimes showcase games are a good idea, and sometimes they're not. This was one of those games where the latter was true, and where actually nobody who played was really happy about it. . . . We spoke with Washington Union head coach Vonn Webb about the game afterward, and he had a few choice words, most of which could be printed on the internet (since the only censorship is what we impose on ourselves), but somehow we just can't allow ourselves to write what he really said. . . In a nutshell here's what he told us: "We stink." Really, that's what Vonn said. "We were awful. Really horrible. It was embarrassing." So, if you get the idea that without DeShawn Stevenson this team is really not the same Washington Union Panthers squad that won several Division III State titles before being displaced by Bishop Montgomery last season, you're right.
And Eisenhower wasn't really happy about making the trip either. Eisenhower coach Steve Johnson told the Riverside Press Enterprise: "It was not ever much of a game. They usually have a pretty good team, but we traveled all that distance for that." Johnson told the San Bernardino County Sun, "It isn't much fun to drive all that way just for this"
"That" and "This" to which Johnson was referring was a game which saw Eisenhower jump out to a 22-4 first quarter lead, and never really look back. Sean Marshall, a sophomore, scored 17 points and Alex Acker had 15 as Eisenhower (14-4, 2-0) cruised to the win. Acker had 7 rebounds, 8 steals and seven assists. How bad was it? Washington Union had 29 turnovers. The Eagles had 23 steals. This was easy pickens, and if Eisenhower didn't much enjoy the drive out to Long Beach for that game, imagine what the trip back to Fresno was like for the Panthers. . . .
Here's the box score:
WASHINGTON UNION (36) -- Maclin 15, Graham 7,
Rossenburg 4, Carraway 8, Saade 2.
EISENHOWER (73) -- Sean Marshall 17, Acker 15, Dukes 13, Lewis 7, Shields 4, Jackson 9,
Hart 2, Proctor 2, James 2, Perry 2.
Halftime score -- Eisenhower 40-12.
Three-point goals -- Acker 2, Lewis, Jackson.
Total fouls -- Eisenhower 14, Washington Union 13.
Fouled out -- None. Technical fouls -- None.
Game 2-- 1:30 p.m. Lynwood v. Compton
This was a non-game and unfortunately, it was a cancellation, which is one of the worst things that can happen at an event like this. We aren't sure what went wrong, but we were told that either Lynwood or Compton "backed out at the last minute" since they already had 20 games on their schedule and there was evidently some miscommunication between the host school organizers (Long Beach Poly) and the game participants. . . oh well, at least it was a relaxing hour and a half between games. . . . And actually, we should have suspected this game wasn't happening when we opened the program and there were rosters for every school except for Compton and Lynwood. . . .
Game 3--3:00 p.m. Mater Dei 104, Anaheim Canyon 79
Finally, a game. . .sort of. We stuck around for most of this game,and what we saw was an absolutely dominant Mater Dei press, which was up on Canyon relentlessly in the first quarter, and by the end of the first 8 minutes, it was all over except the shouting. Mater Dei just kept coming in wave, after wave, and there was vey little chance that Canyon had to get the ball into its own frontcourt in the first quarter. The interesting thing was though that when the Commanches did get into their own frontcourt, they wouldn't hesitate to launch a shot, usually a three pointer from either Chris Robinson or Matt Barranick. By the half, Canyon had attempted 20 three pointers and had only connected on something like 5 or 6, and the result was a complete lack of any inside game once Canyon did get into it's own side of the court. At the half the score was 53-36, but it wasn't nearly that close for most of the half. In the third, Canyon actually outscored Mater Dei, but then couldn't generate enough offense in the fourth quarter to close the insurmountable gap.
Harrison Schaen had the defensive game of his life, with 10 blocks and 15 rebounds, and 13 points, while Cedric Bozeman scored 18 seemingly effortless points. Mikey Strawberry had 17. For Canyon, Matt Barranick had 16 and Robinson had 20. Mater Dei improved to 17-2 overall with the win. Mater Dei just kept throwing waves of guards. Shaun Michel played well we thought, considering that he looked like a refugee from a prize fight (we heard that someone had taken a swing at him the previous night in the Santa Margarita game with an elbow, and his nose clearly looked busted on Saturday, and it must have been quite painful.). Ricky Porter played a bit, starting but then kind of disappeared from what we saw. Brian Baker played well, showing good quickness both offensively and defensively. Jamal Sampson of course didn't play again. . .no he wasn't sick. But he was on the bench in street clothes because he got two technical fouls in the Santa Margarita game and thus couldn't play under CIF rules. We were impressed by Derron Putnam's athleticism as well, and he had 15 points in the game for Canyon.
We didn' stay for the entire game. . . figured there were enough internet guys and traditional media folks around to start a small website/newspaper, so we headed out to Pasadena to catch some of the games at Pasadena City College at the "Rose City Rumble. . . " So the rest of the reports which follow are just collections from local media sources, all of which are available online or in print.
Game 4--4:30 p.m. --- Bishop Montgomery 70, Artesia 44
We offer two views of the same game, from two cross-town newspapers, who write about two teams from just across the 405, who rarely play each other. . . we can only wonder what this game would have been like had it been last year's Artesia team and this year's Bishop Montgomery Knights. . . But it wasn't. . . . The first take on the game is from the Torrance-based Daily Breeze, which, in case you didn't guess already, is the hometown paper for the Bishop Montgomery Knights.
Knights stand tall on boards
By Bob Holtzman
STAFF WRITERBishop Montgomery might not have a player taller than 6-foot-6 on its roster, but that does not mean the Knights are afraid to get physical on the basketball court.
Using its athleticism, Bishop Montgomery outrebounded Artesia en route to a 70-44 victory in the 2001 Long Beach Poly/Adidas Double Pump Hoop Challenge at Long Beach City College on Saturday.
Bishop Montgomery (14-2, 2-0) topped Artesia (13-3), 39-33, on the glass, pulling down 19 offensive rebounds to counter 6-8 Ryan Meileur and 6-8 Ronald Allen. On defense, Bishop Montgomery forced 21 turnovers.
Errick Craven led the Knights with a game-high 24 points and five steals. Craven exploded in the first quarter, scoring 14 points and making three steals.
Before the game, Bishop Montgomery calmly went through warm-ups, while Artesia appeared to be the team with more emotion, including a spirited huddle at halfcourt before the tip-off.
“That's our personality,” Craven said. “We are not a vocal team. We don't need to get hyped, we just get ready to play. With no one that tall or big, in warm-ups we kind of look like a JV team.”
Bishop Montgomery played anything like a JV team. The Knights went on an early 9-0 run and never looked back, steadily building their lead until they outscored the Pioneers, 19-8, in the fourth quarter. Artesia's best quarter was the third, but Bishop Montgomery already had the game well in hand.
Four Knights recorded three offensive rebounds apiece: 6-6 Fred Washington, 6-5 Gavin Lee, 6-2 Leland Dodd and 5-9 Kenny D'Oyen.
“The key to the game was rebounding,” Montgomery coach Doug Mitchell said. “We out-rebounded them and I understood coming into the game that rebounding was one of their strengths.”
Bishop Montgomery used a 12-2 run to turn a 22-19 game with 5:18 remaining in the first half into a 34-21 halftime score. During the run, the Knights suffocated Artesia with its man-to-man defense.
“We rely on our defense to spur our offense,” said DeVaughn Peace, who had 13 points, five rebounds and three assists for Montgomery. “When somebody says we can't beat them because they're bigger, we want to prove them wrong.”
And this second view is from the Long Beach Press Telegram, which, in case you can't tell, is the local paper which covers Artesia. . . in fact it was the paper which broke the Artesia story last year which resulted in Artesia's former coach Wayne Merino resigning and the four foreign players, three from the Domincan--Amaury Fernandez, Jack Martinez, and Franklin Matos-- and Jon Steffanson, all leaving the school. The LBPT is still Artesia's hometown newspaper:
Good Knights, bad Artesia
By Ted Kian
Staff writerRyan Reyes was the starting point guard on an Artesia High boys basketball team that was ranked No. 1 in the country at one point last season. But this year, Reyes,is the only returning starter and that was evident on Saturday against perennial power Bishop Montgomery of Torrance in the adidas Double Pump Hoop Challenge at Long Beach City College.
Reyes had 13 points, 5 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 assists but was the only Pioneer to play well in Bishop Montgomery's 70-44 rout.
"Ryan played real well in the open floor," Artesia coach Scott Pera said. "He's been in these games before and he's a good player. Good players make plays in big games. He's up to the challenge of those top guys. Some of our young guys aren't at that point yet, but playing in a game like this is good experience for them."
While Reyes was Artesia's best player on Saturday, Bishop Montgomery senior guard Errick Craven was clearly the best player on the floor. Craven, who along with his twin brother, Derrick, has signed a scholarship to play for USC next fall, finished with 24 points and 6 steals. Errick Craven took over the game from the start, tallying 14 points and 3 steals in the first quarter. Artesia senior guard Tony Roberts made a pair of free throws to give his team a 2-0 lead, but Craven then scored seven points to highlight a 9-0 Knights' run. Artesia would never lead again.
The second half was all Bishop Montgomery (14-2), as the Knights' role players methodically knocked down open jump shots. "(Bishop Montgomery was) athletic, quick and they shot the ball extremely well in the second half," Pera said. "We got some misses that we wanted in the first half. We just couldn't rebound very well and we also threw the ball away.
"Bishop Montgomery shot 13 of 34 in the first half and if you told me that before the game, I would have been very happy. But they had 11 offensive rebounds in the first half and that was not good. Then they started the second half by knocking down their jumpers and the game was over."
Artesia (13-3) must rebound quickly with a Suburban League showdown looming at Mayfair on Friday night. "I'm not happy about anything right now, but I understand the difference between this and a league game," Pera said. "We want to win on Friday. But I also understand that to beat Mayfair at Mayfair, we better get a heck of a lot better before Friday."
Tony Roberts finished with 10 points and 4 rebounds, but shot just 4-of-15 from the field. Ryan Meilleur had 6 points and 6 rebounds, while Artesia's 6-foot-8 junior forward Ronald Allen had a game-high four blocks. Bishop Montgomery senior DeVaughan Peach, who has committed to play for UC Irvine, had 13 points and 6 rebounds, while Derrick Craven registered a game-high 6 assists.
Game 5--6:00 p.m. Upland 72, Corona Centennial 65
We were up in Pasadena while this one was taking place, and had actually planned on returning in time for this one (it's only about a half hour drive up and down the 710 to both gyms. . . that is if you drive 80 mph like we do. . . ) but the Rose City games ran waaaaay late, so we actually missed the one game we really wanted to see. . . Oh well. Here's the story which the Riverside Press-Enterprise carried on this game, and what better paper to cover two Inland Empire teams than the "hometown" newspaper?
Centennial loses clash of titans
Is it better to be quick or powerful? Saturday night, it was better to be quick.
In a battle between two teams ranked among the top 40 in the nation, quicker Upland defeated more powerful Corona Centennial, 72-65, at the Double Pump Hoop Challenge at Long Beach City College.
Centennial forward Jamaal Williams dominated inside, scoring a game-high 26 points and grabbing eight rebounds. But Upland guard Sheldon Pace scored 14 of his team-high 22 points in the second half as the Highlanders came back from a four-point halftime deficit to win one of the five games at the one-day showcase tournament.
"It was two heavyweights going at it," Upland coach Jeff Klein said, describing the battle between Williams and Pace. While the two didn't guard each other much, they each answered the other's performance down the stretch.
"Pace made the big plays tonight," said Centennial coach Val Popov. "He made the plays, he made the good decisions, he was the big factor."
"That kid (Williams) dominated the game," Klein said. "It took all of our energy just to contain him, and I'm not sure we did. . . . There's nobody like him in high school basketball."
With a starting lineup that begins at 6-foot-3 and heads skyward from there, Centennial (14-1) had the size advantage. But the Huskies didn't seem to be able to make much use of it, settling for a lot of outside shots in the first half and not hitting many of them. Centennial was 2 of 8 on three-point attempts in the first two quarters.
"When we were impatient on offense, we got hurt on the transition," Popov said.
But when the Huskies could get the ball inside, Williams' move to the hoop was almost unstoppable. His seven first-quarter points led the Huskies to an 18-12 lead after one period.
"He (Williams) was very determined," Popov said.
But behind a three-pointer from Pace, an alley-oop slam by Jason Harris and a pair of baskets off assists from Pace, Upland gained the lead for several minutes in the middle of the second quarter before a pair of baskets by Williams returned the lead to the Huskies.
Centennial led 35-31 at the half.
The lead changed five times in the third quarter, but Pace's 10 points left the Highlanders (15-1) leading 52-49 going into the fourth. Williams' putback of his own miss with 5:12 to play gave the Huskies a short-lived 57-56 lead, but Upland's Jesse Pruitt scored 20 seconds later to give the Highlanders the lead for good.
Upland was 14 of 17 on free throws, 7 of 7 in the second half; Centennial was 5 of 10, 2 for 5 in the second half.
"If we are going to shoot 50 percent from the line in games like this, that's not going to get it done," Popov said.
The San Bernardino County Sun (or was it the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin? . . we're not sure) had this slightly shorter, but equally informative account of the game:
Senior point guard Sheldon Pace scored a team-high 24 points and teamed with fellow guard Jesse Pruitt (13 points) for back-court efficiency as the Highlanders (17-1) beat the Huskies (15-1) in a matchup of Riverside County's and San Bernardino County's best teams at the Hoops Challenge at Long Beach City College. The game featured 13 lead changes with the Highlanders taking control for good in the final four minutes. Pace was 8-for-13 from the field, including 3-for-3 on three-pointers. He also had four assists and three steals. After seven first-half points, Pace emerged in the third quarter, hitting two game-tying three-pointers.
UPLAND (72) -- Pace 22, Pruitt 13, J. Harris 8, P. Harris 7, Snyder 15, Hathaway 3, Davis 4. CENTENNIAL (65) -- L. Soderberg 5, Sybesma 6, Reese 5, J. Williams 26, E. Soderberg 9, Gonzoles 2, B. Williams 12. Halftime score -- Centennial 18-12. Three-point goals -- Pace 3, Hathaway, Reese, B. Williams. Total fouls -- Upland 15, Centennial 17. Fouled out -- L. Soderberg. Records: Corona Centennial 14-1.
Game 6--7:30 p.m. LB Poly 67, LB Jordan 65
Damn. . . this one actually looks like it was the best game of the day, and we weren't there to see it. . . instead we were watching Price take on Pasadena Marshall, Muir hammer Manual Arts, and Ribet and Twentynine Palms go at it, as well as an entertaining game between St. Francis and LACES. . . but more on those games elsewhere. The only way we hade of finding out about this game was from talking to our friends who were there and reading the Long Beach Press Telegram, specifically the story by Ted Kian, and why not, this was a Moore League game between two hometown teams. Here's the story (which for some reason was not online):
Poly's Butler Learns His Lesson Well
Prep Basketball: Junior's last-second
shot lifts Jackrabbits to win.By Ted Kian
Staff WriterJunior forward Reggie Butler is in his first year on the Poly High boys basketball program. He has yet to learn how intense the Poly-JHordan rivalry is, or the physicality of the games when the two schools play.
He knows now.
Butler's off-balance 17-foot jump shot gave the Jackrabbits a 67-65 win over Jordan in the final game Saturday of the adidas Double Pump Hoop Challenge at Long Beach City College.
Butler, however, expected as easier game since he is one of three Ply starters taller than 6-foot-6. Jordan's tallest starter is 6-4 and the Panthers' top four players are 6-2 or smaller.
"I was surprised by how physical (the Panters) were," Butler said. "They cam out real strong. They weren't gig, but they were tough. I'll be ready for this type of game next time."
The game counted as Poly's regular-season home game with the Panthers, so the Jackrabbits (14-5, 6-0) are now in sole possessin of first place in the Moore League. In a physical game that saw 46 personal fouls called, Butler finished with 14 ponits and a game-high 9 rebounds, while 6-8 junior center Marcedes Lewis added 20 points and 7 rebounds fo rPoly. Senior guard Ron Banks scored a game-high 23 points for Jordan (13-8, 4-1). Senior guard Josh Estrada added 17 points, including 13 in the second half, while senior forward Rashawn Childs had 13 points and a team-high 6 rebounds.
Jordan came out hot in the beginning, as Banks scored 17 points t give Jordan a 40-35 lead at intermission. Poly, however, began the second half with a 17-2 run that finally ended when the 6-2 Estrada scored in the post over two taller Jackrabbits. With his defensive intensity and outside shooting, Estrada then ignited a fierce Jordan raly. Poly though, still led 58-50 before Jackrabbits' point guard Carlos Rivers fouled out with six minutes remaining.
Jordan increased its defensive pressure and took a 63-61 lead on Banks' driving bank shot with 2:15 to play. Poly tied the game on Mike Roche's putback and grabbed a 65-63 lead on Markee White's floating jumper from the foul line.
Jordan tied the game at 65-65 with two clutch free throws from Childs with 1:02 left. Estrada had a chance to win the4 game, but his 3-point shot bounced inand out with five seconds remaining. Roche rebounded the ball and heaved a hook pass to Butler, who took one dribble and then shot the winning jump shot over a Jordan defender as time expired.
Jordan scoring: Rogers 1, Childs 13, Estrada 17, A. Massey 1, Banks 23, Salima 8, Harris 2; Poly scoring: Jay 5, Rivers 10, Harper 2, Butler 14, Roche 2, Lewis 20, White 9, Williams 5.
Jordan-- 22 18 10 15--65
Poly -- 18 17 21 11--67
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